thats great Danni. I am glad you get a break!
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thats great Danni. I am glad you get a break!
Danni, Lily was like this until my girlfriend (who's a midwife) suggested a few things to do with her:
Wrap her only at sleep time (Don't know if you already do it...) unwrap at awake times, like feed time, playtime...
Look for tired signs, like yawning, jerky movements, whinging... and try to catch them early
Use a trigger word at certain times like 'ninight' to go to sleep, 'hungry' at feedtime and repeat them to her a few times at these times.
Cuddle her until she's drowsy then put her into her cot/cradle (not too long though about 5-10mins should be enough).
If she cries do it again for two or three times then unwrap her and let her play until you see tired signs again, start again with the settling.
Each wake/feed/sleep cycle last for about two hours ( ie, 2hrs between sleeping, eating and sleeping again). Each sleep cycle is about 45mins for babies, if they wake after 45mins try to resettle for a while they may go off to sleep again, but if they don't go off to sleep again, wait til the next sleeptime.
This is what my friend told me and it seems to have worked for us. If the information is wrong sorry! But Lily is now sleeping well and even self settling! Though it has only been three days that we've been trying it, it may just be a fluke! Hope it helps you guys.
Kel
I hope he is coming around sweetie...
I wonder, do you have anyone nearby who can drop in there with you and maybe just take him to the shops/for a walk or something for you for a few hours - give you a chance to be you for a bit - a chance to get yourself feeling a bit normal again?
If I lived closer I would... but flying there for a few hours then coming back, is probably not that viable, right now!
Otherwise, having not much experience in that department I dont have much good advice...
Dani it will get easier beleive me.
Can you hold him to sleep and then lay him down????? I did this for a while with Jordan.
As the ladies said we also did the pram thing, the screaming is quiter when you are walking down the st :)
What about those baby sling things??? they lay down like you are holding them but you habe arms free to do whatever??? similar to babybjorn but they can be laying down.
Keen: my mum comes when she can...but she works 14 hour days so she is exhausted too. No one is free today to help, but thats ok...I just keep looking forward to the weekend and DH being home.
Tracey: I have a HAB. I just need the time to watch the dvd to work out how to use it.
he doesnt like laying down with me at all.
Dani i went throught the same with ruby.For a while i was pushing the pram round the streets and in the lounge at night.She went to sleep and thats all that mattered.Then it progressed to rocking and walking around with her in my arms until she fell asleep.I use to get real ticked off as i thought my life was a constant mummy baby holding machine! Now she has 2 naps a day,sometimes she will go to sleep other times rocked.Im not too worried as it does get better as the months go by. Keep working on it and he will click with the sleeping.
danni
i know how it is. My DH would leave in the morning with me on the couch with 2 babes besides me and come home at night to a dark house and me still sitting there in the same position, still in my PJ's
it will get better- but damm it is such a shocker
my two eventually would settle in bouncers next to me. I have also put them in the pram and gone on a walk around the lounge room!!
An electric swing was great when bubba gets a little older and swaddling does make a big difference
our local council has a woman called Norma Cowan who has done a DVD about setttling babies . I think its called " Sleep night, sleep tight." Most libraries should have it. She also offers baby settling programs which give hands on advice for settling babies. You may be able to look up info on the net
good luck - it is a faze and you can do this!!!!!
TAKE CARE AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!
Odette
Eleanor is just like this sleeps 12hrs a night but get her to sleep during the day is a no go. At the moment i am trying to rock hr to sleep in her bouncy chair just so she has 20mins sleep. I can't even get her to sleep in her room during the day.:
Originally Posted by Shannon https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...s/viewpost.gif
. Unfortunately, some kids are just wired this way I think. Good night sleepers, but shockers during the day - 20-40 minute catnaps at best!
I hope things start to settle down for you Danni.
Danni hate to say it but my kids were the same too. Eventually they got daytime sleeping when they started sleeping through/crawling/walking more active etc. Seth has cut down his sleeps to 1.5 hrs a day and he's 14 months. Paris would have 2 sleeps till she was nearly 2 and 1-2 hours per sleep and then still sleep 14-16 hours at night, where as seth sleeps 10-12 hours per night. They are all individuals, I know its not much consolation but I think it does make it easier to know it is normal. And I found the thing that helped with with Seth was to lose any expectations when it came to sleep. Even now and even though he's been sleeping through for 6 months I still go to bed with the idea that if he wakes in the middle of the night thats ok and I'll cope. Its when I put expectations on Paris that I think added to the stress, which added to her stress which caused problems.
We bought an electric swing when Paris was 6 weeks old because she was a cuddly bubba and she wanted movement. It was a godsend!
*hugs*
Cailin
I agree cailin to lose the expectation and to not compare with other babies!!
i had a swing and then sold it cos my family/friends told me I wouldnt need it, or Mason wouldnt like it! Now i think i better buy one again
thanks guys.. :hug:
*hugs* Danni its hard work. Jovie sleeps really well at night but only cat napped until... last month? I soon gave up because with 2 you often don't have time to spend settling all day. So with Jovie I would just leave the house if it wasn't working and go to the park with Matilda and then she'd be tired when we got home & may sleep 45 minutes tops.
Danni the first few months with a new baby can be hard. I remeber the days i sat crying because i was so tired. Kimberley was a nightmare to get to sleep at night and woke every 3 hours. She did change after a while but still woke at night but not as much.
mason still wakes 3-4 hourly at night which is fine, as he goes straight back down after his feed. I give him EBM in a bottle at night and he drinks the whole thing in around 15 mins. So its not so hard being awake for a short time.
Hi
When Aaron was that age the only thing that would settle him was bouncing on a fit ball, dont know if it had anything to do with the fact I spent quite a lot of my pg bouncing and rocking on one!!! All I can say is it does get better, once Aaron turned 10wks he slept for 12hrs throught the night and had 1-2hr naps during the day with about 1-2hrs wake time. A friend on mine also showed me how to wrap him up(she had been showed how to do this by the nurses at PMH with her grandson), the first time we did this he slept for 4hrs during the day! Also sometimes they can have a very mild case of reflux which can be helped if you put a couple of phone books under one end of the cot which raises it just enough to stop it. The only other thing I can think of is to express some milk onto a pillowcase and have that in the cot next to bub and sometimes the smell of the milk is enough to make them feel as if they are next to you. If none of it helps ask a friend to come round and either do a bit of cleaning or to hold bub while you do some.
Hope it all goes well.
Sus
My DS was exactly the same when he was a baby and I found the answer for him! We bought him an Amby baby hammock and were able to bounce him off to sleep in it. He went from only sleeping in my arms to sleeping two hours at a time in his hammock. It was a lifesaver! I think he found comfort in motion, when he would wake up the hammock would rock with his movement and put him back to sleep. It may be worth a try if you get desperate. We bought ours second hand.
Oh gawd, I know exactly what you mean...I was the same for the first 3 - 5 months of Riley's life...I thought I was going insane because I was so exhausted. The one thing that gave me some peace was rocking...either in the rocking chair on my lap or in one of those battery operated swings (I didn't care that it costed us $140 for a couple of months use - those peaceful 5 minutes now and then were worth it). I basically spent all day and most the night on the rocking chair with Riley on my lap...it was HORRIBLE and I must say I don't have many good memories of those early days BUT it does get better eventually... Good luck!!!!
my baby hallie was exactly the same, i spent most of my time holding her because as soon as i would put her down she would wake up straight away. a friend got me a bubba sling....what a great invention! i was able to do everything i would normally do as it gives you 2 free hands and baby can be positioned in lots of different ways, even forward facing or forward with a slight recline for younger babies.......
i know it seems tough but they are all different, my 5 month old keira prefers to go in her bed and be rocked to sleep rather than held or slung.
if you havent already tried a bubba sling give it a go. it worked for me and it strengthens the bonding between you both.
hope this helps