Another baby won't sleep plea....

[kauto]

Our baby is a week old but ever since he was born he has howled religiously from around Midnight until around 5am even after we have checked everything (fed him, changed him, burped him etc) Picking him up helps calm him down and he will happily sleep while one of us is holding him. Of course, he sleeps absolutely beautifully in his cot during the day. Is there anything we can/should do to get him off to sleep at night? So far we have tried white noise (failed) singing to him (failed) and walking around with him before returning him to his cot (failed) even leaving him for 15 minutes or so (failed) and burning lavender oil (guess what). We know its early days but worry about establishing a cycle. Any advice greatly appreciated.

You can only wait. You wont get a routine at one week old. Me and DH used to do shifts where I went to bed at 7pm until midnight then we swopped over and I did midnight till 7am. It meant that both of us were sleeping for a 5 hour stretch at least. I think baby needs to be a few weeks older before you can try controlled crying or mposing a routine really. Some people will disagree with me I know but for the first few weeks I just tried to deal with it the best I could.

Mind you, when they got to 3 months we started on te controlled crying. Worked a treat with DD but DS (now 3) STILL does not put a full night in. I treated them both the same but they are different people!!. Good luck - dont get worked up about routine at this stage. xxx

I would agree it will just take a time to improve.

Re: the white noice, keep going with it as it's a great sleep cue as they get older.

this too shall pass!

will he sleep in bed with you? saved my sanity when dd was teeny...