for the love of GOD tell me how to make him sleep

[Fairy1303]

10 week old DS. has started sleeping marginally better - had been every 3 hours but has over last 2 weeks started having a big chunk of sleep in the eve - this is from 7.30/8ish until 2am. after this he wakes roughly every 90 mins until 6 when he is up and ready to play.
He physically wont stay up after 8 but I am desperate to try and shift it a bit - he can do 6 hours, if only they we 12 - 6 Imight regain some sanity! any ideas?!

There are those who swear by a dream feed when you go to bed, so that you then get that long six-hour stretch when you're actually asleep. But others say that it doesn't help and all you do is encourage an extra waking/ feed... Worth a try though?

Gosh poor you!

Is he ok when he is awake? Or does he get upset alot?

That's completely normal and much better than DS managed at 10 weeks! However my only advice is to go to bed earlier yourselves, if you're asleep by 10pm you still get the magic 4 hours

That sounds great to me!

Your baby sleeps from 20:00-02:00, then does 1 1/2 hr stints? At 10 wks? I'm jealous, that's amazing sleep & far more than I get with my 20 wk old ds; you are actually extremely lucky, stop whining.

That is sadly really normal

That 6 hours will gradually extend, if he is anything like my two, but I would also try a dream feed about midnight to see if that helps.

Think 'stop whining' is a bit harsh!

OP enjoy it, sound like you have a pretty good sleeper if he is doing this at 10 weeks, it must seem hard but could be so much worse and should only get better, which it will gradually and naturally.

That's not much worse than my 9mo. Go to bed earlier. It won't last for long in the great scheme of things.

You can't, sorry. Suggest you go to bed at 8 so you get a good 6hrs. It will pass before you know, right now you just have to survive.

I think mine had only just started lasting 6 hours at that age, and then only occasionally. He did that same pattern, long sleep at start of night. You have to go to bed early. It's normal.

Oh, and it might get worse before it gets better.

Sorry!

And, to lay it on even thicker, in about four to six weeks, chances are you will be in the throes of the four month sleep regression, and kicking yourself for not having taken advantage of those six hours while you could.

Sorry.

I've a 10 week old who doesn't go longer than 3 hours.
Most nights I go to bed at 7pm.

I re-read your original message OP, and yes the other posters are correct you are lucky! My LO at 14 weeks has a similar pattern to yours except thinks bedtime is at 11pm!

Is he hungry when he wakes? If so then you could try to get more food into him during the day/early evening? If not it sounds like it may just be habit. He's really not doing too badly for a 10 week old, once you get him on solids he sounds like he has the ability to sleep right through.
I'm not going to suggest you let him cry (I didn't let mine cry) but when he wakes for the first time, try feeding him, the next time if you're sure he's not hungry, maybe try a dummy? At least give him a minute or 2 to let him try to settle himself. I realised I was actually disturbing DS by rushing in every time he squeaked! If he doesn't settle on his own maybe try co sleeping for the second half of the night, that helped us get a bit more sleep till DS finally figured out how to sleep. Good luck and remember, this too will pass!

I hate to say it but my DD2 was doing that too at that ge, now at 22 weeks we have had two months of waking very hour or maybe two if I am lucky and no long sleep at all.

Blimey - this is not an inverted stealth boast but the longest my 22 month old has slept straight is for 5 hours. Granted she goes back to sleep pretty quickly though. I've given up talking about it now as it used to be so much worse. Like others have said go to bed early op it wont be like this forever.

5 hours in one chunk is actually considered 'sleeping through' at his age, so you're already both doing a great job - though I'm sure it doesn't feel that way when he's up and trying to play at 5am.

I'm assuming that you already keep it dark and not fun when he does his night wakings - if so, then why not go to bed early, take 2 shifts after 2am, and hope he gets better over time and doesn't regress too much at 4 months!

Not trying to be harsh at all but that genuinley is really good for babys age. Ds did not sleep for 6 hours at once until he was almost 2. From birth he would feed every 1- ( 2 if I was very lucky) hours day and night. I know It takes some getting used to but just try to go to bed earlier. Yes it means you gwt no adult time but at some point it will pass.

Not trying to undermine you at all. You both must be doing really well to be getting that 6 hours. Its a shock to the system regardless of baby sleeping through or not at all. Knackering all round!

OP mine did his long stretch in the evening too. At the time I wished he would wake for an extra feed at 10/11ish & then do his 6hr stint after that, like most of my friends dc's did, but he never did. His big sleep just gradually extended, til he was waking at around 5/6am for a feed at about 4/5 months. Its not forever, so steel yourself for a few more months of disturbed sleep & things will get better!

One other thing I remember is that when ds was tiny he used to grunt & shuffle a lot in his sleep & it used to wake me a lot. Once he outgrew his moses & went into his own room, we all slept a lot better, only being disturbed when he actually woke for a feed.

Thanks, I guess I am lucky, I have a friend who's baby allegedly sleeps 9-5/6 every night and has done since week 7.

I think the problem is not necessarily even the frequency of the waking its the fact that once he is awake he takes ages to settle so he might sleep for an hour but then be awake for hour and a half etc.

I also have an8 yr old step daughter full time so need to be up and functioning and I find that by about 8 am I am dead because the sleep was so long ago.

Sorry to winge. I know a lot of others have it so much worse, it is just so bloody hard

It is hard - it's bloody horrible! DD2 refused all sleep between 2 and 6 am for weeks, and dd1 got up at 6.30. I used to cry I was so tired, it's crap

Don't apologise OP - just cos some people have less sleep than you, doesn't make your nights any easier. It's really tough with a little baby.

My DS did the same as your LO: 'sorted out' the first part of the night first, and like yours, started sleeping from about 8pm - 2am at around 2mo. He did gradually stretch that period of good sleep out later and later, but it was a good few months before he was settled from 4am onwards.

Tbh, I used to go the bed at 8pm as well, so I knew I would get a 5 hour+ stretch of sleep before the fun and games starts. I used to find that as long as I had a 4 hour block of sleep somewhere in the day I just felt like shit, as opposed to deranged/stumbling about/insane with exhaustion.

Also, what worked for us was a dream feed at around 10pm. So DS would have a bottle at 7pm and go to bed. Then I would go to bed. DH would stay up watching telly. Then at 10pm before he went to bed, he would gently lift DS out of his cot (keeping him in sleeping bag for minimal disruption), tickle his lip with a bottle, and he would drink the whole lot, pretty much still asleep. Then DH would sit him up and wind him, he would cry a little until a burp came up, then he would settle back to sleep on DH's shoulder before being returned to cot. DH then went to bed and I would deal wth all subsequent night wakings.

Read Dr Ferber, if only for the info on sleep patterns. My GP recommended and it has utterly illuminated my understanding of sleep.