8 week old sleep routine

[Seasidesusy]

Hi, looking for some advice about my 8 week old. His sleep at night is still unpredictable at times but he seems to be starting to get into a pattern of sleeping for 5/6 hours from about 8pm which is brilliant as we’d previously been up every 2. After the 5/6 hours, he will then wake every 45 minutes without fail. When he starts to stir, I try to settle while he’s in his bed but each time end up getting him up and feeding him, sometimes for just a few minutes before he’s back off and sometimes it takes him another 45 minutes to go back to sleep.
I’ve read about sleep cycles and realise he is waking after one 45 minute cycle. Is there anything I can do to get him to sleep for longer after the 5/6 hour stint? Is he too little for self settling training?
Really appreciate any advice.

Can anyone advise?

Your baby is 8 weeks old and you are complaining about wanting him to sleep longer than 5/6 in one duration?!!!! Really???

Not really, it's all total chaos for at least the first 12 weeks - overall you'refortunate to be getting 5-6 hours at a stretch and I'd advise to just forget about the rest of the night for the minute and these wake ups will pass within a few weeks.

I'd say yes to too young to self settle. Do you use white nose?

*noise

The newborn sleep deprivation is real, so I totally understand how stressed you must feel. My advice: get off of Google. Delete any tracking apps. Stop watching the clock. Watch your baby. At 8 weeks old your baby wants to be close to you, is still working out their circadian rhythms, and will not have any sense of routine (especially if breastfeeding.) You can trust your instincts, and trust your baby. You've got this! Baby sleep is not predictable - don't believe any book or guru that tries to tell you otherwise. You will sleep again one day, I promise. For now, reach out for help - get someone to make you food and clean your house so you can focus on resting and cuddling your baby. You've got this! Sending all the love xxxx

Have you tried a dummy? Just pop it in when he wakes instead of feeding him.

And count your blessings he sleeps for 5 hours! That’s amazing.
My DS slept for 2 hrs at a time at the most until we did sleep training at 6 months.

@PinkPeaceLily

The newborn sleep deprivation is real, so I totally understand how stressed you must feel. My advice: get off of Google. Delete any tracking apps. Stop watching the clock. Watch your baby. At 8 weeks old your baby wants to be close to you, is still working out their circadian rhythms, and will not have any sense of routine (especially if breastfeeding.) You can trust your instincts, and trust your baby. You've got this! Baby sleep is not predictable - don't believe any book or guru that tries to tell you otherwise. You will sleep again one day, I promise. For now, reach out for help - get someone to make you food and clean your house so you can focus on resting and cuddling your baby. You've got this! Sending all the love xxxx

All of this, with bells on! It's bloody hard and of course you're desperate to get some sleep. My second born is now 10 months old and it's only been recently that I feel she's settled into a pattern of waking twice, and I know this pattern is also likely to change. Cherish the 5-6 hour stints while they last and as others have said, eventually they will sleep through!

p.s. to add to my post - I wasn’t suggesting not feeding him at night if he’s actually hungry! But if he’s just comfort sucking and falling asleep straight away a dummy may be easier.

Thanks for the useful posts. I do know it’s great that he’s going the 5/6 hours as I said in my OP. I appreciate the sleep I do get very much! It’s just that he wakes after 45 minutes really unsettled and not hungry, then had another 45 unsettled minutes asleep so I’m worried he’s not getting enough I suppose. I haven’t tried a dummy but it’s an option. He clamps his lips shut if I offer him the breast so he’s not even comfort sucking during that time.
Thanks again, will keep going!

Thank you. This was really lovely to read xxx

I think the three best sleep aids are white noise (playing continuously all night), swaddling and a dummy. If mine stirred at night at that age I just popped their dummies back in and they usually settled back to sleep.

We did the 'pause' thing where if they start to stir, you observe for a few seconds, rather than instantly pouncing and feeding. We found that half the time she'd settle back into sleep, the other half the feeding cues appeared so we'd lift and feed. It does mean less sleep for you initially as you're observing closely rather than just doing a half asleep feed!

It seemed to make a difference - she was doing 6 hour blocks of sleep from 6 weeks and 8 hours from 8 weeks. From 13 weeks we did a bedtime routine at about 7.30pm followed by a dream feed at about 10.15pm and she'd then go thru for about 8 hours to around 6 or 6.30am.

Is the baby actually crying and upset when these 45 minute wakes are happening? If so, and not just stirring a bit as suggested by a pp, it could be discomfort perhaps? Sometimes once they have been lying down a few hours gas can build up . Are there any green nappies or explosive poos, excessive wet nappies, soreness of nipples? Any of those could suggest a latch problem. These can start around the 6 week mark. Maybe see if you can get some breastfeeding advice if you think that might be the case. Also are you winding the baby effectively... Try wonky winding where you hold them at a slight angle for a couple of minutes without patting the back. Is feeding going well generally, weight gain good, daytime naps ok?
Just a couple of thoughts possibly not useful. Every 45 minutes is exhausting I sympathize!

On the self settling question it's too young for sleep training but not too young to try to put down drowsy but awake, or if feeding to sleep, rouse the baby slightly after putting down. But at 8 weeks they should sleep longer than 45 minutes even if they have no self soothing ability at all so I think probably something else going on. Of course it may just be a passing phase (fingers crossed)

You have an 8 week old breastfed baby, frequent wakes are common, normal, instinctive, and protective. Watch your baby, listen to your instincts. The stress of what babies "should" do has no place in the newborn stage. Your baby is perfect, and you are the perfect mother for your baby. You will know exactly what to do just a by staying in tune with your little one. You've got this xx

My (breastfed) baby used to wake every 2 hours like clockwork until 8/9 weeks when he started doing a 5 hour stretch at the start of the night and then every 2 hours again from there. It wasn't until the 4 month sleep regression that we started the 45 minute stretches which was an absolute killer.

Sleep is the most stressful part of having a baby in my opinion. Try to get as much sleep as possible during the first long stretch. Take any opportunity you can get to nap during the day. Things change so fast at that age, he could be waking less often in a couple weeks time.