how are your 6 week olds sleeping?

[carpetbrush]

Hi, my 6 week old is not sleeping unless held in the day which means he is not getting nearly enough sleep. He sleeps better in the night and wakes every 2-3 hours but he can take a very long time putting to sleep. I feed and change, and then rock him and sing to him but it seems to take a really long time and the slightest movement out of sync can put is back to square one. He isn't getting nearly enough sleep and he's cranky and overtired all day. I'm exhausted too and I've never been able to sleep well in the daytime so literally just running on a few hours sleep I get in the night. What are your 6 week old babies like and what do you do to get them to sleep? Mine doesn't seem to like being swaddled and I would like to train him to sleep in the basket by using the shh pat method but he cries and cries and I just don't have it in me to see it through. Thoughts and suggestions?

Sorry to tell you this but my 5 month old still doesn’t like being put down for daytime naps. She’s been like that from a few weeks old.

Will sleep in the crib fine though at night.

For the day time she sleeps in the carrier, car seat or sometimes on me. I’ve started transferring her onto the sofa to nap next to me with some success and minimal tears using white noise. I have managed to settle her to sleep once or twice but finding that Goldilocks zone of the right tiredness is a challenge! I’m trying to help her to self soothe but in a very gentle way.

TBH I just went with her flow when she was younger as I couldn’t deal with her overtiredness. At 6 weeks I don’t think I’d have considered any kind of sleep training.

I would enjoy the sleepy snuggles whilst he’s still young and take the chance to put your feet up, eat chocolate and watch TV.

It’s recommended a lot here but a sling is a great way to keep him close but also give you some flexibility to move around etc. It was one of the best things we bought for DD.

For the day time, have you got a rocker chair or a swing you could put him in to rock him rather than you doing it, it's best thing we ever bought!

I held mine.
husband did an early evening stint so I could get a chunk of sleep and took him in the carrier to walk the dogs in the morning so I could get a chunk then.

I sat on the sofa, holding sleeping baby. Anxiously

Yes the sling is very good for him to sleep in, so might have to persevere with that. I was told many babies sleep through by about 6 weeks so thought I'd ask if this was the case..

I won’t tell you how my current baby sleeps as I’ll get lynched but all babies are different and naps on you are perfectly normal. Try a rocker or use the pram. I don’t let them stay awake long in the day as it just makes them overtired. So 1.5hours max at this age really!

I think that very much depends on someone’s definition of sleeping through OP!

At 6 weeks they just want to be close to you. Waking up frequently is very normal because they have tiny stomachs and need to feed often. My eldest didn't sleep all night until 18 months and the baby is almost 5 months and feeding several times a night. Some people don't feel comfortable doing it but co-sleeping has made life bearable for me.

Good luck

My ds is 6 weeks and 2 days.

He is currently losely in this routine -

7.30am - wakes up (ds1 wakes us all at this time). Milk and awake time

9.00 - milk and nap

Then all day from 9am till 5pm he sleeps, only waking for milk which he has 4oz every 2 hours.
He sleeps wherever we are, either car seat, pram, moses basket or bouncer. Currently asleep in my arms though :)

Then at 5pm he is awake till around 8pm. He is usually very unsettled and cries a lot. Doesn't want milk or cuddles or to be put down!

8pm - back to sleep in our arms but very light sleep that he wakes from regularly

10.30pm - up to bed with us, milk and moses basket

2am - wakes for a feed

5am - wakes for a feed

7.30am - wakes up for the day

I should say that on tge other hand ds1 only ever slept in our arms and our bed till he was 5 months old. He was just a baby that would never be put down. Because of this he didn't sleep a lot because some days I physically couldn't just sit there doing nothing! I was always stressed that he wasn't getting enough sleep but to be honest he was just a baby who didn't need as much sleep as others. By 9 months old he was down to 1 nap a day but sleeping through at night, he is now 2.5 and still has a 2 hour nap a day (in his bed) and sleeps 7pm - 7.30 am.

If i could tell myself anything looking back, it's not to stress about it. That first year flew and honestly at that age, 'bad habits' can easily be changed so if your baby wants cuddles just try and embrace it, as hard as it is :-)