5 week old baby

[ttc2603]

Just looking for some advice as my 5 week old baby won't sleep unless being held, as you can imagine this is a nightmare doing the night feeds. I have to get up every 3 hours to feed baby so not getting much sleep as by the time baby finished bottle and settled then I'm only getting about 1/2 hours of sleep.

She sleeps fine when she's on me but as soon as I put her down she starts screaming and waking back up. She's not hungry or nothing is wrong with her but she's just really clingy I can't get nothing done because I always have to hold baby.

Any advice please as I'm a ftm and don't really know what else I can do

Newborns are so tough. Are you a single parent? Because if you aren’t you need to be sharing the workload overnight, bottle feeding is a massive help for that. During the day I’d recommend a sling. It’ll pass but this is normal newborn behaviour.

Have you tried co sleeping, she might be happier to drop off if you next to her, even touching her?
If you don’t want to do that you have to keep trying to get her to sleep without being held. Can you sit by her cot to try something like pat shush.
Also does she fall asleep in the car seat of buggy?

Someone else may have better advice than me but just wanted to share- mine is now 11 weeks and is in his Moses basket 10-7 with two short wake ups for milk. When he was born until about week 9 he would only sleep on us so we took it on shifts. I thought I would never sleep a night again. No doubt he’ll start the next sleep challenge soon but I wish someone has told me how normal it is for them to only want to sleep on you for the first few weeks! x

They are like that at that age.
Sometimes pushing them out in the pram works and they remain asleep once you get back. I have a secure garden so left baby in pram outside. I know many don’t like to do that so if you use blankets you can wheel the pram inside and remove a blanket or two until the correct temp is achieved

Warm wherever you want to put baby up with a hot water bottle.
Wear the sheet next to your skin for a bit so it smells of you.
I used a fleece baby blanket often as a sheet (tucked in to mattress) as it felt warmer and softer). With my second I used a baby sheepskin and they sort of reflect the heat back to the baby and mimic sleeping on a warm human.
Some babies like to sleep in a bouncy chair as it’s more upright.
There is also the knack of putting a sleeping baby down. They have to be asleep enough but not so deep asleep that any movement disturbs them. Just slightly more that 5 mins asleep I found worked

I found the pram method best. Although it took about a week to crack it.

I do have a boyfriend but he don't really help with the night feeds. Plus he never wakes up when baby is crying so no point even trying to ask him as we've already had so many arguments about it.

I do sometimes sleep with her in a baby nest with me in the bed and she seems to settle better there. I've tried touching in the Moses basket but that don't really help. I switch every few days as I don't want her to get to used to sleeping in the bed with me

She does fall straight to sleep in the pushchair and when we're going for walks but it's not something I can do in the night. Sadly

Oh thankfully I'm not alone then lol. Hopefully it fades soon as I'm so tired and just getting cranky lol but thankyou for the reply at least it does get a bit better eventually :)

Mine was like this and nothing worked. Then she was about 6 weeks I managed to get her to fall asleep on me then transfer her to her cot.
It was a really shit time because I literally couldn't sleep, it was awful. DH was back at work at that point but he used to take her for a few hours between feeds when he was home but it was only 1-2 hours then she was back to me for feeding.
All I can say is that it will pass.

It's really hard but it's normal. I'd suggest sleeping in shifts for a bit eg you feed her and go to bed for a stretch of sleep whilst your partner holds her downstairs and lets her sleep on him until the next feed. Then at least you get a block of sleep.

Baby nests aren't safe for unsupervised sleep and shouldn't be used in the bed with you. I'm a fan of cosleeping for survival but look up the Lullaby Trust guidelines to make sure you're doing it safely.

It really will get better soon! DS suddenly got way better at about 6w.

are you swaddling her? a tight swaddle can make a big difference to a newborn.

it is better for her to sleep flat on your mattress than in the babynest in your bed. if it is just you & baby in a double bed (make partner take the sofa), then you can put her in the middle and co-sleep.

If you’re cosleeping make sure your bedding can’t fall onto her. Put your pillow underneath your sheet, put a duvet over your bottom half tucked in securely and if possible sure a cellular blanket to cover your top half. Have baby on your mattress with her normal bedding.
Don’t worry about her getting used to it, it is the best way for you both to get a good nights sleep. When she is a bit older she will be happier to go to sleep in a cot.

I would also recommend side-lying feeding at night and co-sleeping. That's what I'm doing with my 9 week old and I'm getting so much more sleep than I did with my first baby who I would put down in his own bed after each feed. I also got annoyed wiht my husband not being much help at night, I've kicked him out to the spare room so its just me and baby girl in the bed and that's going well.

Also, I think 5/6 weeks is a normal fussy period due to a 'leap' - have you come across the concept of developlemental leaps? Look up Wonder Weeks - there's a book and an app. It describes when babies go through big developmental leaps and how it often makes then extra fussy. So once your baby is through with this leap, is should get better! Good luck! xx

Sleep nests are not safe for any sleep. Please don’t use them.

You can cosleep safely by following Lullaby Trust advice:

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/co-sleeping/

Ultimately the issue here is your partner, not your baby.