I just cannot settle DD

[stowsettler]

She's only 8 weeks old and we just can't seem to find a way to settle her so we can leave her sleep. She is FF and if I rock her to sleep she wakes as soon as I put her in her basket. She doesn't buy shush/pat, I obviously won't leave her to cry, I have to stay with her if she has a dummy because it's spat out within seconds. Unless she feeds to sleep (and I always offer until she refuses) bedtime is quite a trial.

Any bright ideas anyone? I'm quite sure she's not in pain / windy or anything like that.

Is this in the evenings, or at any time?

If it's evenings, it's normal at this age. They're kind of programmed to be with you in the early evening hours. She will grow out of it most probably, around the 3-4 month mark.

Try warming the basket before putting her down, with hot watecbottle or heat pad ( obviously remove before baby goes down!). You could also try putting in muslin or blanket that smells of you.

My little one is also soothed by White noise. The sound of a vacuum (!) really calms her if she's got worked up, otherwise we use ocean sounds. I have I-pod and portable speakers in her room for bed & naps. It also helps block out other noises that can disturb her during light sleep or between sleep phases.

If she's flappy soon after being put down it usually means DD has wind. So pick her back up & little jiggle to try & release it.

You may just find that she's just happiest led on you! My DD was for those first few weeks....still is really but we keep trying to get her to stay in the cot. Good luck!

And I agree with Narmada. We only really introduced 'bedtime' at about 10 weeks. Until then she slept on me or DH downstairs until we went to bed.