5 week old and no sleep at night!

[emmagthompson81]

We have a five week old baby who will not settle in his Moses basket. We will cradle him to fall asleep on us and when he's put down he instantly wakes up.

So much advice is given by friends and midwives but what worked for you - need help as my husband and I are taking it in turns at the moment to hold baby during the night and it's sending us mad!!

I bought a sleepyhead and warmed it with a hot water bottle before putting him in it. That seemed to help us a lot but then maybe he was just ready to sleep a bit longer. I also really persevered with putting him down, especially at night.

I should point out I wasn't persevering in a sleep training way, just that they suddenly seem to do things differently so don't assume he'll never sleep off you.

I have a 4 week old who sleeps like a log in his Moses basket till 3/4am then refuses to go back down after his feed so I partially feel your pain.

I second the sleepyhead. We bought it when DS was around 5 weeks old and within in a week he'd gone from only sleeping with us/on us in our bed, to being in his own room.

I was about to start a thread about this and came to look at the topic first!
My DD is only a week old so I know everything is still new and traumatic for her and me but she won't go down in her bednest. At night after a feed she'll fall asleep on my chest and after the next sleep she'll fall asleep on my bed next to me (I have to be touching her, holding hand or patting chest) but if I try to put her in the bednest she starts crying in about 2 mins. I have had a tip to line the cot with rolled up towels but haven't tried it yet.
Is the trick just perseverance?

Would you consider co-sleeping? I have an almost 4 week old and sleep much better as I've co-slept with her since birth. I didn't do it with dc1 but I wish I had.

I think the 'trick' is that they grow out of it. The first few weeks they are very shocked to be in the world and will want to be held by you. It's very intense but you can't really 'train' a baby that age to do anything. Taking shifts is a good plan! There is a worry that somehow you should be doing something to help them sleep alone but you aren't setting any bad habits by letting them sleep on you. I did some co sleeping by propping myself up against the headboard with DS on my chest. But really I just kept putting him in his basket and crib and eventually he slept there. He wasn't really happy until we just put him in his big cot at 7 weeks! He kept hitting the sides of the crib and basket and was much better with the space. Persevere and try and enjoy, DS rarely sleeps on me now at 17 weeks and I miss it :(