8 week old sleep issues....no idea what to do

[Northernbeachbum]

DS is 8 weeks old and his sleep is getting worse! Once asleep hes fab but getting him to sleep is very tough as hes a pro at getting overtired. He used to sleep in the pram, now he wont unless its quite bumpy terrain. He used to go to sleep just by patting his back while he laid on you. Nope not anymore. Now he will only get to sleep in the carrier with me walking around. Now its been fab for weight loss but its exhausting. He has a sleepyhead and he will sleep in that at night happily. He also has Ollie the owl which helps him stay asleep.

Out and about he sleeps well as long as you dont put him in the pram but its been SO hot it doesnt work all the time. I need him to eventually learn to self settle and sleep in a less exhausting way for me. Can anyone offer advice???

Oh and if i put him down tired not asleep with the owl and sleepyhead he just wakes up then screams

Totally normal I’m afraid. Babies change the goal posts constantly. Sleep isn’t linear- or goes up and down in the first years and contanslty changes.

At 8 weeks he’s still in the 4th trimester and figuring out the world. Unless he’s doing it naturally himself (some wonder babies do this little) it’s faaaaaar too mearly to be worrying about self settling. He’s still tiny. At 8 weeks DS had to be fed to sleep or shoogled/rocked quite a bit. He first self settled at 5 months but that was very early. He just naturally did himself. At this stage, although its hard id just do whatever you need to to get baby to sleep. It will change again before you know it!

Ive been worrying i should be expecting him to as friends little ones of a similar age just need swaddling and they sleep, he hates being swaddled. I think the sling works as he cant see daylight but i need a pram equivalent as it would be great to be able to walk hik in that!! I guess i should just be glad of the exercise and that at least its not raining when we're off for our walks

Don’t compare your baby to others, it’s never good. They are all different and no one size fits all. Every other baby I knew slept all night early on- mine didn’t untill 11 months. Keep trying different things untill you find something that works. For the first 4 months DS only slept on me or in the sling- literally no where else. Even going in the cot at night was a hit or miss and he mostly slept in with me.

Have you thought about a snooze shade for the pram? When DS did eventually decide to tolerate the pram I found it really handy. I had one for the buggy bit and the car seat

In the most kindly meant way - this may be more about unrealistic expectations than a problem you can solve iyswim. I've had 3 babies and none of them have slept well/easily/consistently when small and none were able to settle themselves or even consistently sleep alone until much older. All 3 of mine have been different so I don't think it's just that I was doing it all wrong, though we'll meant advice and knowing people with sleeping babies can make uoi feel that way!

Try to go with it as much as possible - Rock, pat, feed, cuddle, Cosleep etc. Do whatever it takes to get some rest and worry about the long term later. Mine all go to bed easily, happily and sleep through now and have done for years without any sleep training etc from me. It gets better, promise.

He has a pram snooze shade but it doesnt block enough light so i think we might need a better one. I think he might sleep better once hes out of the bassinet bit and in the normal chair fully reclined as i think the straps will make him feel like hes being held. I cant do that yet though can i??

Ive been thinking its all normal its just the overtired issue we need to resolve but watching other babies be much more chilled has made me doubt myself. He goes from not quite tired enough to sleep to ao overtired i cant get him to sleep in seconds it feels like. Happy to continue doing whatever it takes i just wanted reassurance its the right tactic

Sorry but some babies are like this. My dd would only sleep in the carrier, not in a pram, cot, car seat. Although she did have silent reflux though so it was more of a being vertical thing I think. I used to arrive everywhere pushing an empty pram (for some unknown reason I kept trying for months!) with dd in the carrier. You child is still very new to the world. They'll get better at sleeping eventually.

Both mine hated being laid flat. Neither liked being in the carry cot on the pram. I used car seat on the pram when they were little and they both slept happily in that.

Every baby is different so don't compare yours to others. DS1 had to be rocked and held to nap for at least the first few months if he wasn't in the pram. DS2 would nod off himself with white noise, dummy and swaddle.

Should say I never used a sling or carrier because I had huge babies and after a c-section my stomach couldn't take it!

I could put the car seat on the pram more, he does like that. I wonder if the pram seat might be better for him thougg?

The words 8 week old and sleep issues go hand in hand I'm afraid. At this age and for many months (years) to come their sleep will be all over the place. Nothing lasts long whether it's good or bad when they are babies. Just relax , go with the flow and do whatever it takes to get them to sleep. It took me three children to realise that no amount of googling or research will solve the problem with sleep because they will only do it when they are ready , all you can do is provide the opportunities and the right conditions.

Op you could try settling him to sleep about 2 hours after he has woken up to avoid the over tiredness. I don’t think it will help him
Self settle etc but it may mean he falls asleep a bit easier.

Do you swaddle? I swaddle my 11 week old and hold him 10-20 minutes after each night feed and then he goes down well in his sleepyhead (sometimes with a hand on his tummy to settle). I find it helps a lot, he’s much better than I remember his big sister being.

You may be able to get an insert for your pram seat - DS is too big for the bassinet already so we’ve got a newborn insert so he can use the seat already.

Glad its not just me. Ive been happily doing whatever is needed until i got comments of it being so tough what i need to do to get him to sleep.

2 hours, ok will try that thanks for the tip its nice to have something to try!!

@dinodiva he hates it!! I tried it again last night and he just fought and fought it and got cross. I was hoping it might be my saviour

No, these aren't sleep issues, these are normal.

Try reading The Gentle Sleep Book by Sarah OckwellSmith.

Keep doing what works for you. I still am at 13 mo and no intentions of doing otherwise. Yes I feed him back to sleep at night. There's bugger all else that would work without everyone getting less sleep.

Im sort of worried about what if the carrier stops working

I second reading the gentle sleep book/ really helped me to understand how babies sleep.

Also that things change. Dd is 14 weeks, just had a week of barely any naps (makes her a shouty pants), today she went back to bed until woken at 11am, napped on her dad over pub lunch and is asleep on me now.

Just wanted to add to the voices saying “normal, don’t compare, keep doing what works” - remember as well that you don’t see other people’s babies for long enough to really judge, and some people seem to enjoy being smug about sleep and may not be telling the whole truth!

Once he’s asleep in the sling, can you flop down on the sofa with a cold drink and a book/decent telly? It’s not as good as sleep, but does give you a bit of a rest. Definitely don’t feel you should be getting stuff done (except recharging your own batteries) while he’s sleeping.

Im sort of worried about what if the carrier stops working things have a way of working out. If the carrier stops working it’ll mean your baby’s changed in some way and something that doesn’t currently work might suddenly do the trick. Also, I can still get my 98th percentile 11 month old into the sling for a sleep the few times he’s been teething and fussy and fighting sleep, though I barely need to these days as things are easier now he’s more used to the world.

I used to find it really hard to get my daughter to sleep however I realised it was because she was getting to overtired before bed time. We have had a good routine from 8 weeks. Bath, bottle & then bed. I always put her in her cot whilst we run her a bath with Ollie the owl on. After her bath we put her in a sleeping bag so she can still kick her legs but not too much. Also, I've never covered her hands up to encourage her to self soothe. We normally bath her at about 8pm so I'll try and make sure she's had a nap at about 7 for a short while. Not always possible as she does fight her naps sometimes but if that's the case then we bath her earlier. All babies are different though so you can't compare to others however I do think having a good routine at night that you do every night will help him know it is bed time :) hope that helps a little.