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Sleep

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Original poster

How long/where does your 5week old nap??

13 replies

nicolamumof3 · 23/08/2011 09:50

DC4 is five weeks old tomorrow, just coming out of the sleeping/eating pattern. more alert etc, but struggling with getting her to nap anywhere apart from her pram when we are out.

Think problem is exacerbated by fact three noisy brothers still on summer hols, so finding it hard to concentrate on DD as running round like a headless chicken a bit!

Are my expectations unrealistic that she should be able to sleep a couple of hours and self settle in her cot? currently rocking her in her bouncy chair as fed up run up and down the stairs to but her dummy back in!!

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KeepOnSwimming · 23/08/2011 14:39

My DD now 8 weeks would only nap on me/DP/FIL until the last week or so - for anything from 30mins to 2 hours. 40mins being normal.

She's just woken up from her first nap where I was able to leave her and she carried on sleeping!

Not much help, sorry.

Original poster

nicolamumof3 · 23/08/2011 16:06

she's been asleep in her cot for half an hour after a huge explosive poo, bath and the rest of her bottle!!

managed to hoover sofa, stairs and mop floors downstairs so far, oh and iron two shirts so an achievment!

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lilysma · 25/08/2011 13:57

Well done nicola - have you managed to repeat the feat? How did you do it?

DS (DC2) is 4 weeks and we have the same problem - can't get him to nap anywhere except on us or in the sling (he'll do anything from half an hour to 2 hours, but increasingly I have to keep walking around which isn't all that easy!). He won't sleep in the pram (the only place DD would sleep until she was 9 months old!). When I try to feed him down (he's EBF) he goes down in his moses basket like a dream and wakes up 10 mins later and nothing will persuade him to drift off again. We co-sleep at night and he can go back to sleep next to me when he comes out of a sleep cycle without necessarily feeding but he just doesn't seem to get that he's supposed to sleep in his basket!

I'm comforted that you still don't have it cracked after three previous DCs! I feel like I should know what to do, but DD's sleep was never easy either .

Keep on swimming how did you get your DD to nap not on you keep on swimming?

Anyone else got any ideas?

lilysma · 25/08/2011 13:57

whoops sorry for repeated name!

Original poster

nicolamumof3 · 25/08/2011 16:37

when she cries I just try shushing not actually picking up. She also has a dummy which my other dc's did not which does comfort her. She's snoozing now in her bouncy chair. She slept yesterday morning in cot for just over an hour, did take an hour to get her to sleep tho in the first place! They will learn, trick is to be consistent and stay calm. I find it easier if im free to focus on her, and not worrying about getting on with something else and therefore desperate for her to sleep itms?

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lilysma · 25/08/2011 17:49

Thanks, yes that makes sense. I think I'll wait until DD is at school to try to focus on this. How much crying did you have to tolerate to get the 1 hour nap - was it an hour of consistent crying? Not sure I could manage this when he's so small...

Original poster

nicolamumof3 · 25/08/2011 19:56

oh i didn't let her cry, I can't do that with tiny ones, I was up/down the stairs putting her dummy in and shushing her, putting mobile on etc. I wouldn't let her cry . I agree once my boys are at school am going to try and establish a good sleep in her cot in the mornings after the school run always managed this with the boys. Then usually the after lunch nap in the pram, when I got my shopping/chores done before school run.

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KeepOnSwimming · 26/08/2011 08:58

Lilysma - didn't do anything, I just became able to leave her as she's got older. Currently she is asleep on the changing mat on the floor for her morning nap as she was getting tired, but didn't want to be held, so I just put her down. She would previously have got upset if I put her down... they just change I suppose!

lilysma · 26/08/2011 18:42

Thanks, all very reassuring - I will stick with the plan of going with the flow for now and trying to gently move things on when my back begins to kill me and the undone tasks pile up impossibly

anangel · 31/08/2011 09:33

good to hear. ds is 5 wks and it all feels totally random. sleeps in sling for ages, on me, but no where else really, even night is a bit sketchy! good to remember that it gradually falls into place..........

lilysma · 02/09/2011 11:19

DS suddenly slept in basket for an hour nap yesterday (fell asleep on my shoulder and I put him down) and then on and off in pram all afternoon in park. Then today back to only sleeping in sling for nap. They are strange aren't they??!

anangel · 02/09/2011 12:10

yep, we just had an amazingly settled night, then a morning of sleeping, first in bed, then a quick feed, then straight down again in hammock - 50 minutes and counting in the hammock! fingers crossed this is a step forward.... I guess they do grow up and get it together gradually.

Oh and I've just ordered a miracle blanket, he's always startling himself awake, hoping that will improve things too!

Original poster

nicolamumof3 · 06/09/2011 21:15

well dd is definitely still rather random on her naps has gone the last two days screaming every time put down for nap so barely slept at all last couple of days.

Still very good at night, self settles in evening around 7pm after bath and feed, and again in night she only wakes once so can't have it all i suppose. She's seven weeks tomorrow.

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