Newborn won't sleep in moses basket at night. Daytimes OK

[Aubergenie]

My ds is a week old, and won?t sleep in his moses basket at night. He?s fine during the day but once we get to about midnight till about 6 or 7 in the morning he will only sleep if he?s being held. I?m BFing on demand, and this, combined with the effort of staying awake all night to hold him, is taking its toll. DP is returning to work next week so I?ll be doing the night shift on my own from now on. I KNOW it?s early days so I?ve got to just go with this really, so I?m not looking to get into a routine or anything yet, but if anyone?s got any suggestions to ease this stage along (i.e. lights on/off, swaddling day and night/night time only etc etc) and encourage him to sleep in his basket I?d love to hear them.

I?ve tried the dirty T-shirt under the sheet thing, which didn?t work. Eventually, I?m going to start co-sleeping which should solve the problem hopefully, but I can?t do it at the moment as I?m on medication for my BP and also I?m so bloomin? knackered I don?t feel like I can do it safely.

Any suggestions?

Ah, was going to suggest co-sleeping. I wonder if a bedside cot would work? You can also get these co sleeping things that you click the sides up when they are done feeding so you cannot roll on them... but I guess th danger is falling asleep while feeding.

Yes, that's the problem. I did try and rig something up on the sofa that resembled the bedside cot setup. We've got an L shaped sofa so I was on the long bit with baby on the sticking out bit (with all the gaps stuffed up with towels etc), but he wouldn't settle there either.

Do you mean one of these things for co-sleeping? or this. I'm not sure how you breast feed with the second one though.

2nd one but I thought the sides flipped down, seems they don't...

I had the same newborn although now she is 12 weeks she wanted to be held at night but you can trick them by lying them on teir side against you this is how we sleep most nights. I also have a bedside cot so she sometimes sleeps in that sometimes in our bed.

She's a minx though she won't sleep in the cot 6 inches from me but will sleep snuggled up to my chest.

All fine have coslept and went into their own bed fine it's such a short period of their lives just do what you can to get most sleep.

Could you ask your DH to stay awake for a certain period of the evening and watch over the two of you whilst you feed/sleep? Just til you get over this excessive tiredness?

I have no answer to the getting DS to sleep in his moses basket as mine never, never would! But if he is sleeping during the day you should try and do the same, though I know it isn't always easy.

I would strongly advise against settling to sleep on the sofa wih your DS as that is the most dangerous place for SIDS and for sufocation/squashing. Bed is much safer.

It takes a little while for a babies body clock to adjust to the day and night thing. After swaddling my little one I rolled up two blankets into a sausage shape(the cellular ones) and places them either side of her - its that feeling of being in an "open" space some little ones don't like.

DH & I did split shifts in the early days. I would feed DS and go to bed around 8/9ish and DH would hold him/walk him/bounce him etc to keep him quiet whilst I got a few hours kip. Then we would swap and I would take the late shift. Seemed like ages at the time, but was only for first 6 weeks or so.

Sometimes DH slept in the spare room whilst DS & had the main bed as it meant we all got more sleep.

Your baby is still v tiny, and it is so knackering (I'm about to do this all again come December and dreading it a bit!). If your baby has day and night mixed up a bit, do take the chance to rest during the day if you can. Even if you feel you can't sleep, just lying down is good.

Thanks for the replies. Clure I'm going to try the rolled up blanket trick and see if that makes him feel more secure.

Provinciallady - Thanks for the tip about the sofa. Ours is a very flat, quite hard leather one with no loose cushions rather than a squidgy one so I thought it would be safe to put ds on it so that he can lie on a completely separate panel on the bottom of the "L" shape while I lie along the side as long as all the gaps were well plugged. I'd better stop that then.

I think you're all right - it's a night time/day time thing and it's going to be a cases of getting as much sleep as possible during the day and also I think trying to approach the night times with a more positive attitude and seeing it as a special time for just the two of us rather than just dreading it as I have been up to now.