When even the Rockit doesn’t fool baby… help!

[cherrymarmalade]

DS is eight weeks and simply will not sleep unless he is in our arms or in motion.

From day one in the ward, he wouldn’t go in the crib. At night, I have to co-sleep with him - if I even attempt to put him in the Next to Me crib which is literally 12 inches away, he won’t have it.

He won’t go down in Moses baskets or a Sleepyhead. Even with the Rockit on!

He will nod off about 20 mins into a pram walk. But if the pram stops, he’ll ping awake either immediately (say at traffic lights), or occasionally after 5-10 minutes. Again even with the Rockit and rocking by hand.

What can we do? It’s affecting me being able to go out and see other mums for a coffee. Their babies sleep through it - mine wakes and wants to be held - meaning he goes without sleep all afternoon and so he gets so overtired later on.

How can we fool him into being put down? We have tried warming the mattress, the scent of our clothes, music, lights, singing, shushing, but he can’t be fooled! He wants motion and won’t do without it!

help 😅

It’s so hard at this stage, but it is normal. He only 8 weeks old so still in the fourth trimester. My dd was like this until 12 weeks and then I was able to get her into her cot for some of the night. I was lucky with ds and it only took him 4 weeks. Every baby is different but it’s hard when you get one that wants to be held for a longer time. Take it in shifts at night with your partner so you both get some sleep.

At home I used to pop baby in a sling and bounce gently on a yoga ball whilst watching tv, reading a book, looking on my phone etc.

Do they have a dummy? My DC1 was Iike this although better overnight thankfully. They did have a dummy though which I think helped with everything.

DH used to spend a lot of time walking about with her in the baby carrier or bouncing her on the exercise ball like another PP suggested. I used to walk miles with her in the pram too.

Like another PP it did get a bit easier after a few months, hang in there.

Can I ask about your DD, did you try to put her in her cot every night and then one day she accepted it? Or did you not try for a while? Is there anything that you’d say you did differently that made her accept it at 12 weeks?

The fourth trimester, that is true, but I do wonder why the clinginess doesn’t apply to all babies in the fourth trimester sometimes! 😅
Don’t get me wrong I do adore the cuddles but I would like to get him into his own sleeping area before he starts being able to wriggle and roll.

Bumping for any more tips/ empathy! 😅

Swaddle? White noise? Dummy?

I also put mine down awake as much as possible. Pull funny faces, put some disco lights on or chat with them.

Definitely try a sling, that might let you sit with a coffee although sometimes they wake when you sit down.

I think don't try to fight it is my advice. It's much less stressful to properly cosleep than try the whole wait ages until they're sound asleep, gently lower into the next to me and then star t from the beginning when they wake.

It is shit, and unfair that babies are so different with sleep

We tried multiple times each night as before she went in the cot we did it in shifts so one of us was always awake holding her. One day she just started going in, for a short time at first then got used to it gradually. We didn’t do anything different. I hate to say though but she was always a much needier, high maintenance baby then my DS.

I just gave up with DTs. They would nap in their bouncers if I was sitting in the the middle of them and physically had a hand on each one with the chairs in vibrate mode. The would nap in the pram with the hoods right down as long as I kept moving - if the lights weren't in my favour or people tried to stop me (which they did all the time with twins) I just kept my head down and kept moving.

They had just turned one when they napped in their cots for the first time.

That sounds tough @boulevardofbrokendreamss. What did you do if/when you went to say a cafe? Or were you just not able to go out for that first year?

I didn't mostly! If I was with someone we would try and go when they were awake but accept that I might need to leave if they were getting grumpy and needed to sleep. They're 14 now, last night they were asleep at around 1030 and they were up at 6 they clearly haven't hit the teen need to sleep phase yet.

I also used to put them in the car turn the heating on and go for a drive around the South Circular when it was wet or too cold to walk!

Mine lived in the sling at that age. They napped pretty well in it too. My eldest wouldn’t settle in a pram for months but I got pretty used to her being attached to me and actually it’s much easier to get around when you don’t have a pram to think about, so I just did the same with the others. We also co-slept and all my kids transitioned to sleeping solo without any great drama when they were a bit older.

I do think the waking up when the pram stops is fairly common. I used to think it was like being in Speed.

It's shit but it also won't be forever.

Another vote for sling. My youngest slept a lot in the sling, whilst I tried to keep the eldest entertained. At 8 weeks the stretchy wrap type is probably the most likely to work (mine freaked out in the bigger harness type at that age). The wrap ones don't give the best head support, so not 100% hands free, but better than just holding them. You do have to be careful about hot drinks at coffee meet ups, I did have the occasional spill of (lukewarm) coffee on dd in the sling.
Good luck. I had 2 rotten sleepers, it's rough, and people with sleeping babies will not remotely comprehend what it's like. It's not your fault though, some kids are just like that.

Nothing but solidarity - co sleeping 10 weeks in still and wakes as soon as in next to me. Neck and back in pieces