I surrender! What do you do if it's just NOT working??

[Willow]

I dont really know where to post this, and its a pretty self indulgent "woe is me" post so I apologise in advance.

DS is now 9 weeks old and a beautiful happy little boy. There is one problem though... he isnt a very good sleeper.

Basically its like this:

He is breastfed and feeds 3 hourly during the day, 3-4 hourly at night (so has 2 feeds overnight)

He is feeding well and was gaining 200-300g a week (havent had him weighed since before xmas though but he is definitely growing!) so I assume theres no problem with our breastfeeding.

When he is awake, he is happy and content, smiles and 'talks' a lot.

He sleeps in his cot day and night.

He sleeps in a darkened room during the day.

He is wrapped.

He will generally settle to sleep OK but sometimes needs some help so I pat him, give him a cuddle etc but he goes down awake.

Then the drama starts... he wakes after one sleep cycle (usually about 40 mins) every single sleep during the day and for the last two weeks I just cannot seem to resettle him. So he has turned into the catnapper from hell!

I WANT him to be in a routine, I WANT to follow the feed, play, sleep pattern, Im TRYING to resettle him and its just not working!!

He has a bedtime routine of bath, massage, feed, bed but he is good at night, feeds and then goes straight back to sleep so although he isnt doing very long stretches at night yet, this isnt really the problem.

We have had a busy time around here lately, had family staying with us over xmas, then we went away for 10 days and have only just got home again so Im not sure if thats contributing but he started to go off the rails before xmas so its not just that.

I am seeing my CHN on Tuesday and asking for a referral to sleep school.

I have been in tears over this so many times and I am becoming obsessed with his sleeping!Every night I say a little prayer that something magical will happen and he will suddenly get it but its just not happening. DD was exactly the same (although not quite as bad I dont think) and I just thought that after all we went through to have him, I might be one of the lucky ones this time and not have these dramas. Looks like lucky doesnt happen to me.

Sorry, this probably sounds totally pathetic but I just needed to get it off my chest (again).