Baby won't sleep. We are both exhausted. PLEASE HELP!!!!

[ratfly]

As I write this, my son in screaming in the next room. I can't even bear to go near him.

He is 14 weeks old and heas never been a good sleeper. For his naps, I have tried:
bouncing in a chair
feeding to sleep
holding and rocking etc
all at different times, and the end result is that he will sleep for between 1 and 20 minutes then wake up. so for a daytime nap I need to sit by him and help him go back to sleep when he wakes. I always put him down at the early signs of tiredness.

If I drive he might sleep, but wakes when we stop. ditto for going out in the pram.

he wakes up 2 - 4 times in the night. I feed him, he goes to sleep. he wakes at 6.30 with huge bags under his eyes. we try a nap at 7.30/8, which lasts about 20 mins.

by bedtime he is screaming as he is so tired, but he will not sleep!!!
I am so exhausted I am considering leaving him to cry it out as a technique. I hate it, but I am so fgrustrated I am starting to resent him.

Please help!

Here are a few ideas from Practical Parenting. We did controlled comforting and it worked well for us...

sleep methods

I'd beg someone to come and take the baby out for a stroll in the park and go to bed for the afternoon. The problem with that level of tiredness is that you can't think straight. Hang in there. When I was going through this, I used to tell myself that when they're teenagers, I'll be screaming at them to get up.

I've had a look on the Night Nannies website and they don't seem to cover Thetford. However, it does say that if you call the nearest office to you they might be able to help.

Night Nannies

i use an agency called sleeping babies - they can't have been more useful. they're london based, but may have some suggestions. alternatively contact the mid-wives where you delivered as they may have some names or may even have colleagues who free-lance as night nannies.

Or there will be a maternity nurse waiting for her next placement. I believe they cost an arm and a leg but a night's sleep can make all the difference. Ask for it as an early birthday present.

IIRC they charge £70 for 9pm til 7am. I was so desparate for sleep (ds1 was 13 months and ds2 was 1 month) I would have sold my granny to pay for it.

Oh my god, ratfly, I'm going through EXACTLY the same thing, and he is also screaming as I type! The only thing that I keep saying to myself is that the whole situation is only temporary - and that he won't be this age forever.

Also, he is my second and my first was a great sleeper. Just goes to show how the different personalities emerge, although it doesn't give much comfort.

trippleshot, I like the sound of a night nurse. Are they expensive?

loujay, what do cranial osteopaths do?

Another vote for cranial osteopathy here. I took ds2 a few times because he seemed to be distressed and in pain when he was very little. The cranial osteopath knew straight away (without any prompting from me) that he had been born by ventouse. She said that he had the fairly typical problem of a twist at the top of his neck/base of skull from being twisted as he was pulled out. It helped ds2 (and us) a lot.

My ds2 has just been diagnosed with reflux today and prescribed infant gaviscon so will see how that goes, I am getting used to lack of sleep anyway.

Hey, just reading this thread.. my son is same.. he is about 12.5 weeks old. Just wanted to ask if it did ever get better for you and around when?