Unsettled sleep 10 week old

[Deduct37]

My little boy who is 10 week old today is having a really hard time with his sleep. Daytime naps are a nightmare and he will fight them like they are the worst thing ever and then when he does go over he will then will wake up shortly afterwards, as soon as 8 minutes later! The naps then continue this way for the rest of the day, trying to get him back over to sleep because he is still clearly tired and grumpy. By the time it gets to 5pm he is generally very tired and sometimes ends up having a 3 hour nap here which then ends up meaning he has been in bed from this time! I have tried possibly everything to get him to nap in the day but I haven't found anything that works every time. I don't mind the initial fight but when the naps are so unsettled and he is fighting me, holding his body stiff and crying throughout, it is very draining and difficult, especially having a 2 year old to entertain aswell. If we take him in the pram he is the same, same in the car, bed, cot, arms etc. It makes no difference. When it comes to bedtime, he has his bath, bottle and then is put in his crib awake, no dummy, no rocking, no nothing and falls asleep independently without any fuss. But this is the only time he does it. He will then generally have a decent block of sleep from whenever he has gone to bed until 1ish (with a feed at 9/10) when he has the 1-2 o clock feed, he has this, I try to burp him but he doesn't usually part with any wind, I keep him upright for 20 minutes or so then put him back in the crib. He has usually fallen straight back to sleep at this time. Once in the crib he stays asleep for 5 minutes or so and then it starts. He thrashes around from side to side, arms fling around and head is banging from one side to the other. He becomes very restless and needs resettling from them until morning at 20-40 minute intervals. I end up putting him in bed with me hoping to get more sleep but it's just the same. He doesn't seem to need anything but can't get into a good sleep for the second part of the night. When I finally get up around 7 with my toddler, he ends up waking crying and yawning immediately. It is then a viscous cycle of overtiredness and a grumpy boy. Does anyone have any advice please? My little girl was a rubbish sleeper also and became chronically overtired until recently. I want to try and nip it in the bud before it gets even worse. Any help please before I go crazy

Have you tried a swaddle? Quite right around the arms/shoulder. The thrashing around is a sign of utter desperation to sleep - it's the baby saying "pleeeaaassseee please PLEASE help me get to sleep NOW".

It's not unusual that you have to take the lead with baby in this. Help baby to be calm and still to sleep. Swaddle and dummy are great for teaching this independantly.

I agree with Fate on the swaddle. When my five week old is desperate to sleep at the end of the day the swaddle is the only thing that works. He goes from screaming to calm in seconds. For daytime naps I've found the only way the baby and i survive is to wear him in a sling. I have a 4 yr old and an almost 2 yr old so there's no way I can devote time trying to get the baby to settle in his cot during the day. On the days when I try to settle him for naps else where he only sleeps for a few minutes and by the end of the day is in an overtired state! I had one of those days yesterday and I also ended up sobbing uncontrollably!

Thanks for your replies. Yes we have tried swaddling him but he still manages to work his way out of it even when it's tight. I bought the miracle wraps which are supposed to be a life saver but he manages it with these also. He still goes as stiff as a board in them and continues to fight sleep. He has a dummy but he doesn't seem to manage it very well. We sit and hold it in but it generally falls back out when we let go.
I'm sure it is down to over tiredness so am looking for ways on how to get out of the tired cycle

Keep going with the dummy, he'll "get" what to do in the end. My youngest needed a fair amount of oersistant until she understood that sucking the dummy have comfort.

I'm not sure from reading your post If if you want to ti d a way to make swaddled work or if you prefer not to use one?

If he's wriggling out, the material isn't long enough. No need to buy anything special to swaddle. A basic cot sheet cut in half along the short edge gives you two swaddled (one for the wash and one to use). You want two very long, thin rectangles (not short fat rectangles like crib sheets).

Place baby in centre. Wrap left side over left shoulder and left arm, under baby and out the other side. One half should go all the way around baby with a bit spare. Then do the same on the right hand side. Baby's weight keeps the material in-place because it's wrapped all the way around baby several times.

Yes, you usually have to reswaddle after an hour or so wriggling. But it should be enough to hold baby tight and snug to calm and sooth.

Also make sure you are feeding enough. A full belly solves many sleep issues.

He reminds me of my DS. He used to settle better on his own. I'd put him down. he'd go crazy for a minute and then calm a bit at which point I'd go and shush him. He'd then go to sleep.

At 10 weeks I used to put him down after an hour and 15-30 minutes. Once he looked tired it was too late and it would take longer.