Overtired 5 week old

[xTinkerbell]

My boy is 6 weeks old on Friday. We thought he had colic, he screams for hours during the day though I now think he’s overtired because he completely fights naps though sleeps relatively well at night.

This overtiredness leads to constant crying and on the days I do manage to get him to nap he’s a different baby. I’ve tried everything, swing, rocking, singing, a walk in the pram usually works but he often wakes as soon as we are home. He will sometimes fall asleep on me but often doesn’t last more than 45 minutes at which time he’ll be wide awake until his next bottle (and crying most of the time) and if I move him he wakes immediately.

I just don’t know what to do anymore. It’s horrible seeing him so miserable all the time and I know he’s tired but just can’t get him to sleep.

I’m worried that I was totally ignorant to awake times in the first 5 weeks, I just kind of let him fall asleep himself and definitely kept him awake far too long just stupidly expecting he would sleep when he needed it and now I’m worried that I’ve done too much damage to come back from it.

I don't have much to suggest, but you DEFINITELY need to absolve yourself of any guilt here. You haven't done any damage. Your baby is fine, and just having a tricky time learning a new skill. You're a good mum, and you need to remind yourself of that.

My baby was exactly like this! From about 1 and a half weeks old it was SO difficult to get him to sleep in the day and he cried so so much. Even slings, walks etc. didn't work. Is your baby quite alert and interested in everything? This is definitely my DSs reason.

He's now 20 weeks and he's still the same (we normally manage about 3 1/2 naps a day and we put him down in his cot in the dark with white noise! Sometimes he has started to settle himself but a lot of the time I have to bounce on a yoga ball to get him to sleep and then he cries when I put him down - would be fine if he wanted to be held if I wasn't on a yoga ball in the dark!)

However, even though sleep is still challenging, things are easier. As he's older now he's not as easily over stimulated and isn't as upset when he gets tired. He's a happy boy in the day time now and I used to feel exactly like you... he would cry all day long as he was so tired but would just not give in or fall to sleep.
As he gets older, the sleep may get easier for him or it may not... but I'm sure he'll deal with it better. You've just got to do what you can to get through this hard part and try not to get too focused on it. I was definitely a little bit obsessed!

I still get a little jealous when I see all these portable sleepy newborns! Even going out for lunch was a challenge and dinner has been completely out of the question since he was born!

I feel your pain completely. My DD slept for 12 hours last night and only woke up twice so I thought she would be well rested but today has been an absolute nightmare. She will only nap for 30 minutes and has been crying most of the day

My DS is just like this and has been pretty much since birth. Convinced his "colic" early doors was just massive overtiredness because I didn't know what I was doing. It was around 6 weeks I started getting a bit obsessed with sleep, paying attention to awake times etc etc. It does get better and the work you put in now does take affect, it just takes a bit of time. My DS is now 24 weeks and he is still difficult to get to sleep but I have my tricks I know work (dark room, white noise, dummy, patting/rubbing his chest) and he will sleep up to 1.5 hours at a time! My biggest tip for you at the moment is to get him to sleep in anyway you can, I think learning what it's like to fall asleep and be asleep is really important and you can worry about sleep associations later. I used to walk hours with the pram, I also bought a "rockit" which rocks the pram indoors. Ten million white noise machines scattered around the house etc. Once his overtiredness improves, so will his mood and then it will make it easier for him to sleep next tine. It's like a virtuous circle! Good luck, I feel your pain, but as I said - it does get better!