Anyone else have a sleep fighting young baby? I need some advice...

[GingerlyRed]

Because I am getting very close to putting my 5 week old ds in his bed, shutting the windows and doors and letting him get on with it. It is making me crazy! He just will not nap and spends all day miserable, screaming and grizzling from tiredness as his eyes just get puffier and redder. There is no joy here.

He hates swaddling-it just makes him even crosser. Will not sleep in the pram-writhes and hollers when his eyes start to shut. His record in there is ten minutes. White noise has no affect. Vacuum cleaner the same. Hates his bouncy chair-well he is okay until his eyes go then he gets mad and screams. It is like he gets so angry when falling asleep no matter where he is. He will nap in the sling but not for very long plus it is well over 40 degrees where I live so it is pretty uncomfortable after 9 am! I also have a 2 year old so just walking for ages late in the evening and/or early in the morning is not an option.

Not sure what to do or where to turn next as both myself and 2 yo dd are totally fed up with listening to him scream all day. It is rare that he has even a short period of contentment as he does not even get enough sleep at night - it is like he just can't or won't stay asleep any longer than the bare minimum.

Anyone experiencing anything similar and/or have any advice? Even a bit of empathy would help. I am getting fed up with seeing other mums pushing there content, sound asleep babies or even bette having them tell me how they have to wake up baby to feed or s/he would just carry on sleeping until they starved to death. Oh yeah...and am I the ONLY person with a new baby that does not sleep for 12 hours a night ?

Please someone tell me I am not alone...

Every sympathy here too. DS was just like this, well he would sleep but only on me and only if I was sitting up. At least he was my first so you have even more sympathy.

Agree with TheJoyful, have you taken him to the GP to rule out reflux? Have you read 12 features of a high needs baby?

Hope it turns a corner soon.

My wee one is a less extreme version of yours he won't go to sleep in buggy, screams in car etc. he does like the sling sometimes but mostly the only way to get him to sleep is to feed him. I too gave a 2 year old and it is tough to get enough peace to ever get him to sleep. Sorry not much advice but will he just feed to sleep? Also my ds is better when v well burped which can take v v long time

Have you tried giving him a dummy? It worked for my DD as did white noise on YouTube called Baby got Colic.

Don't flame me. It's just a suggestion. But, my ds was a horrible sleeper til he turned 7/8 months. Pretty sure it was because by then we knew he was safe on his tummy. He sleeps with his knees drawn up under him and his bum in the air

Dd is the same. But, as we were a little less anxious about it, she's been on her front from about 5 months. When we knew she could lift her head.

Both dh and I sleep on our sides and/or tummy.

I am not suggesting you do this with a v young baby but it might be a problem which will go away once your ds is older.

Def need to rule out stuff with gp though.

How are you getting on new Gingerly?

Hi, I'm with trudat on this one. My dd was a hurrendous sleeper, we had to rock her into a deep sleep before we could put her down and then at around 10 weeks we started sleeping her on her tummy. She could roll over from front to back by that age though.

Is the heat affecting him too?

I've heard cranial osteopathy can help. Lots of sympathy from me.

My 8wo DD is also a fighter, the second her eyes start to go she pumps her fist and kicks her legs but only at bed time!

I obviously have no advice but just wanted to show support! The only thing I would say is during the day she maps on her tummy and since we tied that she naps much better.

Hope youre ok, you're not alone.

Frog

Sounds horrible, definately try a dummy, was the birth difficult? Definately second getting some crainal osteopathy. Hope it gets eaiser soon

Sorry you're having such a hard time! I'm pretty new to this parenting thing so I don't know if any of this will help but this is what I've found useful.

A paediatrician friend of mine showed me a trick when my little one was fighting sleep- she can get him to go from that screaming/fighting to keep his eyes open stage to baby snores by stroking from his forehead down his nose. I don't know if it'll help but maybe it's worth trying.

Swaddling my 3week old worked for a couple of nights but not since it got hot. Stripping him to his nappy in this weather has massively improved things. He will sleep if he can get him self onto his side (he manages to turn himself on his own some of the time). Ive had some success with sort of wedging him in with a rolled blanket on each side of him. I think it makes him feel more secure.

The best thing I've found though is a lambskin rug thing my DSIL gave me. I slept on it for a night and I'm now putting him down on it (moving into Moses basket/pram/cot as needed). Hes now sleeping in 3-4 hour chunks! Apparently it helps keep them cool in hot weather and it has the added advantage that i worry less about him turning onto his side or ending up on his front because apparently if they do they can breath through the fleace.