Baby will sleep at night, but not in the day...

[Penguinandminipenguin]

DD is 4 weeks old. In the night she has a feed with her eyes closed, then goes in the moses basket asleep and stays asleep until the next feed (I know I really can't complain about the night!).

Then she has her 5am feed and refuses to sleep. She fights it and fights it and after a lot of hard work she eventually dozes off. Then we do the flop test on her limbs and they are all floppy, so put her down in her moses basket. Within a minute she is wide awake. Not crying, just wide awake. If we leave her, she gurgles to herself until eventually she starts screaming and have to pick her up.

This goes on all day. She can be asleep in my arms for even an hour, and seems dead to the world. Yet, as soon as I put her down she is wide awake again. Then once she is wide awake she niggles until she is put in something like her bouncer chair or play mat.

How can I get her in to her moses basket asleep, and keep her asleep? I'm really worried she's not napping enough in the day, as she is sometimes awake for hours on end. Take today for example, she's been awake since 7am and is only now finally asleep, but in someone's arms. What can we do?

4 weeks is very young and to be honest most babies are like this. If I were you I'd embrace it and get a sling. Baby will nap longer and your hands will be free to do stuff. Means you don't get a lie down but a bit of quiet time is better than listening to a crying baby.
Then when she's older you can gradually introduce her to nap time in her cot. My lo is 12 weeks and still napping on me. You think it won't ever change but it honestly just does... Google 4th trimester - worth a read. And enjoy those cuddles in the scheme of things it's such a short time and when they are at the tantrum stage you'll look back with rose tinted glasses and remember those cuddly times.... x

Sorry meant to say you could invest in a bouncy chair... Didn't work for us but the bouncing/rocking motion sends them off and many babies spend months taking naps in them. Sounds like you are doing great at night

I am/was having the same issue. I followed advice from here to just get him sleeping however i could (sling/car etc) and then go from there. I didn't and don't have such good nights as you sadly. :-(

This week we have made real progress in that i have put him down still on the feeding pillow and he's stayed asleep, and just half an hour ago managed bounce him to sleep in the bouncy chair!! Had to keep bouncing thevwhole time but its the first time in 7wks 2days that he's fallen asleep without me holding him or being in the car seat.

So clearly i'm nite any sort of expert as i posted exactly the same as you but just wanted to say, it does get better. :-)

Thanks both. I will try walking her around in the sling a bit, I'm just desperate for lie down in the day when she's napping because I have M.E. Hopefully it will get easier. It's just so strange that she will allow me to put her down at night, just not in the day.

Think night sleep is very different to naps for some reason. Out of the 2 - night sleep and bedtime is more important than naps. Sorry to hear you have ME - that must be exhausting on top of a newborn x

In that case I really shouldn't complain that she's ok at night! Good to know this is all normal though :)

Have you tried laying down with her and feeding to sleep? Then you can stay laying down and nap?

I've tried, but I don't think I'm doing it right because my boob smothers her. I had limited movement though due to c section so I might give that another go and see if I can get the position any better.

My baby was like this for a while and I just did the sling thing. By about three months she was happy to have all her naps in her cot. All of these phases pass and everything changes so quickly with babies. I would do what others suggest and just make sure your baby naps enough even if it isn't in the ideal place at this stage.

I don't know if book size makes a difference, mine aren't big. Ibid it easiest to lay on my left side, head on pillows. Baby is under my left arm, level with boob. You'd have to getvthe angle right so the nose isn't pressing into your boob. Sometimes have him laying on the feeding pillow - he can feed from the right boob then too.

You could hold your boob to stop it covering her nose. Keep trying, its worth it! (we spend from 2am til 10am in this position some mornings!!)