I’ve been blessed with another AWFUL napper of a newborn. My first was just the same, she’d go all day with one 15 minute sleep. It was really hard. She got better about 6 months & became a champion napper. Her saving grace was that she was so exhausted by 6.30pm, she’d feed, fall asleep and be down until her next feed.
DD2 is 8 weeks & identical. Will not bloody nap. She doesn’t fall asleep on the bottle at all. Not even remotely sleepy. Only place she’ll fall asleep is the sling or pram but, it’s 30 minutes on the dot & refuses to entertain another sleep until after the next feed. It’s once again pretty hard. Especially in lockdown & with a toddler! But the benefit of been here & got the T-shirt is helping.
But, it’s the evenings that are really dreadful. By 6pm, she is beyond tired and just cries & cries. But she won’t go to bed..😫 she screams from 6pm-9.30pm, refusing to sleep anywhere. At 9.30, you lay her in bed and she self settles straight off to sleep. 😐
I’m not expecting super early bedtimes with an 8 week old. I don’t mind if bedtime is 9.30 , I don’t mind if she naps in the sling while eat tea, I don’t mind if she was happily with us until 9.30. But she’s not getting enough sleep.. she’s exhausted & really unhappy with it. I know she’s chronically overtired but I’ve no idea how to fix it?! My elder DD just seemed to want to sleep at night. She’d do 6.30pm -8.30am (with night feeds but she never fully woke up), so got 14 hours which isn’t miles off the 15-18 they need at this age. DD2 is doing 9.30- 6.30am & maybe 2x 30 min naps. So maybe 10 hours a day 😭
I’ve tried swaddling, just screams, Dummies she hates. White noise is always on to drown out big sister. I’ve tried cuddling her in our bed first, feeding her, rocking her Snuz, even trying to settle her in the sling and then put down but she won’t go to sleep to attempt that..
Ahhhh. How do I help this over tiredness?! She’s such a happy baby in the morning after a decent chunk of sleep but the rest of the day is such a struggle.. my mental health is taking such a dive not able to have any support or any kinda break from all the crying 