My 7 week old won't sleep during the day

[MimiLaSouris]

I have a 7 week old ds who gets quite a lot of sleep during the night (still waking up every 2-3 hours though but resettling quickly) but during the day I find it impossible to get him to nap.

I have tried everything to soothe him to sleep: white noise, swaddling, patting, shushing, breastfeeding in bed, dummy, dark and quiet room, the pram etc Nothing works. The only success I have is with rocking but doesn't always work and it takes him a good 15-20 mins to drop off and then I have to continue rocking for as long as I want him to sleep otherwise he wakes up 5 mins after putting him down.

I have also tried different timings during the day: 1 hour after getting up, 2 hours, 3 hours etc. I have even tried not trying and waited to see if he would eventually drop off in his bouncing chair or playmat. But 6 hours later he is still not sleeping (and not even cranky). Then at 5-6 pm he suddenly become overtired and cry non stop.

At 7 pm though, he falls asleep easily whatever method I use. I just can't understand why it is so impossible during daytime. I have never seen any baby like that before. I just feel like a crap mother and I am really worried about the lack of sleep will be damaging to his development.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Tips?

Try 45 mins after they wake, put into pram with dummy and rock for a few mins in the dark (not pitch black), then leave to fall.asleep.

Im.not saying itll work for everyone but did for us. we still do the same for dd now at 7mo but the times between awakes has now stretched to 2.5hrs

he'll be fine.
DD has never slept much, either in the day or at night.

She's now 7.5 months old, proper feisty, always awake.
she's fine - no problems mentally
she just doesn't do sleep.

she will feed to sleep, but usually wakes up almost immediately. (unless the world fools her, and then I'm lucky to get 1/2 hour after a feed.)

Today, she's been worn out - musical class this morning and a story/activity time this afternoon.
she went to sleep after a feed for all of 10 minutes.
DH took her out to the Post Office and she didn't fall asleep in the buggy.

Thanks a lot for your replies.
Good to know that I'm not the only one and that it won't create lasting damages.
Will try after 45 mins in pram - willing to try anything at this point tbh.

All perfectly normal. What about a sling (sorry if I've missed that in the OP)?

MimiLaSouris, my ds would only sleep during the day if he was in a sling. I had a wrap (huge fat baby, not so huge mama), dh and I wore it constantly for first 3 months - ds slept long and hard in it, but not even a whisker any other way. Just throwing that into the mix. :)

Hi
My DD didn't nap properly until she was near enough 6 months old. Before then she just used to sleep on me or in her pram. If your ds seems happy and content being awake, maybe just have some times where you have quiet time with him (sounds like you do this anyway), with some soft music, or sitting with him while you watch a bit of telly, or a walk with him, or pop him in a sling. I remember my DD being awake for HOURS at a time when she was a newborn. The best advice I got was just not to worry about it and when they are tired enough they will sleep!

Sorry for the late reply and thank you so much for all the advice. I will try to go with the flow for now and not to worry too much. My friend is also going to lend me her sling so will give that a go. I just hope I can do the knot properly.

Hi, my DD was exactly the same. It drove me insane with worry but now she is 6mo she sleeps really well in the day and terribly at night! Not sure which way round I prefer!! As others have said try a nice wrap style sling as this helped a lot with us in the first few weeks/months. Me or DP would have it on for hours just to get her to sleep. Keep going with taking him to a dark room with white noise or calming lullabies and dummy every 90 mins and I promise it will get better. Now DD just needs to walk in the dark bedroom and have the dummy and if she is tired will rest her head on my shoulder before even getting in the cot. She also found being held whilst I bounced on birthing ball a good way to fall asleep. Have a read up on the 90min sleep cycle theory too as this helped us to get DD into a sleeping habit. I found the book "Baby Sense Secret" really helpful if you take it with a pinch of salt as the author puts EVERYTHING down to babies not sleeping enough! But it did make me think about taking her away from stimuli every 90mins. Not that she would always go to sleep but eventually it became a bit easier and easier each week.

I hope this helps as I know how awful that early evening over tired crying is! But they do grow out of it x

Don't worry - my dd was the same - 3 x 15-30 minute naps from birth but slept through at night (until 6 months when nights became awful and she began napping in the day :)

My 3 mo ds however always naps, I think every baby is different. Just keep giving your baby the opportunity to nap and it will all work out fine :) congratulations!

2 of my children never really napped in the day but slept well at night. I can get ds3 (11weeks) to have a couple of short 20min sleeps if I am lucky but he goes to bed at 9 and sleeps until 5 so I am not going to complain!

i think you will have to go along with you baby's preference on this.

my DD is also of the non-napping creed, now 8mo, has never napped alone during the day. she is developmentally just fine, is alert and communicative but very analytical for a baby. i am able to get her to take short naps only by bf her (she wakes up if i sneak away), wearing her in the manduca and walking, or napping with her (again waking up even if i creep away). from the earliest weeks she knew when she was alone and insisted on company - evolutionarily absolutely normal. she sleeps for up to 12 hours on lazy weekends when we sleep beside her though, as she feels secure and safe.

i think repeated attempts to try to teach him to sleep, i.e. dummy in, door closed, controlled crying won't help but will make him more clingy and even less willing to nap during the day - he seems to be resistant to the idea and knows what he wants. when he is secure enough to nap alone he will. i think you are lucky that he nods off in the early evening, our DD insists on waiting till we come to bed. its annoying though not to be able to get much done without a baby on your back.

sorry for this most unmagical solution but in our case its what our DD wanted most and made her happy and loved. now at 8mo after a little crawling session she is starting to take little rests which are turning into naps. so i am just waiting . . .