Newborn won't sleep on his back...

[kjh5]

My baby boy is 10 days old and we're struggling to get him to sleep on his back in his bassinet (it's a snuzpod attached to my side of the bed and so I'm close to him when he is in it). I'm breastfeeding and he is feeding really well, roughly every 2/3 hours and generally falling asleep straight away usually in an upright, on-his-tummy position while DH or I burp him. But as soon as we put him in his bassinet he starts squirming and wakes up crying. Swaddling makes no difference. We've got him to sleep in his car seat a few times when we desperately needed to sleep but we obviously can't do that and so are sleeping in shifts ATM.

He seems to have a bit of a sore tummy which I think is a result of the thrush medication we are both on and I'm wondering if he might feel the pain a bit more when he is on his back.

He is my first baby and I'm terrified to try putting him in a different sleep position as the advice on newborns sleeping on their backs seems to be quite militant. Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to get him down to sleep?? Is this just part of a newborn 'settling in' phase or will I never be able to get him down to sleep on his back/own?

Hi there,

My DD2 would not be put on her back at all to begin with, awake or asleep she would scream the place down instantly and she would only sleep on someone. Have you tried a sling for daytimes? Not much help at night time I know. We co-slept for several weeks, mostly with her on my chest and me just snoozing lightly. Have you tried tilting his cot mattress so his head is higher than his feet? That can help with wind/sore tummies.

My DD2 will happily play for a while on her back and I'm now working on getting her to fall asleep in her crib by herself on her back (with dummy and patting/stroking her head). She will go off OK but often wake up after 40 minutes or so. I have to admit that I sometimes turn her on her side or even tummy and she will go back off to sleep and sleep really well - but I keep a very close eye and am probably a dreadful mummy (and she is DD2 which helps slightly - I have managed not to break DD1 so far and we're two years in

It's probably part of the settling in phase. DS wouldn't be put down at first-OH and I slept in shifts and genuinely thought we'ed be doing it forever! We did shifts- but in bed. We had a baby side and a sleeping side. I would feed DS to sleep and transfer him into moses. He'd last 10-15 mins then cry-Id' take him out and let him sleep on me whilst I watched tv on laptop with head phones on. He was feeding every 2.5 hrs so I'd put him back into the moses 20 mins before he was "due" a feed. He'd wake for the feed the OH would take over. Gradually the times in the basket met in the middle!! We sort of realised that having him downstairs with lights/tv on wasn't really helping and he just needed to get used to being near us but not on us. We persevered as I really didn't want to co-sleep but friends have sworn by it to get more sleep! Good Luck. It gets loads easier.

i second the shift sleeping, I was at home so took the midnight and 2am feeds, OH did the 5am before going to work, and if needed the evening so I could get a nap. Its not for long though a couple of months and things start to get eaiser.

You could also try raising the head end of the basket (on a couple of books maybe) we foudn tha thelpedwith wind issus for the firs few months. Also any winding after I had put him down I left him in the basket for, just sat him up leaning foward on my arm, as that helped limit how disturbed his sleep was. That said mine slept on his side for the first month or so until he uncurled!

My DS is like this. I didn't have the energy to fight it, so I just slept in bed with him propped up on my arm, underneath his head and back.

I don't necessarily recommend this as he is still doing it now he is seven months, but I get lots more sleep than I would otherwise.

I possibly could have persevered with the moses basket but I didn't have the energy.

DD woke every single time we put her on her back. Screaming. Turned out to be silent reflux.

Could be relux. MyDD is sick now at 23m If she has soya so this is what i put her bad sleep as a baby down to. But she also has a lip tie so probably had/has a tongue tie making feeding difficult.

Thanks so much for all your advice! We're keeping an eye on the reflux thing but he seems to be fine during the day. We managed to get him down for two hours today for the first time so we're going to spend the night settling him in his bassinet no matter what... We're setting ourselves up for a sleepless night but hoping he will get used to it!

Hope you're all asleep!

Well he cried between 11pm and 2am so I was constantly feeding, changing, burping and comforting but then he went down for a two-hour nap (half of which he spent on my chest) and then a solid three hours in his bassinet. We've managed to get him down for about an hour at a time so far this morning so we are definitely improving! Thanks for all your advice xx