Persuading 3 week old to sleep in her amby!

[rebeccacad]

We have a lovely 3 week old, who after her first night (during which she slept a solid 6 hours in her amby nest) she has refused to sleep in it at night.

For the first 10 days we managed to get her to have short naps in it, but since then she's not interested at all and cries after about 5 mins in it (even if I feed her to sleep and then put her in it).

She basically doesn't like being put down in anything at all (we've tried on a sheepskin, in one of these www.madeformums.com/reviews/baby-gear/bouncer-and-rocker-chairs/mamas-and-papas-wave-rocking-cradle/ 535.html on the flat setting) and at night since the first night she has been co-sleeping with us - at first because I just couldn't settle her in the amby and then because I gave up as I knew she wouldn't settle.

I'd really like to get her sleeping in her amby for at least the first part of the night. Co-sleeping isn't a long-term solution for us and having her in my arms all night is really aggravating my pregnancy induced carpel tunnel (she's not keen on sleeping next to me and it makes me more anxious).

Over past couple of days she has had some sleeps in her carseat (when attached to pram) - she always conks out in when we go out and I've managed to get her to sleep in it during the day without going for a walk, just by pushing it round the kitchen for 2 mins. I figured it was progress as at least it wasn't a sleep in my arms!

Does anyone have any helpful tips for slowly getting her to sleep in the amby for chunks of time?

My thoughts are to:
-swaddle (though we did do that religiously for first 2 weeks and didn't seem to make a difference)
-waiting for snuggler for amby to arrive so she feels more secure in there
-keep putting her in it for daytime naps and being persistent (picking her up when she cries , but putting her back down when she stops)

• persist with bedtime routine of bath, nursery rhymes while cuddling and putting her down when sleepy but awake

More tips hugely appreciated as this is our first baby so am a bit clueless. Also has anyone had a baby just not like an amby at all?

Thanks very much for your help!

Hi Rebecca - as I said on the PN thread, we have an amby that we used with some success for our DS. I'm now hoping that new DD will take to it so your Q has given me food for thought.

First off, DS was only introduced to it at 7 weeks old (it was an out-of-desperation purchase) and IMO there's quite a big diff between a 3 week old and a 7 week old. At 3 weeks you're probably still in that twilight, get through it any way you can phase whereas at 7 weeks things may (although not necessarily) be getting a bit more settled. So, the first thing to bear in mind is that your DD may be more amenable to the idea of the hammock in a few weeks time.

I'd certainly suggest swaddling her as it helps enormously with the startle reflex. The newborn snuggler may help too, although we managed without for DS who was still quite small at 7 weeks.

Also, have you tried white noise? This helped enormously with our fussy, screamy, unputtdownable DS. For a while we just held him near the extractor fan in the kitchen but we graduated to a CD that we played on loop right underneath the hammock. You can download white noise from iTunes or just record your Hoover or hairdryer or tune the radio to get static. It sounds horrible to an adult but babies often like it and I learned to sleep through it.

Introducing a bedtime routine is great and will play dividends in the future. Just don't get disheartened if it doesn't seem to be achieving anything now. She is very little and probably has little concept of day/night.

As you suggest you could try using the hammock for daytime naps. TBH we never really cracked this as I decided to concentrate on nighttime sleeps. I'm not sure if I'd use anything other than a short burst of shushing and patting for a baby of your DD's age; pick up put down may well distress her (and you) unnecessarily. Perhaps keep it for a few months' time. Also I'd be really wary of her getting overtired if you are trying to get her to sleep in the hammock for naps. She needs good quality daytime naps of sufficient length or her nighttime sleep will suffer. I think once babies work out the day/night distinction they tend to have no trouble accepting that they may sleep in different places for those periods of time e.g. cot at night and pram or sling during the day.

One other thing that occurs to me is that my DS's first successful night in the hammock came when he had had his first cranial osteopath appt. Some may scoff at cranial osteopathy but I think it helped him become generally more settled and sleep a bit better. His birth was very long and slow, and his head was a slightly odd shape when he came out due to so long being compressed in my pelvis. A fast delivery can cause different sorts of problems (sometimes!) and, for that reason, I plan on taking my DD (after her super speedy delivery) for a few sessions. (Oh, and my DS also had silent reflux, which once treated, helped his sleep. Probably your DD does not have this but it's worth keeping an eye out for if a baby persists in wanting to be held upright, not lie flat and remains screamy and hard to settle once the classic colicky period has ended.)

Sorry for length of post and the probably rambly nature of it. Hope there's something in it to help you. At the very least maybe it will be of some comfort to know that we survived everything our DS threw at us in the sleep dept and he now generally sleeps for a solid 11 hours a night.

i was going to say cranial osteopath as well.
after first appt last week DS (6 weeks) he slept on his back in his Miyo hammock, in his pram, and in his bouncy chair.
DS birth was super quick.

Thanks so much both of you. We did have our first cranial appointment on Friday - all well with her cranium bit she does have a touch a colic. She did sleep better the night after so am going back this week.

Everything you say Sariska is really common sense - part of me knows I just need to roll with it and wait till she's a bit older, but just try and set good precedents when I can now.

On the plus side she's had 3 sleeps in her pram today and only 1 on me - hurrah.

quick one rebeccacad and i don't know if this is of any help but we had very similar problems with DD1 with her moses basket, interesting that the Amby doesn't solve all the problems!
you're completely on the right tracks, and sariska makes great points as well....
my only tuppence-worth is

• she's SO young, and she probably misses her mummy in there. try lining the amby with a worn t shirt of yours? or I tried putting DD's sheets around me for a bit before I put her down, so that her bed smelt like me...it did work, and the warmth helped too
• persist with swaddling
• we did end up co-sleeping quite a lot for the first few weeks - as you say, it's not ideal long term perhaps, but you do need to look after yourself and get some sleep. it's not for everyone but if it means you get some sleep (and she might feed off you without you waking, you never know) then perhaps it's worth thinking about. Your HV should give you some advice about best positions. There's an argument to say that a bfing mum sleeps differently around her nb, so much so that her body temperature regulates itself with the baby's, so that neither overheat/get too cold.

good luck.