Day time sleep problems, any advise??

[Belle with the bump]

Hi there,
My litle boy Toby is just over 2 months and he sleeps alright at night. He wakes at about 3.30am for a feed and I generally can put him back down to bed without rocking etc. Then gets up about 6am for the day.
Now, sleeps during the day are a little different. He falls asleep in our arms or the sling but as soon as we put him down in his bassinette he cries either straight away or after 2 mins. I have tried putting my t-shirt in there and I have tried soft music and rocking the bassinette, patting and shhhhhing, nothing works and he will only sleep in our arms... Help! as I dont want my baby to only sleep this way, but it is confusing cause he will sleep no problem at night time by himself..... Anyone have any solutions?
Thanks

[Taia's Mum]

Hi! My DD went through similar sleeping issues when we got back home after 2months away. I created a similar thread too! Generally the advise I got was just to persist and she will get through it! And after a few weeks she did. In the past I borrowed a rocker from a mate and she would only really sleep in that during the day! If he likes being rocked then maybe it's an idea to hire/borrow/buy one?

Do you swaddle him to sleep?

[Belle with the bump]

He absolutly hates being swaddled during the day, he screams and grunts and struggles until he gets his arms out, and by this time he has fully woken up! But at night he lets me do it, it is really strange its like 2 different babies....
When u say rocker, is the bouncer the same thing?

[Taia's Mum]

I mean one of the automatic ones that you can change the speeds on etc. They are about $200 to buy I think but I'm sure you can hire them from some places. It was a god send to me! My DD loved being rocked, it took a bit for her to get used to but after a few sessions she was fast asleep!

Have you tried a sleeping bag? I only just got one when DD was going through this and it appears to have helped

[Pandora]

a hammock is also good, you can often hire these from the hospital.

[JordieC]

I had some similar trouble but basically I try to treat Mackenzie the same way during the day as at night except for of course if we are out in the car or visiting!

I still swaddle her and let her cry (more protesting) for about 5 mins. If she continues she gets a little cuddle then back in. Sometimes I do this 2 or 3 times but it usually works.

the mains things I check for are:
- is she fed properly?
- is she clean?
- is she burped?
- is she actually tired?

Once that's all answered then in to bed she goes - and I have to be tough (but not mean!) She sometimes only sleeps for about 1hr but still better than nothing. Don't let your boy get overtired either - that's when he will have trouble.

Now I only learnt all this about 5 weeks ago - before that I was rocking and letting her sleep in my arms too. I read "Save our Sleep" and got some good tips from there. I don't particularly like her STRICT routines but do like her settling tips - worth a read.

[~Trish~]

Hi, what is it about babies and day sleeps?! It's funny how they sleep well at night, but daytimes are so much harder! My first DS was a shocking day sleeper who only liked to sleep in my arms and needed to be rocked to sleep. We ended up buying an Amby baby hammock and he LOVED sleeping in it! We could bounce him up and down for a while and he would happily sleep in there. You can hire hammocks from baby hire places rather than buy them.

With DS2 who is nearly 7 weeks old I am determined to turn him into a good day sleeper in his cot! I do wrap him, I was told you can leave one arm out and one arm in the wrap and this will work too as they can't startle themselves in this position. It may be worth a try? I give him a little cuddle after wrapping him and tell him that it is sleep time now. I found giving him a dummy and patting him gently on his chest works for us. I used to put him on his side and pat him on his back and that worked really well, but he stopped liking that so I had to discover a new place he would like to be patted! I pat him for a while (he cries at first) until he calms down, then I walk away while he is awake.

If you keep persisting and remaining constant you WILL get there!

All the best.

[kungfubecca]

HI

If this is a new thing not sleeping, then maybe he needs longer stretches in between sleeps now, which sounds bonkers because he is probably absolutely tuckered out and dropping in your arms.

We've had similar problems in the past and the most important thing for us was to focus on one step at a time. For me it was maintaining night sleep first and foremost. Then I managed to get a morning sleep in and so on. We now on a good day can get 3 x 2 hour sleeps out of him.

My DS doesn't like being wrapped and hasn't liked it since he was about 2 weeks old. I think I stopped somewhere around the 6 week mark. whenever it was it co-incided with him sleeping longer at night. I too found that he would fight so much that he would wake up and be cranky because he hadn't had enough sleep.

[stillhoping]

We used to rock our now 9 week old to sleep every time. When he was in a deep sleep we would put him down and he would sleep anywhere from 30 mins to 4 hours. At 6 weeks I decided to stop this and put him in his cot. Obviously he cried and sometimes we would need to go in and out 6 times, but after a few days he got the hang of it and now goes to bed mostly by himself in his big cot. It was worth the effort. You get good days and bad days at the start, but 3 weeks on, the bad days are minimal. He still wakes lots after one sleep cycle, and he is really hard to resettle, but I was told that if he only has another 5 mins sleep, that is still considered successful as he has resettled.This will eventually lead to him learning to resettle himself. Persistence is the key. I tried to put him to bed without rocking him earlier, but he wasn't ready. I think at 6 weeks he was finally ready. We keep DS up about 1.5 hours max, sometimes he is tired before this, but I make sure he is ready for bed and this is the key. Good luck

[reneenay]

I have no advice im afraid but I just wanted to let you know that we are going through this at the moment also. He is a fantastic night sleeper (8:30/9:00pm - 7:00am) but he will only sleep during the day for 1/2 hour - 1 hour Before this he was sleeping 2 or 3 hours at a time! He goes through cycles of change all the time so I am hoping this is just a phase for him.

[~kellie~]

I'm also going through the same thing... my DD settles at night at around 10 and "usually" sleeps through till about 6, but during the day I struggle to get her to sleep, which means by the time 6.30pm comes around, she is overtired and won't stop crying!

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

I had the same problem with my daughter. As she got older, it got better.

I co-sleep with my daughter, so what I would do is feed her on our bed, let her fall asleep at the breast then sneak out. I know they say not to do this, but Aurelia is a fantastic little sleeper and is getting better and better. They say it causes problems when you stop breastfeeding but Aurelia can now fall asleep by herself sometimes, and more often than that, all I have to do is stroke her face and she nods off happily. If you're not co-sleeping, this could still work (though perhaps not as well if she's used to the bed. It will still have your smells and such to help sooth her though). If you're formula-feeding, that may make it trickier again.

I also put Aurelia in the pram and rock her, which sometimes helps. I draw all the curtains and pull the hood (to keep the light out) and put on a CD of piano music. If she cried more, I'd rock the pram faster until I found a speed that distracted her enough from crying, then slow it down as she relaxed. The only problem is with this, at first, they wake up as soon as you stop rocking!

I also give her baths if she's particularly upset (but not when she's continuously crying because bathing just makes it worse for her).

Either way, the problem will get better. <333

edit: sometimes a baby just doesn't need to sleep during the day. If, by the late afternoon/early evening, you've got a screaming meanie with dark cicles under her eyes, then there's something wrong! But if she's had a nap or two during the day and is happy to be awake, then it may just be that she doesn't need to sleep. The average sleep cycle of a baby is 45 minutes, so often, they wake (what feels like) as soon as you put them down because they're finished for the time being.

[tracey*]

Jasper is just NOT a day sleeper. Sleeps like a champ during the night - usually 8.30pm-5am; but after his first feed & sleep he'll be awake from 9am-8.30pm with maybe a casual 5-20 min nap here and there between feeds. He's just happier being awake and talking or playing in his bouncer. He will sleep longer during the day if he's in our arms or sling, but we didn't want that either so we just follow his lead and try to teach him to self settle.

I agree with going through the checklist first as a routine (1. nappy change, 2. feed time, 3. burp time) and then if that's done and he's still awake, then either leave him to settle himself in a safe place (cot/bassinette/bouncer), or stick him in a sling and go about your day, if you need too. If you spot ANY tired sign (a yawn, looking away alot, not engaging with you, jerky arm and leg movements, crying once changed/fed/burped), put him in his cot/bassinette/bouncer as soon as you can to avoid getting them overtired (makes it heaps harder to get them down!). If they're just sitting there looking around and you want them to sleep, stay next to them and bounce/pat them for a while (sometimes a long while!) to see if that helps. Don't make eye contact if possible.

We've followed this routine for about a month now (trying to prepare us all for when I start back at work very soon) and so far so good! He cries far less now that we know what is going on and get him before he gets over tired and grouchy. I didn't want him on a strict schedule, but this checklist has helped us immensely and we're a much happier and well rested family for it!

[Campari]

My DD went through a similar thing with day sleeps when she was about two months old - she would only sleep in our arms or lying on my chest. Nights were all OK. It turned out that it was because I was eating foods early in the day that gave her bad colicky pains - like Sultana Bran for breakfast, and snacking on loads of nuts. I started giving her Brauers Colic Relief, and then cut out dried fruit and nuts, and now she sleeps like a champion, and I no longer need the Brauers. I was told by a MCHN that lying on their back can exacerbate any digestive pains, which is why they will quite happily sleep upright. Obviously the food thing might not be the case for your bub, but just thought it could be something to think about? It really made an immediate difference to my DD as soon as I identified the problem, and I didn't need to do a whole elimination diet or anything.