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Original poster

Baby Can't Fall Asleep in Pram!

55 replies

Piemistress · 04/09/2012 15:43

Hi,

DD is 11 weeks old. Since about 4 weeks she can't fall asleep in the pram. She doesn't cry in it unless she is over tired and cannot get herself off to sleep. Am finding this quite odd as I thought all babies fell asleep in the pram! She also howls in the car for about ten mins before falling asleep. My son was the opposite and I couldn't keep him awake in the pram or car!

This means she takes her naps in the sling but this isn't always practical. If she isn't due a nap she is happy enough in the pram. Is it something to do with the motion or do you think she just wants to be held! Has any body had similar and their babies grown out of it? She sleeps ok in the cot at night.

The only way I can get her to nap in the pram is to put her in it asleep but she always wakes up after 25 mins. Am wondering if it will get better when she can self settle?

Thanks!!

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PatronSaintOfDucks · 04/09/2012 16:08

Piemistress, when my DS was a newborn he slept in the pram. For the first three weeks. And then he refused to even consider to lie in it until he was 5.5 months, and this happened only when I changed the carry cot to a pram seat. Car seat was not much better. DS would scream and scream and scream and I was afraid that I was becoming known as a baby-torturer in my village. It was especially upsetting because everywhere I cast my eye I could see hordes of babies sleeping angelically in their prams.

As a result, I carried him in a sling everywhere. And sometimes it was a massive PITA as I just wanted to sit down and have a bloody cup of coffee without having anything attached to me. On the plus side, however, people gave me and DS adoring looks left, right and centre.

Some babies are just pram-haters. It looks like you got one. But it will definitely pass.

PatronSaintOfDucks · 04/09/2012 16:11

Sorry, I did not answer the question on self-settling. DS could self-settle with lots of white noise from about 10 weeks. But this did not diminish his hatred of prams. However, I now do wonder what would have happened if I stuck a hairdryer in the pram with him . . .

HarlettOScara · 04/09/2012 16:16

My 9 week old has become a pram hater too. And she detests her car seat, wailing like a banshee for at least the first 10 minutes of any journey. She seems marginally better in a pushchair that reclines fully (luckily we were gifted one as the one we've bought isn't suitable for use before 6 months) but still isn't keen to sleep in it. she will sleep in the sling but my pelvis is still knackered from pregnancy and I can only comfortably use it for short periods of time.

Original poster

Piemistress · 04/09/2012 16:26

Patron, harlett - that's exactly how I feel ! DD howls for a minimum of 10 mins in the car whenever we go anywhere, it's awful! I dont know how but DS sleeps through it! I am praying she grows out if it! I have just swapped from a bjorn to a boba g3 which is much more comfortable. Today I actually contemplated rocking the pram under the kitchen extractor fan (she likes that noise).

OP posts:

HarlettOScara · 04/09/2012 16:45

Only contemplated? You're a better woman than I. DD has just gone down for a nap in her crib to the accompaniment of the hairdryer...as she does most days and nights . And we regularly park her bouncy chair in front of the fridge as the noise seems to help settle her and she dozes for longer there.

OneLittleToddlingTerror · 04/09/2012 16:46

Mine wouldn't even lie in the pram awake or asleep. She was only happy if carried in a baby bjorn. Not all newborns like prams. So you aren't the only one.

OneLittleToddlingTerror · 04/09/2012 16:47

Want to say my LO was a great sleeper in the cot. Can go down awake after a feed, etc. She just wouldn't tolerate the pram. She grew out of it at around 6mo. Now she loves sitting in her pushchair.

Original poster

Piemistress · 04/09/2012 20:19

onelittle does she fall asleep in the pushchair now?

It's nice to know I'm not alone! White noise does help settle DD if she is over tired, maybe I will try the pram under the kitchen fan tomorrow! She basically has all of her naps in the sling just now. Today I out her in the pram when she was very drowsy and rocked it back and forth on the drive gently and she did fall asleep but only for 25 mins! I could work around the not napping in the pram by using the sling, a pain but workable but the car seat is a different story we have not had one trip in about 7 weeks where she hasn't howled for at least 10 mins before falling asleep and even then will wake up after one sleep cycle, sigh!

patron did your DS get better in the car and take naps in the pram eventually?

How old is your DD harlett?

OP posts:

PatronSaintOfDucks · 04/09/2012 20:44

Piemistress, you are actually doing much better than we did. For us, it could be easily 30 minute of howling in the car (very sad when you just have to travel and cannot do much about it). And the pram - I just gave up on it in the early months.

However, it definitely did get better. The car journeys gradually started to get better at around 4.5 months (I think), especially at high speeds. The first time DS slept in the pram was at 5.5 months, and it was a pushchair not a carrycot, and he as just out of the swimming pool and very tired. Gradually he began to do longer and longer stretches in both car seat and pram. When he was 7 months, we took him to a large evening party and he did a long late-evening sleep while in the pram while we were having dinner (although I did have to wheel him in circles around the hall for about 15 minutes to put him to sleep beforehand, and he was wailing intermittently). From 8 months he was taking naps in his pram in the nursery, usually 40-min to an hour, but still ok. Since about 14-15 months he can take proper long 2 hour naps in the pram and can sleep for ages in the car.

So I am sure that it will get better for you, and by the looks of it much faster than it did for us.

Original poster

Piemistress · 04/09/2012 20:52

You have made me feel so much better patron!! Fingers crossed DD is similar :-) she is such a wee Velcro baby at the moment but I know how lucky I am to have her!

OP posts:

OneLittleToddlingTerror · 04/09/2012 20:54

piemistress yes she does now.

Iggly · 04/09/2012 20:55

Both of mine were like this and both of mine had reflux. They didn't like lying flat on their backs. So I kept them in slings instead then when they could sit in a reclined pushchair (4-5 months), I could use that instead for naps.

HarlettOScara · 04/09/2012 21:00

piemistress, DD is 9 weeks old.

patron, your post gives me hope that DD won't always refuse to sleep on the move...thank you!

crackcrackcrak · 04/09/2012 21:00

Have you tried swaddling in the pram?

LittleWaveyLines · 04/09/2012 21:31

DD hated the pram and car seat. Until the last month or so.... she's 14 months.

I got used to using woven wrap slings a lot -she napped on my back as long as I kept walking, or on my lap. It was very difficult and restricting, but she was fully capable of howling for hours in a pram or car seat.... I felt trapped to a 5 minute car journey radius as she would just be inconsolable after that. We did one long trip and she howled/screamed the entire 5 hours plus stops....

Original poster

Piemistress · 04/09/2012 21:47

crack I tried that today but she just got really upset! She is swaddled for her night time sleeps too. I even put on her lullaby music on my phone and put it in the pram! DD still struggles with wind, it's loads better than it was (thanks to the cranial osteopath!) so I always spend a good while burping her before any nap or bedtime. I did wonder if babies can get motion sickness, is that possible or just daft? I do wonder why some of them don't like the pram or car seat tho!

At least the crying in the pram I can prevent by just not using it but thats not possible with the car seat. Hopefully when she eventually goes into a bigger car seat it might stop! I bought a baby Einstein Mozart CD in desperation but it doesn't seem to make much difference and tonight I have stuck photos of me and DP around the RF mirror above her seat!

OP posts:

Original poster

Piemistress · 04/09/2012 21:49

little we are going on hols in Nov and it will be a 5hr drive not including stops, am dreading it! Sadly 5 months is a bit young for a DVD player (if that would even work)

OP posts:

LittleWaveyLines · 04/09/2012 21:59

One thing that did help was distracting games like "this little piggy" and "round and round the garden" - our trip was when she was 5 months as well and if we could distract her she was OK. Also keeping her colder than you would think.... I think it was motion sickness actually...

ceeveebee · 04/09/2012 22:02

Have you tried a snoozeshade (or just a blanket pegged on the hood)?

LittleWaveyLines · 04/09/2012 22:04

Oh and DD is now fully capable of sleeping for 30mins in th car :)

Poosnu · 04/09/2012 22:33

DD (now 13mo) slept in the pram at first, but when she was 6 weeks old she stopped being able to fall asleep in it. She would just cry because she couldn't fall asleep but was tired.

She did fall asleep in the sling, so when we were out and about I used to give her a nap in the sling. It was a real PITA because I had to keep walking - if I sat down she would wake. It meant that long lunches with NCT group were out.

She seemed to like the bouncing motion of the sling, so at home I used to get her to sleep by holding her upright and bouncing on the yoga ball. I could then put her down in her hammock when she fell sleep. This was with the hairdryer going full blast.

Around 5 months old she started sleeping in the pram again, to my delight! This lasted only around a month. She has always been terrible at sleeping in the car and will only sleep (for 30m max) on the motorway at a consistent speed of 80.

I'm not sure there is much you can do to change DD's sleeping preferences, other than find a way to work around it at the moment. Having all naps in the sling must be exhausting for you.

Iggly · 04/09/2012 22:36

At 5 months you can take the newborn insert out of the carseat - makes it more comfy for baby.

You can also get a wedge which gently props baby here - only if the pram mattress is same size as Moses basket though.

The struggling with wind and not settling plus being a Velcro baby would make me suspect silent reflux TBH.

Wigglewoo · 04/09/2012 22:42

Well my ds aged 11 weeks is now down to 2 20 min naps the whole day and if we go out then he finds it all to exciting to sleep!!! But I find that's a positive thing as he's sleeping better at night - gets up once at 4am for a bottle and sleeps from 7pm and then again till 7am... I wouldntworry about trying to get them to sleep... As long as they aren't screaming (!) Chat non stop, hang toys on the bars, dummy etc....

Wigglewoo · 04/09/2012 22:46

My ds has silent reflux too, medication has really helped and I tilt his buggy / pram a little and he seems to like that a lot more).

Alfiepants · 05/09/2012 09:51

We had exactly same thing with number 2 who had silent reflux. He's fine in it now but we changed the lie flat to reclined seat early and just supported his head and that made a big diff.

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