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Sleep

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8 week old will not nap - not even a contact nap

2 replies

EllieCSmith · 11/04/2026 12:07

I'm at my wits end with my 8 week old's naps. She sleeps well overnight but daytime sleep is a challenge.

She can give me one good nap a day but some days not even that. She will fall asleep at the breast but won't stay asleep for more than 5-10 minutes. I can rock her but generally the same story. She doesn't like being put down but doesn't like the carrier either (i've tried 2).

Yesterday after essentially being awake for 6 hours (with 10 mins here or there after a feed) I finally put her in the pram and pushed her round the street after which she slept for 2 hours. This was after alot of tears from me. I can barely get dressed some days without leaving her to cry let alone get some lunch and do the washing up. My husband runs a pub so works long hours and is struggling with having to carry the bulk of caring for our nearly 4 year old and all the housework. I'm also missing time with my elder child when she's not at nursery because the baby is so fussy and I know she's probably overtired.

I could cope with shorter naps if she actually took them but 10 mins at a time is not enough to save my sanity. I don't want to feed to sleep too much (even if it worked) as my husband can't rely on this to get her to sleep. She very occassionally takes a dummy but hasn't for the last couple of days. She isn't even contact napping at the moment.

It's so stressful and I just don't know what to do. Hoping someone else has been through similar. I don't remember having quite as much trouble with my elder child (she was bottle fed). Everyone seems to think baby isn't getting full from the breast but she isn't even settling for me after giving a bottle so I don't think that's the issue.

Sorry for the long post. Just one stressed out Mummy who wishes her baby would at least take a dummy and go in the carrier.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
rougegourge84 · 11/04/2026 16:10

I struggled with naps with my first until I realised just how soon he’d need a nap - like literally an hour after waking, naps were shorter under9 months (20-40 minutes) but not contact and once I realised just how quickly they get tired we got a great routine established. The same for his younger brother, although I did it from week 1.

Peonies12 · 11/04/2026 20:37

I wouldn’t worry about not feeding to sleep, appreciate you said it doesn’t always work. But don’t remove it as an option! Your baby is still so tiny. What about using the pram but in the house if the motion helps? We did that a lot, put baby in there, pushed back and forth until she fell asleep. We also used. a Rokit to keep the pram ‘moving’. But honestly things will change soon, it’s hard but everything is temporary with babies!

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