Only sleeping 20 mins in basket - please help me!!!

[Rachelsmith0208]

My lovely boy is 7 weeks old and up until about a week ago he would sleep in his Moses basket for about 3 hours between night feeds. This week though he will not sleep at all! He will only sleep on me and if I put him down he wakes crying after 20 minutes and won’t settle. It’s been 4 nights of sitting up letting him sleep on me and I’m exhausted! Can’t keep this up. I’ve read lots about changing nap times and lengths during the day, can anyone give any advice on this? Should he be in more of a routine? I tend to let him decide on naps - is that wrong?! I’m a first time mum and starting to feel like a failure and that I can’t do this. Please help!

It's really hard when you're totally exhausted it's the middle of the night and the baby won't sleep for long but you can do this and you're not failing.
Has the baby been winded? Is the baby/room the correct temperature?
I think wind is the most likely problem if he's waking up 20 minutes after a feed. Infacol is good for helping wind.

This sort of behaviour often happens around 6 weeks. It usually settles again. Have you tried swaddling? Could he need more frequent feeding at the moment? You are not a failure. Babies behave like this. It's normal.

First off I would lower your expectations. He has injections coming up and that will disrupt him all over again. Secondly do you 'bath boob bed'? Or bottle, whichever. If you make a bedtime every night same time, same same, then you could go back to getting three hours at least until midnight.

He’s been feeding every couple of hours with this recent phase, was assuming he’s having a growth spurt or something...? I think the room temp is fine but haven’t tried swaddling as midwife said to avoid it. May give it a go - do I need a special blanket? Yes always had a good wind after feed, maybe he needs more.

I don't think I had any routine at that age, just followed DS's lead. Some babies like a routine, others can be persuaded into one.
You've mentioned you're sitting up and he will then sleep on you for longer so it could be a touch of reflux or just wind. I would contact your health visitor and ask her advice, I was told to put a folded towel under the head end of the Moses basket ( not under the mattress) by the midwives to help. But do ask your hv before you try something like this.
If it's not wind a dummy might help, I found the mam ones very good and still don't leave the house without at least 4!

You can get swaddle bags that zip up which are really good but you can use a muslin.