Major nap and sleep issues in 11 week old baby

[Crazycatlady]

My DD has never been a great sleeper but seems to be deteriorating as the weeks go on, basically I'm knackered and looking for some advice.

Currently bedtime is 7/7.30ish after a bath/top and tail, feed in dark room, wind then rocking to settle. She sleeps until 10.30ish then wakes for feed. After this feed she then wakes every hour to hour and a half throughout the night until she starts her day anytime between 6 and 7. Sometimes she is hungry, sometimes not, sometimes she has trapped wind, but seems to also be waking repeatedly for no apparent reason and takes a long while to go back to sleep after rocking/shushing/patting etc...

We were cosleeping from midnightish onwards but this now doesn't seem to be helping and she has also developed an all night snacking habit from having constant access to the breast, which I don't want to cultivate.

Any ideas on what I can do to help her sleep better? Would it help to implement some sort of feeding schedule through the night, say, every 3 hours after her 10.30 feed so she gets used to waking less frequently for food?

Other things that might be relevant:

• she's in a grobag in a bedside cot
• not that keen on a dummy, sometimes use to settle her but she inevitably spits it out/thinks it's a game!
• she is on Infacol, although with the all-night snacking my consistency in administering has been poor overnight
• daytime naps are also an enormous struggle to get her down and frequently won't stay down longer than 30 minutes. Previous solution was to pop her in the buggy for a walk but this doesn't work anymore, she's far too interested in her surroundings. I try to get her to have at least 2 naps a day, 3 if they've been short ones.
• always has been what's described as hyper-alert...
• had v traumatic birth with forceps (we are seeing a cranial osteopath, second session tomorrow)
• was under phototherapy lights for first week of life for jaundice
• she's exclusively breastfed on demand and feeds every 3 to 3 1/2 hours during the day.

I'm trying to work on the principle that little babies need to sleep every two hours, but this doesn't seem to apply to my daughter! She doesn't give off very obvious sleepy signs and gets very cross indeed if I try to put her down before she's anything other than exhausted (read - overtired).

All ideas gratefully received, or even just shared experiences of babies at this age - it's good to know you're not alone!!

I know how tempting it is to feed... but I'm holding on to the hope that the PUPD will get less and less as time goes on, as long as we're consistent.

DD does certainly seem to be learning. But then we've got jabs at the end of this week, then I'm expecting the dreaded 4 month growth spurt to start, so who knows what will happen next... just when I'm getting used to one feed per night...

Last night was excellent, DD woke at 1am and settled herself within a minute or two, fed at 2.30, then stayed asleep until 6. Oddly, I felt WORSE today for having some slightly unbroken sleep. I guess that's normal, but mildly depressing.

I never know what to do about early nights - since I dreamfeed every night at 10.30/11ish I never feel like it's worth bothering going to bed at 9. Probably should though.

Good luck with the Christening. I'm sure the congregation won't mind a few screams! He may surprise you and be so interested in his surroundings and being the centre of attention that it doesn't occur to him to make a fuss. Glad you got a bit of rest today.

Yay!!!! Just when I thought I couldn't bear it any longer, DS only woke up 3 times last night!!! He went to bed at 9pm (thought we'd try later and see what happened), woke at about midnight and about 1 and had a bit of a cry but settled after about 20 minutes each time. Then he slept through until 6.30am!!! My boobs were bursting when I woke up! He then had a feed and went straight back to sleep until 9.30. Wow!!! I think it was possibly cos he had his injections yesterday but we'll see how he goes tonight. How was your night CCL?

Brilliant, glad things were better last night. Even if you have more bad nights, having the odd not so bad night does really help you to cope.

DD went to bed at 7.30, I dreamfed her at 11, then she didn't wake until 2.15. Trying to space out the night feeds a bit so did PUPD for 15 mins and she went back to sleep until 3, fed her, then she went back to sleep until 6.30.

So we have made huge progress... also getting some good results with daytime naps now, they're short (30-40 mins), but she's settling herself in her cot (after 10 mins or so of fussing and the odd bit of PUPD). Then we're getting her some longer naps after lunch in the buggy.

Downside of trying to space out these feeds is I too have busting boobs and a bit of pinkness in the right hand side this morning so really trying to stave off the dreaded mastitis, argh...

Good stuff CCL - sounds like things are definately moving in the right direction. How are the boobs? I hope you've managed to stave off mastitis.

We had a great night last night. DS went to sleep at 9pm (seems to be a much better bedtime for him), woke at 12.30am and had a bit of a cry, but hubby only had to go in once, then he woke at 3.15am and had a feed and then slept through until 8am!!! Bliss!

Just trawling through old threads and wanted to add a bit of closure in case there are any mums of newborns going through sleep hell.

After four nights of using PUPD and spacing feeds, DD was sleeping like an angel and only waking for one night feed, hence I stopped posting! It took us a couple of weeks to sort the daytime naps, but it was worth the effort. She started taking 45 mins in the morning, 2 hours at lunch and 30 mins late afternoon after 2 weeks of doing PUPD to help her settle in her cot and to extend her naps when she woke still tired.

I am glad we coslept for the first few weeks and that we did a gentle form of sleep training quite early on, and DD has been a good sleeper ever since. I have to caveat this by saying that she has been through a phase of wanting to start her day at 6am (and sometimes 5.30 but she slept through the night consistently from 5 and a half months.

I know you can never count your chickens on the sleep front but, for now, at 11 months, she's down to one 2 hour nap at lunchtime and is sleeping 7pm to 7am like a dream. So hold on mums of newborns, it does get better, but when you need help I can highly recommend the Baby Sleep Answers website which I had brilliant support and advice from.

My little boy is almost 12 weeks old and was doing this till around 8 weeks old. He seemed to like having lots of room to fling his arms and legs about, if he was swaddled or in his sleep bag, he'd wake up seeming frustrated. We found it was the tight space so he is now in a cot in our bedroom. We bat him at 9pm and then feed him and he goes in his cot, awake or not by around 9.30. We are using infacol through out the day and night. It might be an idea to supplement with bottle feeds during the day. My baby was 8lb 12oz when he was born and breast alone was not enough for him. I also had a traumatic birth, being an army wife in Germany, they tend not to use pain relief unless its an emergancy so i went through a 23 hour labour with no pain relief, baby got stuck for 3 hours and the doctors ended up using fundal pressure to get him out. He was exactly as you describe your baby for around 4 weeks. Establishing a routine is what everyone says but just do what you think is right. I let him sleep when he needs to during the day. Get a play mat and try and tire her out a bit, take her round the house cleaning with you. Ive done this since the birth of my son and he now sleeps from around 9.30pm till around 5, has a feed, then straight back to sleep till around 8/9. It sounds like your daughter is bored, and frustrated. Try a play mat, books, rattles etc. At 11 weeks old your baby will not be sleeping every 2 hours, maybe if shes having a growth spirt, but at 11 weeks old, they should be awake for around 3-4 hours at a time with small naps inbetween. Hope this helps.

Hi @Crazycatlady I appreciate this has been a while since your last post, but you have described my 12 week old to the T! I just wanted to know how you got your little one to sleep in the end and how long was she sleeping through for? I try pick up put down but she just wakes up after 10 minutes and is wide awake. It takes at least 30 minutes to get her to drop off to sleep and we are currently exhausted! I hope this reply reaches you! Thank you in advance x