Any ideas on how to get a two week old to sleep at night!!

[DuckWaddle]

Hi, we're going bonkers! Our newborn (2 weeks old) was sleeping in her crib. She didn't sleep for long but I was managing to bf in the night, wait for her to fall asleep and then transfer her. But in the lady few days we manage to get her to sleep in her crib for the first two hours but for the rest of the night I'll get her to sleep and then transfer her to the crib but she wakes up ten minutes later. In the I gave up at 5.30am lady night and let her sleep on me. A bit of backgrpund: We've tried pre-warming her crib. We're using cellular blankets (which she often kicks off!). At the moment she's too small for a sleepbag (7lb). Thankfully she bf well but seems to need feeding every 1.5 hours. She does seem to get stomach pains about 10 mins after feeding (screws up face, brings knees up, cries) but she never seems to burp after winding her. Oh, we've also tried tilting the crib in case this helps but to no avail!! In the day she has been sleeping on me so I wonder if I'm making her dependant on sleeping on me. We're going insane after nights with only a couple of hours sleep!! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

I hate to say this, but you might just have to ride it out for another week or so, she's very tiny still. Sorry. Have you tried swaddling her? I used to do it before Bf so you can just transfer them still swaddled. Worth a try, as then she won't kick off the blankets.

What about a muslin cloth in with her? Preferably one that smells of you and your milk?

In my experience what worked at that age was them snuggling on DH's chest. Luckily it was DH's chest and not mine (mine was too much like on tap food which was kind of distracting for them !). Once they had been asleep for a while DH could usually transfer them to the cot and they would stay there (actually the cot at that stage was a carry cot beside the bed so veery close by).

Make your bed safe and let her sleep with you?

Shes two weeks old. I think you may have to wait a couple more weeks before a routine and pattern emerges and you can try and sort something out. Shes so so new and tiny, this is how it will be for a while.
it is hard but will go so quickly. She sounds very teeny, if she wants to sleep on you for a while or next to you then thats ok. You can start changing things later.
Good luck. Have one of these and ride it out

Try swaddling.

If not then in my experience you're just going to have to be patient!

It's exhausting, isn't it!

I would be impressed if she is suddenly in a lovely pattern / routine in a week / couple of weeks.

Instead of worrying that you are making her "dependant" on sleeping on you, you could think of it as "I am meeting her needs, which at the moment are that she feels safe and secure by sleeping as close to me as possible". Personally I would try co-sleeping. It needn't be for ever if you don't want it to be, and it isn't creating a rod for your own back. It may be what she needs at this stage.

Also, readjust your expectations for now: a 2 week old doesn't distinguish between day and night, and very frequent feeding isn't at all unusual (and in fact is good for your supply). She will probably start going a little bit longer between feeds (although may revert back to v frequent feeds during growth spurts).

She may well need to be close to you for several weeks to come. You can either fight it, and try to force her into sleeping in the crib (yes, that's my DD1) or you can go with it, and be reassured that it won't last for ever (voice of experience with DD2).

And remember: this too shall pass...

I think waking ten minutes after falling asleep is part of the sleep cycle, as this sounds familiar. What we did was cuddled DS for ten minutes while he slept, until he'd got through that bit, then put him in his basket. If he woke in our arms after ten minutes he'd go back to sleep fine, and then sleep for longer when we put him down.

Re the wind, I found gripe water very good, think you may have to wait a few more weeks. Also very gently rub the left hand side of her body (where the stomach is) aswell as patting and rubbing her back to get the wind up, we found this got burps up reasonably well.

Speaking from my own experience, we couldn't break the habit of DS sleeping on/with us until he was about 8 months old- it was a bit of a nightmare to be honest. However, we only started because we literally couldn't put him down without him screaming. I would say, don't be too hard on yourself, do what you need to to get some sleep. But if you can encourage at least some of her naps (maybe the day time ones) to be in her crib then you maybe doing yourself a favour in the long run.

Thanks all for you suggestions! They were really helpful. It sounds like we have to ride this phase out! I'll try swaddling again- I did it once and she didn't like it. Sadly she won't even co-sleep- she has to lie on me!