DS 9 wks doesn't sleep

[tiredange]

Morning, lunch and afternoon naps only last 1/2 hour before he's awake. We swaddle but he wriggles free and his waving arms wakes him. In the night he can last longest 2 hrs. Sometimes his eyes are closed but arms thrashing if we get there in time to re-swaddle he can go back to sleep. Have tried to leave him to settle himself but that always leads to distress and lots of crying and being wide awake. HELP!

Don't think so. He sleeps like a dream when we're out in buggy or car. Just not at home...

9 weeks very young for self-settling. I have vague memories of lying in bed, hearing dd start to mutter, and rocking her as soon as possible to stop her really waking up. It is tiring, I know, but he's still very little and it will pass. If you can bear to go for long walks to get him to have a good nap, he may start to get in the habit of longer naps - just guessing, really. DD was like this, but did get much better, if that's any comfort.

Thanks for encouragement. I'm probably expecting too much too soon. I keep reading that by 6-8 wks they should be able to sleep a longer stretch of 5-6 hours and was wondering if we were doing something wrong as that would be a dream!

I am in exactly the same boat. Have a 9wk old and was recently reading in a book that by this age they should be able to do 11pm - 5am as well as feeding only 4 hourly, which is not happening in my house at the moment ! I am not following a particularly strict routine ie try to do things roughly the same time every day, but doesn't always work out like that and was wondering if I was more rigid with feeds and nap times whether it would make a difference. I just don't like the idea of making such a little baby wait for food, but if it would help her nap and ultimately sleep better then would give it a go.
Anyone got any opinions ?

Sounds just like my son who is 10 weeks old -keep thinking it will get better, but each week is just the same. He will sleep soundly in pram and car just like yours (hubby is pounding the streets as I type!), and will sometimes sleep for a few hours if held but once in his bed it's a maximum of about 2 hours, but often more like 30 minutes. Keep praying it is something that will improve with age and he'll grow out of it...nice to hear others are the same as was beginning to think that everyone else had babies who slept soundly from birth (e.g. my sister's baby slept through from 3 weeks and also napped during the day!!). Can't help panicking that I should be doing some kind of regime to encourage him to sleep in his bed but know that it just results in hours of picking up and putting down with a grumpy baby and desperate me at the end of it!
Let's just all hope that everyone is right when they keep telling us 'IT WILL GET BETTER'

Ellibop I don't think I have been helped by friends who tell me about their babies who slept through from 7 wks etc. either.
Starlight I mix feed. Tend to bf in the daytime and EBM in the night sometimes topped up with formula if I haven't had time to pump enough . I have tried with just formula and have not noticed any difference ie she doesn't sleep any longer as my friends with babies who do suggested she would !
Guess I just need to go with the flow and stop reading the books especially as the ones I have read all contradict each other making me more confused as well as making me feel like I am doing something wrong if my baby doesn't follow the schedule.
Think I am also worried about having a baby who grows up setting my schedule re sleep, which I want to avoid as I will be going back to work and need her to sleep at least 6 hrs interrupted. I don't know at what age you have to start trying to set a routine - is it better to face the pain now or later or just hope it will magically sort itself out ?

DS is ff so it shows it makes no difference. We only feed 1 in night but having to re-settle 2 on good nights and 6+ on bad nights. Have tried gro-bag, blankets but still swaddling seems to be best. Just need to work out an unswaddleable swaddle and to invent a dummy that will not fall out of DS little lips.
CathyJo & Ellibop - fingers x for a good night....

I introduced a bedtime routine for my little one at about 4 wks (he's now 10) - I feed him, bath him, then feed him again (this time in the bedroom with the lights down), then put him into his moses basket to sleep. Usually start this around 6/6.30 so he is in bed around 8. Most nights he will zonk out asleep fairly easily. I then wake him around 11 and give him as big a feed as I can, he will then sleep till he wakes for a feed anytime between 3 and 5. He'll usually then sleep again till 6 or 7. Other mums I know use a very similar routine and find it works pretty well on the whole.

Daytimes are more fluid... have tried to have fixed mealtimes but it often doesnt work out, and I'm usually out and about so I don't want to be too rigid anyway. I don't think you can leave a hungry baby crying just to stick to a routine. One thing I try to do if I can is a long walk at lunchtime so he gets a decent nap, as I have failed so far to find any way to get him to nap at home!

We have a similar routine for bedtime. DS best sleep tends to be from 7pm until we wake him for a feed at 10-10.30pm. He goes back to sleep after his last feed but then can wake a number of times btwn 1.30-6am. Alot of the time he has come out of swaddle and arms waving frantically wakes him up. We only feed once in the night but still having to settle him 3-4 times. He doesn't seem to get back into a deep sleep again after the 10.30pm feed. Will go for a long walk at lunch to see if this helps him have a longer daytime nap...

At 9 weeks my little one woke 4 to 5 times a night, I think this is "normal", she was usualy hungry

just started sleeping through at 20 weeks

DD2 now 7 weeks and she sleeps for 1.5-2hrs for each nap, often in her crib, or in the sling (but does not wake up when I sit still). She can settle herself to sleep after about 5mins of on/off crying. At night she feeds at about 8pm, 1.30am and 5.30am. Her record was going to 3.30am and then 7am. She is bf and feeds about every 3hrs during the day.

DD1 (now 2) would not sleep for more than 45mins at a time in the day. If not intensively settled with white noise/rocking etc, she would scream for hours. She did not manage DD2's nighttime schedule until she was at least 4.5mths old. She was also bf and ate 3 hourly during the day.

I did nothing different with DD2, than I did with no.1 - it is just that they are entirely different characters, with DD1 completely unable to switch off (still!) and DD2 loving her sleep just like her dad.

DD1 now has a good 1.5hour nap each day and sleeps 7.30-6.30am without a peep. So I guess what I'm saying is that you will get there eventually but so little of it is down to you and so much down to the baby!!

Hi, hope everyone else is having a better weekend than me, seems that if we have one ok day we have to have 3 rubbish ones to make up for it!

He wouldn't even contemplate going in his bed last night so slept on me all night, waking up to feed once at 4.00am, although woke up at 12.30am and took an hour to settle him back to sleep.

He did take an hour long nap in his carry cot today which is a record, but the rest of the time had to be pushed out in pram or held. He's been very very sleepy today, which he has days of, possibly yet another growth spurt as he's catching up after being born small, generally puts on 10-18ozs a week, although slowing down a bit now...

Really thought we'd be in some sort of routine by now (is 11 weeks old today), but instead I never know when he's going to want feeding or how long he's going to sleep for etc. Probably expecting too much of the little mite but am feeling a bit fed up today.