10 week old won't sleep longer than an hour

[mistermagpie]

Help please! My 10 week old baby basically wakes ever hour through the night. She gets fed every wake up (formula) and does seem hungry, but I wouldn't describe her as a 'hungry baby' as such. She's still only having quite small amounts at a time but she's not a big baby so I assume she gets full quickly?

She naps really well during the day, will sleep for two hours in the sling and is probably awake about an hour in between naps. Obviously I can't put her in a sling at night though! I don't think it's reflux or anything because she is generally quite a contented little thing, she is just awake... it's true she doesn't like to lie flat though.

I won't co sleep. I just can't do it and I would get even less sleep for fear of squashing her or something.

We've tried swaddling and not swaddling and it makes no difference. She's in a Moses basket but I do have a bigger crib (the ones like a mini cot) which I could try?

Please, has anyone got any advice? I'm losing my marbles here.

Try your DD in the mini cot. As if she's anything like my DD was, it's maybe that she's catching her arms & legs on the sides of the basket & that's waking her up. My DD was quite a wriggler with long arms & legs.
We put DD into her travel cot at 4 weeks old (as we were still waiting for the cot bed to arrive) & she started to sleep much better.
Plus this might sound daft but I don't think DD particularly liked the smell of the Moses basket. It was a brand new one from Mothercare but the straw/reeds or whatever they're made from had quite an earthy smell.
Even now as a teenager DD has the nose of a bloodhound

Hope it works.

It's funny you should say that, I think the mattress in the Moses basket smells horrible (it was a new mattress for our old basket), sort of chemically? Maybe she doesn't like that?

I brought her into bed with me at about six this morning and she slept for an hour, but I didn't because I was too nervous.

I'm just demented from lack of sleep. I have a two year old and four year old as well so my days are relentless and sleeping when the baby sleeps is obviously not an option!

She's probably sleeping enough during the day. You need to keep her awake for longer periods otherwise she will just nap all day & then won't want to sleep all night.

I agree with @converseandjeans, try and cut down on naps and increase awake gaps in the day.

Also agree on the crib rather than basket.

When she wakes in the night is she screaming, or just whining/grumbling? If the latter, have you tried leaving her to settle? She could just be learning to join up her sleep cycles.

Really? I figured the whole 'never wake a sleeping baby' thing should be at play so have been letting her sleep a lot during the day! She does sleep loads in the day to be fair. But she gets tired quickly and then she's grumpy... maybe I'll try waking her up from naps a bit then?

I've swapped the Moses basket for the crib this morning, it's a bit bigger so maybe that will help.

She's not screaming when she wakes, just grizzly. But then starts screaming eventually if you ignore her. Not having much success with the dummy either.

They only need so much sleep. I did routine from day 1 and used to wake mine up at 7 and then they would have nap maybe 9.30ish but only for 45 mins and then they would be awake til 12 and sleep 12-2 and I would wake them up fir the afternoon. Then it was always bedtime 7pm. So evening routine of tea/bath/play/bottle from 5.30ish.
On MN you will be told not to do routine. Mine genuinely liked it & were rarely hungry/tired as they were fed & slept at set times. So hardly any crying from either of them. Slept solidly through night from 6 weeks.

Like Converse I also got DD into a routine after we ditched the Moses basket for a cot.
I did the Baby Whisperer (Tracey Hogg) routine with DD (it's quite easy going not at all militant)
This combined with changing to a cot really got DD into a good sleep pattern.

Good luck for tonight with swapping over to the crib.

I think feeding her every time she wakes up is a mistake. I used to do that with my son and had sleepless nights as a result. When I realized he should be fed (an appropriate amount, obviously) only every 3-4 hours, he slept through the night only a few days later. Expecting my second now and fully plan to get him used to being fed every 3-4 hours from birth.
When she wakes up at night, if she's happy, let her settle herself and go back to sleep if she can. If not, pick her up and comfort her (but do not feed her unless it's been long enough since the last meal) then put her back to bed. Rince and repeat until she goes to sleep. She should get used to this new routine quickly (I believe this is comforting for the babies as they know exactly when they'll be fed.)

Also agree about sleeping in the day, your baby's probably as tired as you are. I wouldn't necessarily wake her, but I would try to delay her going to sleep. Start small - keep her awake another 15min, then another 30min, etc. If she starts sleeping longer in the night at the same time she should transition smoothly to being more awake in the day time.

Last piece of advice, make the difference between day and night clear to her. When napping in the day, the room shouldn't be absolutely dark. Change her into night clothes so she knows it's time for bed and sing her a song.

My son gets his evening bottle just before bed and he knows exactly what it means so he's ready to go to bed.

PS - If the mattress smells I'd wash it or change it. Can't be nice for the baby.