My DS had feeding issues which meant he lost 18% in first 6 weeks, and we were told we had to wake him 3 hours after the start of his last feed round the clock, even if he had only been asleep for ten mins at that point, which was often the case. So now at 10 weeks he is finally back over his birth weight and starting to thrive, but seems to be unable to sleep.
He falls asleep about 12:30am on me and sleeps till about 4:45am when he wakes through hunger. Many days that is it. So total sleep for 24 hours would be about 4 hours. He is absolutely exhausted all the time.
I asked the HV who said baby would sleep more when back to his birth weight and not to worry. He hasn't. I took him to the GP at 7 weeks who said to put him in a darkened room at nap time and he'd sleep if tired. He doesn't. I took him back and saw another GP at 9 weeks who said there is a large variation in babies and perhaps this was just his personality. I got the distinct impression from all of them that they didn't really believe me 'no baby really sleeps so little' being one comment, and aren't taking it seriously. And I just want to scream at them to help me.
The thing is he is clearly exhausted and totally wired and I feel it is now becoming detrimental to him. He has constantly jerky arms and legs now, wild eyes wide open and wimpering/crying whenever he is not feeding. He has now stopped making eye contact with me which is apparently a sign of sleep deprivation in infants.
On the days where I have to take him to be weighed we go with him in a sling and he sleeps there and back, so I'm wondering if I should just put him in the sling every time he is due a sleep and try to get him off or if this will just make his problems worse? At this point I feel his is so chronically tired that any sleep would be worth doing, Is this right? How can I tell when he should be napping? Should I be trying to get him to sleep in pram or cot but how? I feel really desperate as no-one is listening to me about him.