Why does my baby fight his sleep so much?! Pulling my hair out!!!

[11Eleven]

My son is 10 weeks old today. For the past few weeks he has not been sleeping during the day, and I'm aware that babies of his age should still be sleeping for most of the day.

He will fall into what looks like a deep sleep, then be up again about 5-10 minutes later, screaming his head off. He gets to the point of being so overtired that it becomes impossible to settle him. He will go red as a tomato, kicking and punching, LITERALLY fighting the sleep. I have tried everything - rocking, bottle, breast, swaddling, sling, bouncer, swing chair, white noise. Even going for a walk in the buggy doesn't work, he will sleep for the duration of the walk and not a minute after. As soon as we stop he's screaming his head off again. It's really stressful. It doesn't help that I don't get any sleep either so most of the time I'm also an overtired mess. Sometimes I end up crying right there with him. I just can't understand why he won't stay asleep! He is clearly absolutely knackered.

I don't think it's colic either because usually he will settle at night without too much hassle. But even then he only sleeps a couple hours at a time, 3 hours at most if I'm lucky. And he will be up again at 5/6am, most days for the entire day.

Does anyone have any experience with this or know what I could be doing wrong? Will he ever grow out of it?

Oh my gosh, it sounds like you’re having a really rough time! It’s so awful when they won’t sleep, my heart goes out to you.

You’re totally right, at this age they can usually only manage about an hour to an hour and a half at a time, so he must be massively overtired like you say!

You say he only sleeps about 10 mins. What happens? You say you have tried lots of things but this may be the problem, particularly if they are one after the other. Changing soothing techniques can actually stimulate baby more.

Have you considered using a dummy?

I can only give you what I do for my LO who is around the same age, I do hope it works for you!!

Daytime naps start religiously after an hour and a half of wake time (if he’s not shown tired signs before ofc!). He goes into the sling (sometimes this is a battle!). I hold his bottom with one hand and pat his back firmly with the other whilst making the loudest shhh sounds I can manage. I mean practically shouting! Bounce up and down at the same time.

Sometimes it take two minutes, other times half an hour. But it works! I really hope it works for you too!

How long does he sleep at night? If he goes down easier then and stays asleep, could you copy that routine in the day?