Please help! 11 week old waking during night, won’t settle in Moses basket

[Newbiemum76]

Really need some advice, I’m starting to resent my baby because of this
I’m a first time mum and he’s 11 weeks old and formula fed, we don’t have a bedtime routine but he usually falls into his night sleep around 8.30/9pm after a bottle but in my or OH arms. We put him down in Moses basket around 11 and then he wakes around 1 for his next feed. He has his next feed then is awake for pretty much the rest of the night unless he is on us or in bed with us. If I put him in the basket after the 1am feed, sometimes he will go to sleep and wake up 40 mins later and he falls back asleep on my chest but as soon as I put him down, he’s awake again
I don’t want to co sleep though as OH is a deep sleeper and I’m worried about him squashing baby.

I’d really like some advice because I’m so exhausted, he has really short naps in the day as well like 30 mins or less so I can’t catch up on sleep in the day. It’s lovely when he falls asleep on me at night but it’s not working for me as I also need to sleep and I can’t when he’s on me, I’m too aware and worried about suffocating him.

Should I just leave him to cry himself to sleep in the Moses basket? I usually pick him up and put him on my chest to get him back to sleep when he fusses but should I just let him figure it out himself? I really don’t know.

Any advice is welcome.

You should not leave your 11 week old to cry in the Moses basket.
You should comfort him and try and get him to settle as many times as is needed.
This is just a phase and it will pass

Big hug to you. Unfortunately it is quite a normal part of being a new parent. Babies like to be very
Close to you.

Apart from all the old tricks like using a hot water bottle to warm the Moses basket (obvs take it out before putting baby back in) and trying something like a dummy for soothing there isn't much else you can do at this stage

My suggestion would be , if you have s partner, to work on a schedule. Maybe you go to bed early at 8 and let your partner stay up until after that 1pm feed with the baby and then you take over that way you get s 5 hour chunk of sleep

All the best. These times too pass

Congratulations on becoming a new parent.

It all sounds like normal baby behaviour. He wants to be held and be close to you which isn’t helpful when you’re sleep deprived!

My advice is to start considering a pattern / routine to aid him sleeping independently but don’t have high expectations because babies don’t always sleep I’m afraid and he’ll naturally find his own way.

A few ideas:

Have you considered if the Moses basket is too small for him now? At around 10-14 weeks they can become a bit bigger and a move to a cot may be an option.

Try those sleep gro bags. It’s a different warmth wrap feel.

Put the top that you wore during the day in the cot (he will like your smell)

Is he still hungry during the night? Consider a further bottle.

Dummy/pacifier (night time only)

Day time activities- stimulation / feed / sleep. Any chance at getting outside, do it.

Could dp sleep somewhere else for a temporary period to give you a chance to try safe co sleeping? Read up on safe co sleeping. It can be done and could give you the rest you need.

@HotIsntIt I did think about moving him to the cot but he’s still quite tiny, just hit 10lbs so I don’t know if he’s too small for it still. He uses a dummy for daytime naps and night sleep and he’s in a gro-bag, just feel like everything I try doesn’t work! But hopefully it will pass

@ohhollyfred I’ve not tried the hot water bottle trick, maybe we’ll try that tonight and I’ll see if that helps him, sometimes I do think it’s the warmth of sleeping on us he likes.

@hotelp i hope it passes too!

This too will pass

consider

• enough daytime stimulation

-moving to cot -alternating nights with partner - you both need sleep, is there another room one of you could go on your night ‘off’

it will get better with time but you need more help to get through it now