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Sleep

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Original poster

8 week old no longer settling at night !

15 replies

Mammy2myboy · 18/09/2017 20:37

I've refrained from posting this as I'm sure it is normal and many people will tell me so.... however I think I'm probably just looking for some reassurance!

My baby is 8 weeks today and ebf. On a good night he'd be bathed at 6ish and then fed which would mean he would be in bed sleeping for around 7-7.30pm. Fed again at 10pm, 2/3ish then 5. I'm On a bad night the same routine but from 2am he's up every hour- sometimes half an hour. I've always held onto the fact that we're very lucky that he sleeps from 7ish- 10pm. However!! The last few nights, he's been a nightmare to get settled at this time. I'm sometimes up and down until the next feed settling him. He will drop off quickly but as soon as I'm away he wakes up and cries.
He is a baby who cries a lot anyway but the last few nights he's been inconsolable from around 4/5pm until his bath time.
Is this the 8 week hitch? Does anyone else have any experience of this at 8 weeks? I felt that last week was a move forward... He had started to settle but it's kind of knocked my confidence this week!
I'm pretty sure it's not unusual but I'd like some reassurance that it gets better (soon... ;-) )

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FuzzyOwl · 18/09/2017 20:41

Sounds like it could be colic which often lasts until 12 or so weeks.

Have you tried being really quiet and boring during the daytime to make sure he isn't being overstimulated? I know it sounds unlikely but I noticed a massive difference when I kept things dark, quiet and calm during the daytime during these weeks. If you google colic being an early manifestation of migraine due to overstimulation and about boring a baby out of colic, you'll find more information on it.

someblondegirl · 18/09/2017 20:44

Has he just had his jabs? Could it be linked to that? Mine wasn't himself for a few days after his.

Clair1408 · 18/09/2017 22:15

I have an 8 week old and he is the same he is up at 12:40am then 2:20am then every 40 minutes till I get up with him at 5:30 he is then awake until 8:30am then have a good doze... he is my 5th I have 4 girls and had them going through the night by now! I was breast feeding but have now been bottle feeding for a week and still no better.. any advice would be appropriated.. he has his injections thursday

Original poster

Mammy2myboy · 19/09/2017 05:31

Fuzzy owl- I'll give that a go but I have sometimes found that he gets bored easily. It could be a combination of that though and over tiredness. He is a terrible napper. I've took to swaddling him , doing shush pat (doesn't seem to work), jiggling, swinging, rocking and he screams blue murder. Eventually he may drop off.

Someblondegirl, he's not due his jabs until next week.. that will be an interesting week! ;-)

Clair, I feel your pain!

Well tonight was another bad night... before tonight. The 2 nights previous he had a formula feed at 10pm as usual and I also gave him a formula feed when he woke up at 2/3 this was taking him to 5/6am. However I decided to ff as usual at 10 pm and then bf at the next week which was 2.30am. We've been up just shy of an hour each feed and up again then half an hour after finishing the feed. I'm sat with him now and he's peering at me with his big wide awake (But shattered! ) eyes. I was finding that although I did the 3 am ff and had to go downstairs to express aftewards, this was quicker than the bf feed itself and I was having a longer sleep thereafter! I would really like to just do the bf but being up so much in the night is too much when it seemed to be resolved with a bottle!

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Original poster

Mammy2myboy · 19/09/2017 05:33

*next feed that should say! (Sleep deprivation...) I hope my post makes sense... Just read it back and I'm not too sure!

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lauramcd86 · 19/09/2017 06:05

I think everything is "normal" when they're still so young xxx mine is 14 weeks, some nights I'm up feeding every hour from 2 (am ebf) butttttt Saturday she slept from 830-615, and last night 9-545!!!! Every day is different when their naps aren't consistent (this one also a terrible napper!) it's all just so unpredictable you just gotta roll with it and try catch up on sleep/rest anyway you can. Hope things get better. Everything is just a phase remember that. Colicky baby here but I swear the 3 month mark has been a turning point and she's DEFINITELY improved.

teaandbiscuitsforme · 19/09/2017 08:12

Are you sure he's not trying to cluster feed to build your supply for growth spurts?

Holz657 · 19/09/2017 08:19

I have an 8 week old and he's sleeping fine at night but oh my the last few days he's been SO unsettled during the day. He has a bit of a cold so maybe down to that; also this might be rubbish but I downloaded an app called the wonder years and apparently we are in a stormy period, maybe the same for your little one. He has his first lot of jabs tomorrow so I'm a bit worried about that. X

Original poster

Mammy2myboy · 19/09/2017 09:51

Lauramcd, that's great that your little one has started having longer stretches! I know what you mean with grabbing rest where you can. I just feel that when I get an hour I have to carefully choose between sleep and food usually prevails (I can see where my boy gets it from...)

Teanbiscuits... I don't think He's cluster feeding through the night... I may be wrong but he tends to do that in the afternoon. My supply is quite high through the night.

Holz, I have the wonder weeks app and book it's great although I get a bit nervous about reading it as there's not much that can prepare you for a grouchy baby :-D I hope he gets on ok with his jabs, I'm dreading ours next week xxx

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lauramcd86 · 19/09/2017 10:04

@Mammy2myboy honestly jabs aren't so bad. This little miss had a HUGE nap! I mean literally hours. Totally messed up that nights sleep (sorry) but I didn't really mind cos I wanted to keep an eye on her. Maybe prepare for this and try get some sleep when he sleeps during that day (after you eat!!! Obviously! Priorities, I hear ya on that one! Tea and a treat anytime she's asleep )

FATEdestiny · 19/09/2017 12:17

I've took to swaddling him , doing shush pat (doesn't seem to work), jiggling, swinging, rocking and he screams blue murder. Eventually he may drop off

That sounds like lots of different things. Consistancy is very important to baby sleep. It's fine to have a ladder if increasingly extra help you give, but apply that in a consistent way at every sleep time

Have you tried a dummy?

What are you doing to get baby to go to sleep in the daytime, at night and at bedtime?

Original poster

Mammy2myboy · 19/09/2017 15:05

Hi fate, in the day I usually try and put him down about 8.30 as we're usually up at 7am. Whatever time we get up an hour- an hour and a half afterwards, I'll hold him close and rock/sway. I think he knows what's coming so he'll start to scream and I do the shush pat. If we're lucky he stops fighting it after about 20 mins but if not he'll calm down and look as though he's about to drift off and then scream again and I tend to start from scratch. I've downloaded a white noise app on my phone and tried that this morning which did have some effect although I'm not sure if he was thinking more along the lines of "what the hell is that?" At the morning nap he'll have about 45 mins- an hour - on a good day. Bad day- 10 mins / none at all. He sometimes just ends up sleeping on me for his nap but I do try to put him down.

Lunch time ish- same as above, this one is usually tougher and we fight for longer. Yesterday I put him down in his cot in his room- I'm trying to get him used to it. I've made a makeshift sleepy head to try and make him feel more secure. He slept for 10 mins and then woke up. I settled him again and put him back down and he had half an hour. There have been times where he's had 2 hours but these feel like a distant memory. Today I went for a walk and he only slept for half an hour and then proceeded to wail.

The afternoon nap is the hardest...

I try to top him up/feed before all of his naps to allow him to sleep longer. More recently I've swaddled for his naps.

At night, as I say the settling at 7ish has only been a problem recently. He has a bath and then screams for a while (he hates being naked and getting dressed) I then feed for anywhere from 30min to an hour and put him down asleep. When he's woken up I have either put him back to my breast or given him his dummy and done shush pat.

I'm In night when I've bf at the 2/3 am feed. He gets up every hour or more without fail. I think (as does my husband) that he's having a lazy feed and just taking a little bit then going to sleep for a short while and wanting more. It's like he's getting some comfort too. I've tried everything to try to get him to have a better feed- taking a layer off/ tickling his feet/ swapping breast. It either doesn't work or makes him wired and I can't get him back to sleep. As I said before the only thing that seems to give him a better stretch is a bottle of formula but ideally I don't want to start that twice in the night. Happy to keep the one at 10.30.

The dummy usually gets given more naps but I've tried to avoid it at night although it's been used the last few nights. He'll only take the dummy if he's not yet reached hysteria.

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Original poster

Mammy2myboy · 19/09/2017 15:06

Ps I'm eagerly awaiting a sling to arrive in the post...

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crazycatlady5 · 19/09/2017 15:44

Sounds like sling would be ideal for you. Try white noise too. My 7mo knows now that white noise means sleep time so once she has shown tired signs I take her into a quiet, dark room with white noise and feed her. She knows what's coming and it relaxes her x

Original poster

Mammy2myboy · 19/09/2017 16:03

When i tried the white noise app this morning it seemed to work although I couldn't work out whether he was just suspicious or if he liked it. I'll keep going with it though! X

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