10 week old never naps

[lottie198]

Please help a desperate mama out. I am seriously struggling to cope. I have been positive since day 1 and keep telling myself everything is a phase, but things have really started to get to me now.
I have a very "crying" baby. He's 10 weeks old and never naps in the day. He stays up 12-14 hours. Maybe he has the odd cat nap on me but never a full nap. I can't put him down for a second else he hysterically cries. He's clearly getting over tired but he just won't sleep. It comes to the evening and he's inconsolable for a few hours. It's grinding me down. People told me it would improve at 6 weeks and it hasn't. I can't go out the house with him because he screams in his pram and also in the car. I know he won't be a baby forever and it will get better but when you are in the moment of that crying, it's so hard. I love him so much and just want him to be happy and not so upset.
Any advice ????

How do you try to get to nap at the moment?
Does he sleep at night?
How is his feeding and weight gain?

Use a baby carrier to get him into a nap schedule. Yes it involves a lot of walking for a week (you have to walk for the whole nap time) but once he’s settled into the routine you can gradually get him to nap elsewhere. Next step try getting him to nap in a cosy toes in a pushchair (ideally Maclaren, something with straps, not a pram, bad sleepers don’t sleep in prams). You’ll have to jiggle to sleep and then jiggle every 20 mins/ every time he moves to get him to link sleep cycles. Eventually he might nap in a cot but the pushchair will at least give you a bit of a break.

Have you spoken to your health visitor? Not napping at all is a bit concerning at that age.

Go out with him in the pram even if he screams. At least he’s a bit further away from your ears! Wear headphones if you need to. Don’t worry about if people look - babies cry.
I used to walk for hours with my DS in the pram - sometimes it would take 30 or 40 mins before he went to sleep.

In the house the only way we could get him to sleep was vigorous rocking to music, and a dummy - and that could take 20-30 minutes or more.

It does get better eventually, even though it feels like forever when you’re in it.

I would get a wrap sling and basically wear him in it all day.

Have you considered he might have silent reflux?

Is his night sleep ok? If so and you're fairly confident there's no reflux etc it might just be a need to get him used to regular naps.

Look up the wake windows for his age, and when he's been awake for nearly the required time, either put him in the pram or sling and go out for a walk until he sleeps. Then when he's asleep, keep going till he wakes, then start the timer again, feed, play etc, until times up and then go for another walk. Repeat for the whole day.

Wake windows are short at 10 weeks, he might be waking up at 7 and need to be asleep again by 9. If the first nap is late he gets over tired and it's more difficult to get him to sleep from then on.

It will take a lot of walking and probably crying for a week or so but if you are consistent he should get into the habit and it will become easier.

This is a good age to tackle it, if you wait much longer it might start interfering with night sleep.

@busyeatingbiscuits

How do you try to get to nap at the moment? Does he sleep at night? How is his feeding and weight gain?

I try and get him to nap by feeding to sleep and then rocking him. Usually he falls asleep on me but wakes after 5 mins. I've tried white noise dark room etc , doesn't seem to make much difference. He's EBF. He was born 8lb 5oz He's 14lb 15oz at 10 weeks on 91st centile. The saving grace is that he doesn't sleep bad at night. Usually after 3 hours of crying he will sleep 6/7 hours . Feed. And then another 2/3. But then he's awake all day xx

@Wnikat

Use a baby carrier to get him into a nap schedule. Yes it involves a lot of walking for a week (you have to walk for the whole nap time) but once he’s settled into the routine you can gradually get him to nap elsewhere. Next step try getting him to nap in a cosy toes in a pushchair (ideally Maclaren, something with straps, not a pram, bad sleepers don’t sleep in prams). You’ll have to jiggle to sleep and then jiggle every 20 mins/ every time he moves to get him to link sleep cycles. Eventually he might nap in a cot but the pushchair will at least give you a bit of a break.

Thank you . I'm gonna order a decent one today xxx

@JemimaTiggywinkle

Have you spoken to your health visitor? Not napping at all is a bit concerning at that age.

Go out with him in the pram even if he screams. At least he’s a bit further away from your ears! Wear headphones if you need to. Don’t worry about if people look - babies cry.
I used to walk for hours with my DS in the pram - sometimes it would take 30 or 40 mins before he went to sleep.

In the house the only way we could get him to sleep was vigorous rocking to music, and a dummy - and that could take 20-30 minutes or more.

It does get better eventually, even though it feels like forever when you’re in it.

Yes I've spoken to HV and she's actually been today as contacted them again. She thinks he's got silent reflux . Not too concerned about the not napping as what can you do really ? Can't force him to sleep. Can only try xx

@edin16 Yes took him to drs Monday and saw Hv and they said he's probably got silent reflux. They've prescribed gaviscon. It's just trying to get it down him when he's EBF. calpol was hard enough to get down him after his jabs x

@SnackSizeRaisin

Is his night sleep ok? If so and you're fairly confident there's no reflux etc it might just be a need to get him used to regular naps.

Look up the wake windows for his age, and when he's been awake for nearly the required time, either put him in the pram or sling and go out for a walk until he sleeps. Then when he's asleep, keep going till he wakes, then start the timer again, feed, play etc, until times up and then go for another walk. Repeat for the whole day.

Wake windows are short at 10 weeks, he might be waking up at 7 and need to be asleep again by 9. If the first nap is late he gets over tired and it's more difficult to get him to sleep from then on.

It will take a lot of walking and probably crying for a week or so but if you are consistent he should get into the habit and it will become easier.

This is a good age to tackle it, if you wait much longer it might start interfering with night sleep.

Thank you I will try this. I think he misses his morning nap because he won't sleep and then he gets seriously over tired. Ends up spending hours in the evening screaming then. Luckily at night he's not too bad. On a good night he will only wake twice. Usually sleeps 930-330/430 and then 5-730ish . Which is really good. I'm thankful for that. I think he sleeps so long at night in one stretch tho because he's so exhausted x

Yes, I was the same with gaviscon. I would mix it with a little formula or expressed milk then fed it through a bottle teat after they've finished feeding.
If you're really not getting on with it though there's always omeprazole but i would only use that as a last resort. And to be honest, at that age it isn't any easier to get into them.

Have you looked into all the other tips and tricks for a reflux baby?
Keep them in the sling whenever possible.
Lift the head of the cot
Do gentle burping (sit them on your knee and kind of move them side to side and forwards and back). Back patting can really agitate their stomach.
Keep upright after a feed (this is where the sling comes in).
DS hated the carry cot part of the pram so I switch him to the buggy part at about 10 weeks and put a newborn headrest thing in and had the cosy toes on it. Even in the lying back position most buggy's still have a bit of a recline so they're not fully lying back. He was so much happier like that and actually started to sleep properly in the buggy.

I'd start with the morning nap then.

Feed him when he wakes at 7.30am. Once he's been awake for an hour at about 8.30am, put him in a sling, put a dummy in his mouth and some white noise on and rock him to sleep. Or into a pram and go for a walk, though if he has reflux it's better to keep him upright.
If you're feeding him directly before sleep and then lying him down the reflux pain is probably waking him.

I wouldn't try to put him down once he's asleep. Keep rocking him upright in the sling and try to keep him asleep for at least 40 minutes.

Feed him on waking and start getting him to sleep for the next nap after 90 minutes awake time.

Once he's regularly napping and you've got over the overtiredness cycle, then you can start thinking about putting him down for naps. First priority though is just getting him to sleep every couple of hours.

I had this baby. She is now 11 and still finds it hard to fall asleep unless physically exhausted. Hang in there.