8 Week Old won't sleep during the Day

[Newmum26]

My 8 week old sleeps 9pm - 2am, 2.30 - 5.30am, 6am - 9am ish during the night, give or take an hour each way.
But during the day he hardly sleeps at all if we are at home, if we go out somewhere in the car he's fine he will drop off in the car seat and stay asleep while we are out and for an hour on the car seat when we get home.
He is a very busy baby loves smiling, gurgling and always wants to be upright looking around everywhere.
You can see he is tired during the day but he won't give in.
He will cat nap in his bouncer if we are lucky for half hour here or there.
I've tried bringing him upstairs and laying him in his crib and he just flaps his arms and legs around and starts winging.
Anyone else have this problem and Any ideas? Thanks!

How are you getting him to sleep? At that age I had to hold my baby for most naps. She naps on her own now so it's not 'making a rod for your own back' or any of that nonsense. I would suggest lots of snacks and drinks and baby on you if you can manage - if you're already doing that then it could be a growth spurt x

Ugh, good luck! DS2 would only sleep in the bounce chair or being cuddled.

My now 14 week old was very similar to yours. At around nine weeks I decided to tackle it. I did this by using very consistent and clear sleep cues. He goes into his swaddle (arms up swaddle, as like yours he waved his arms and legs around and distracted himself, but he didn't like the traditional swaddle), into a dark room, white noise on, sing same lullaby every time.

Then into the cot, and whatever happens he doesn't come out of the cot. To start with, this might mean I had to sit with him for 20 minutes while he cried. It was horrid, and I had to wear ear plugs. I would put my hand on his chest and say shush when he was crying, and would then lift my hand and stop shushing when he was calm.

I cleared the diary and did this for two weeks. It was mindnumbing. But he now puts himself to sleep in 10 minutes with no crying 3 times a day.

Relentless consistency and calm did it for us, and now my issue is whether I should wake him from his morning nap which has now lasted 2.5 hrs!

Good luck.

I should also say, that I give him a top up feed for naps, as then I am confident he's not crying for hunger. His swaddle was fab for extending his naps.

Please don't sleep train an 8 week old baby. Have a look into the third trimester - and this is also a great read. Patience is key.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/sarahockwell-smith.com/2015/08/26/lets-talk-about-bad-habits-and-baby-and-child-sleep/amp/

Sorry meant 4th trimester!

I've got a 10 weeek old who sleeps pretty much the same as yours during the night and also fights sleep during the day. She goes down well at night but in the day I've started rocking her/giving top up feeds and letting her sleep on me or I take her out in the pram then she gets a couple of hours in the middle of the day and the odd half an hour. It's tough because if I put her down she will wake up so I'm also using a sling which helps her to sleep. She won't sleep on her cot during the day and whether or not it's the right thing to do I don't try any more in the day as she just won't get any sleep there and becomes upset and over tired.

I assume FTM is referring to what I describe as sleep training. I am not here to get into an argument, so I am going to write this and then not look at this thread again.

I do what I do because I had a 3 hour visit with a sleep consultant with 30 years experience. At no point do I leave my baby when he's crying or going to sleep. As the sleep consultant pointed out, the baby is not hungry, not in discomfort (obvs you have to rule these things out) and you are right there and in physical contact. The baby is crying because it is tired and desperately wants to be asleep. You are helping your baby to fall asleep.

Some believe you are an unloving monster for not feeding or rocking your baby to sleep in the 'fourth trimester' - fine if it works and you're happy with it. It never worked for my baby. I can feed him to sleep, leave him sleeping on me without moving a muscle, and he will invariably wake up 10 minutes later. The cat nap will have taken the edge of his tiredness, so a proper nap is then out of the window.

My baby now happily goes into his cot for all sleeps, goes to sleep entirely unaided in 10 mins, never cries and wakes up smiling. He's also very well rested, and sleeps better at night as a result.

If that is sleep training, I'd take it any day of the week.

OP - do whatever suits your style and your baby, but don't be bullied by anyone who tries to make you feel bad about whatever approach you take.

Thanks for the replies ladies! Great advice there thank you.
Are you saying it's to early to sleep train a 8 week old baby? I'm unsure what I am supposed to be doing, should I try and put him down in his crib and let him cry until he falls asleep or just go with the flow for now and he will do it on his own in time?

Oh and I'm not cuddling him to sleep in the day I will just try and pop him down in the bouncer or crib and then that's when he wakes up 😕

Canals (naps about 30-45m) are completely normal and nothing to be concerned about. The way to ensure your baby doesn't get over tired is to ensure the catnaps are frequent. So about 60-90m after waking from one nap, be working on helping baby get back to sleep.

You will need to help baby sleep. Just putting in crib is unlikely to work. Crib naps are often most successful with a swaddle. You mention car journeys or bouncer working - so it sounds like baby likes movement to get to sleep. That's not a problem at this age, just go with it.

So if the bouncer works, do bouncer naps but keep them frequent. Once it gets to about an hour from waking, into bouncer and be relentless about your bouncing - It allow for half an hour to get baby to sleep. Then 30-45m nap is ok. Wake, note the time and repeat an hour or so later.

There's no reason for your baby to be crying. If any upset I would give dummy.

Honestly I would just go with the flow for now. My DD was the same. I ended up getting a cheap pop up pram for indoors and would put her in that and rock her to sleep. She is 1 now and naps perfectly on her own. Its really up to you but I wasn't able to leave my baby crying, not that I judge others for doing so but it didn't feel natural to me as a mother.

Are you saying it's to early to sleep train a 8 week old baby? it is yes, the recommendtion used to be 6 months, many say a year now. I personally would never do it as I don't agree with it but that is just me. 8 weeks is still pretty tiny and as poster above my little one naps on her own now and I never sleep trained. It won't be forever x