6 weeks and not sleeping at night

[Monopo1y]

Hi any help or advice is much appreciated. My 8 week old baby (also 5 weeks premature) won't sleep at night and is fighting sleep for ages. We believe he is more like a 6 week old. When we first came home from hospital and for the 4 weeks following he's been pretty settled waking once or twice each night for a feed/wind//resettling which lasted about an hour at a time. However for the 4 days he fights sleep constantly and is napping at best for an hour during the night is then shattered by morning as are we!

We have tried to understand what might be the cause ie is he windy or overtired or does he need the light on or off etc but seem to be at a loss. He will always sleep on us and when he cries us picking up instantly soothes him. He does tend to make lots of noise that we don't think he's in control of (it might be a premature thing as when in NICU the nurses said it was common). He is both formula feed and has breast milk. He's generally taking 4-5oz every 4 hours but when awake and thrashing about gets hungry quicker so will feed 2/3 hourly in the night when awake.

We tend to lay him in his snuzpod as he starts to nod off and for a couple of minutes you think you've cracked it as he looks like he's a sleep but within 5 minutes he's wide awake thrashing around (kicking his arms and legs), making loud noises etc he'll do this even when ignored for hours but eventually it'll turn to a cry. I think this is when he starts to get hungry then we feed him and the process starts again. He gets sleepy during his feed to the point he won't take anymore but then is wide awake again after a few mins of being in the snuzpod.

During the day we can put him down anywhere (Moses basket, floor mat, sleepyhead and even the snuzpod) and he'll self sooth and go to sleep!!

Any help anyone?!?

My youngest (just under two) has always slept best when close to / ideally on me, and still frequently ends up in our bed at night. Not, perhaps, the answer you wanted! We did however have some success when she was little with swaddling to stop her startling herself awake (I liked the love to swallow up range that could be zipped up), and with placing hot water bottles in her sleepyhead and removing them just before we put her back in. If you're not using the sleepyhead at night you could just place the hot water bottle in the snuzpod. White noise might help too e.g. Ewan the dream sheep or just a phone app. I sometimes had more success settling my babies in their cot if I let them sleep on me for 10-20 minutes after they'd finished a feed before trying to transfer them, on the basis that they'd be in a deeper sleep by that point.

My sympathies. Sleep deprivation is rotten. Hopefully someone can give you some more expert advice.

Young babies struggle to know the difference between day and night. Sounds like you're LO has them totally mixed up if he sleeps well in the day!

Like PP said, maybe try swaddling? Sorry I don't have much more advice for you! Does he have a dummy or anything?

If he's 8 weeks now and was 5 weeks prem he's only 3 weeks old adjusted. This is all very normal babies aren't made to sleep through at this stage. If you google the fourth trimester it'll help explain the transition your baby has to make.
I'd suggest a blackout dark room, trying to swaddle if you haven't already and using white noise