Ok so I'm all in a muddle about our 8 week old DS's sleep. During the daytime it's virtually impossible to get him to nap unless you're holding/rocking/walking with him (sitting on sofa with him in my arms does not cut it) and then he will only stay asleep for any decent length of time if you continue holding him. Obviously it's lovely having a baby sleeping on you but I'm getting fed up by either DH or I always having to be a human mattress to give DS any kind of daytime sleep. If we try and put him in his carrycot after he's fallen asleep, he wakes up more or less instantly, and once we've tried that a few times he just won't go to sleep at all - gets really crotchety with tiredness - I feed him instead - and then he finally goes to sleep. I'm dubious about relying on this tactic as well though, as I don't want to have to nurse him to sleep every time he needs a nap!
Daytime naps usually only ever last about 20 mins. We laugh in the face of the hour and a half suggested by the baby whisperer.
All of this means I don't get any kind of break all day when I'm at home during the week with DS, I can't take a nap myself (unless he's sleeping next to me in bed, which never makes for great sleep) and end up totally knackered by the evening.
We're plagued by the same problem at night which usually means I end up co-sleeping (DH is in spare room anyway) and getting a really broken half awake/half asleep night of sleepy breastfeeding, rather than clear blocks where I'm up and awake feeding DS, and then the rest of the time separately asleep in bed/Moses basket. Co-sleeping always seems a good decision at the beginning of the night (as a way of getting him to settle), but a terrible choice at the end of it! No set bedtime or bedtime routine yet - perhaps we should be doing that...
Anyone else battling the same things? Any magic suggestions to get him to settle in his basket - and sleep longer?? How often and how long should he be napping in the day? Do I need to do something proactively about all this and accept a battle to settle him (and even less sleep) before the situation gets better - or will he grow out of it? (She says hopefully).
We're typically pretty organised so this unstructured, 'path of least resistance approach' isn't our natural mode - but we're not quite sure how to tackle all this so are going with the flow at the moment...
Sorry, incredibly long and tedious post. I need some sleep! I hope this makes some kind of sense. Any advice would be brilliant.
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8 week old won't nap during day or settle in Moses basket at night - help!
23 replies
BirdsDoIt · 17/06/2014 17:58
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