Hi Guys, I'm back again with yet another cry for help with my new son. He is only three weeks tomorrow and already he is impossibly hard to settle to sleep. Tired signs are there, all that stuff, wrapped up nice and warm into his bassinette and let the screaming begin! It takes forever to get him to sleep. He is unhappy and crying when he is awake, he is forever feeding and gaining tonnes of weight so he isn't sick or underfed.
Now I've and a nightmare sleeper before, and I know all the advice is telling me don't rock to sleep, don't hold to sleep, don't feed to sleep and don't leave baby to cry. Can anyone explain to me what I'm supposed to do if I can't settle him and I can't leave him to cry. I'm going downhill very fast. thanks.
Wow does this ever sound familiar.. The only thing I can ask is does your baby spit up a lot.. As our daughter did and she was usually fine during the day but at night time to put her to sleep at first was terrible. However we took her to the dr bc I guess call it the mother instinct and she had acid reflux. Which hurts more when you are lying down bc the acid is burning and coming up the esophagus.. One thing you can try is to slightly very slightly raise the head of the crib or bassinet or whatever your baby sleeps in as this will help keep the acid down that is 1 test you can try yourself to see if makes a difference.. Good luck hope this helps.. by the way hang in there it does get better!!!
hiya, I dont know whether you bottle or breast feed. I had to feed my son with formula as my milk was not enough to fill him up. It wasnt the amount though he couldnt have had a larger volume of it as he was on a whey based formula to start with so had to change to curd based so it took longer to digest. He was gainging weight fine with the other milk he was just a bit unsettled. As soon as i changed that made him much happier and i never had a problem with him thereon.
This might not be the case with your LO just thought share my own experience. good luck x
first i would take to see your health nurse or local doc to make sure he is ok. with babies and at that age there are sooooo many things. he could have wind or something like that, or just a huggie/clingy baby.
When i had my son my in laws made me do a parenting course through their church. take out the religious aspect and the parenting message was. if your happy your baby is. But it did have a knowing the sleepy signs and then putting to bed, let cry for ... mins then go in and reasure, leave and repeat with a longer gap, yes it will take a while but it did work with my son. he was sleeping all night at 6 weeks, and my daughter was at 3 weeks
I truly recommend tresillian. Whilst they are located in sydney they help mums to use controlled crying techniques. They work with parents with babies from 6 weeks of age i think.... You have to be there for at least a week though....
I will find some information for you and give you a minti mail!
Hope it all settles soon!
Agree with everyone else but i dont think there is a problem rocking the to sleep and feeding to sleep. I still feed my 18month old to sleep and put her staight into her bed. That is the only feed that i have her in my arms but thats bec she is older.
Have you heard of the book 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby"? Well, whether you have or haven't, the MD who authors the text recommends watching babe for his drowsy signs which typically occur within 1 -2 hours of the last sleep period. I try putting my little guy down as soon as I notice his drowsy signs and even when I don't notice these signs I place him in his crib after 1 or 2 hours has expired - this usually works. If I let him go past the 2 hour mark my husband and I are up for at least 1 more hour trying to console our overtired son!
Give it a try and see what happens. BTW, your babe might show signs of fatigue even before he hits the 1 hour mark but if you watch for these signs and place him to sleep as soon as you notice his drowsy signs he might just surprise you.
Best of luck
My suggestion would be a sling when he is awake that way you have your hands free but he gets his mum. He is only a newborn and if he cries its for a reason. I personally have no problem with rocking or feeding to sleep they do grow out of it. Also I've never had any problems with other getting my bubs to sleep if I'm not there or am busy. Do whtatever feels right for you.
take him for a walk in th stroller or for a drive in your car and if that does not work ummm.... i dont know....
but whenever my little one got like that thats all i could do to get her to sleep without holding her and patting her for hours
The books are wonderful, the nurses are wonderful and all the advice is good, all I can say to you is do what is best for you and what makes you and baby feel comfortable some babies are just like that and you have to throw it all to the wind and do what you feel best and don't feel guilty. We called my last grand daughter nap and snack that was all she did for the first 8 months. Trust me you will make it if that means falling asleep with her in your arms in the lazy boy chair get some sleep.
Good luck I know it can be rough
Kia
I think I will just have to keep settling him and then take him to a sleep clinic when he's is older to 'cure' the sleep associations I'm teaching him. I really hoped I'd get a better sleeper this time around, but it's just not meant to be for me!!
Hi yes I've tried a warm bath - guess what - he cries! Hahaha, I don't like to label babies negatively but he is kind of an unhappy one. I don't think I can manage a bath every time I need to settle him (he wakes alot in the day). I basically spend all my time trying to settle him which is getting really depressing. Thank you for the advice though.
My nephew Drake would scream from the second his clothes came off, all through his bath and for about 10 minutes after he was dressed. He HATED bathes...
My Emma hated baths til she could sit up, so she just got one a week - I expect the whole town could hear her when ever she bathed or lost it for any one of 1000 reasons(which was frequently)!
I read that you cant get babies into bad habbits in the first 6 weeks. Im sure that wont go down well with everyone, but if it comforts you...? I suspect you dont seem to have much choice but to go with the flow and think WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO SURVIVE?
He may well grow out of it, but if you do think you've got a difficult one, try looking up Izzy's articles on High Needs Kids.
Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of Minti.com Pty Ltd. If you are searching for health related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Terms of Service for more details.
,
