Seeking Help with day sleeps

[nagromeyk]

Ok so DS is nearly 6 weeks old and the past couple of nights I have been able to put him down at 8:30pm and he self settles and doesnt wake till 2:00am

BUT during the day it is almost impossible to get him to sleep any more than 30 minutes at a time. I am becoming so frustrated at the fact I can put him down and he will self-settle only to wake up not long after.

Like now he I know he is sooo tired - is rubbing his eyes and yawning. This morning when I have put him down I have used his pacifier but he keeps spitting it out LOL, I sang nursery rhymes to him and he did doze off but then he woke back up again... grrrr

Anyone have any advice on what I may be doing wrong or things I could try? He desperately needs a sleep - I know he does!!

Thanks in advance!

[kellmay]

If he is self settling with little or no fuss at 6 weeks that is fantastic. I have been told that babies that can self settle and are younger than 13weeks generally cat nap for two reasons - hunger and coldness. You may need to increase your feeding, every three hours and if you are breast feeding make sure you have lots of protein in your diet. My nurse who is 70 and been doing this for a long time says BF women need 5-6 serves of proteina day, starting as soon as you wake in the morning ( meat, yogurt, milk,tuna, cheese. (bubs do have a growth peak at 6 weeks too)
Try to put one more layer on him too .
Also you maybe going in to soon, lots of babies makes some noise in between sleep cycles.
If you keep your sleep rituals the same it will get better.
Both my bubs catnapped one from 6weeks and the other from 3. and now they are both good sleepers.
(PS my nurse also says the dummy is ok till about 16weeks so i say use it if it helps.
GOOD LUCK i know how upsetting catnapping can be

[~Trish~]

It sounds like he is waking after one sleep cycle and can't go back to sleep. This is very normal! Both my boys did it and I had to work hard to teach them how to go back to sleep.

What I used to do was try and get bub back to sleep when he woke up, with DS1 I could just give him his dummy and he would go back to sleep. DS2 was a bit harder! I would try patting him back to sleep, if that didn't work I would pick him up and rock him off to sleep. After a while this didn't work anymore so I would sneak into his room just before his sleep cycle ended (for him it was at 40 minutes) and start patting him as soon as he slightly stirred (he would sigh and wriggle when he stirred). This helped him go back to sleep and get through that sleep cycle. Over time I could stop going in at 40 minutes because he had finally worked out how to go back to sleep. Now he is a great napper!

So my advice is to try and find a way to get your bub to go back to sleep after his first sleep cycle. If you stick with it consistently he will learn how to go back to sleep all by himself.

HTH

[nagromeyk]

thanks for that Kellmay. Yeah he is pretty good at self settling, doesnt make much fuss at all. He puts himself to sleep ok but I just would like to figure out what it is that makes him wake up. Last night he had pants on, a shirt, his mittens and socks as it was quite cool.

I persevered with BF for the first 4 weeks - milk supply wasnt good. He is a big eater and my body couldnt keep up with his demands so now he is FF. At the moment he does feed every 3 hours - 150ml usually or close to LOL ..... did I say hes a little piggie hehe I always wrap him when I put him down.

I asked the nurse yesterday about a formula that would sustain him a little longer and she suggested the Lactose Free Karicare as it apparently has more protein in it. I started that last night and I am thinking thats probably why he slept from 9pm till 2am LOL

Trish - I have briefly read information on 'sleep cycles'. I think that is his problem too. How do I know how long the first cycle is? At the moment it seems to only be like 30 minutes tops that he will be 'napping'.

I am not one to rush into his room the very first noise I hear. Have become accustomed to his stirring cry compared to his "i need attention" cry hehe
I usually leave him a few minutes - no more than 5 minutes before I'll go in and yeah I do what you said you did with your DS and usually rub him on the chest and sometimes I even massage his head in a circular motion - he loves it!!

For now I have to persevere with it dont I - I guess I was just expecting it would of just all happened by itself but realise now it's not always that straight forward LOL

[Tan2705]

Sasha,

I think their first sleep cycle is about 45min give or take! DS had dramas with resettling during the day also! He slept through from 3 weeks (a good 10 hours a night) but only cat napped during the day (30 minutes if that)! And yes persistance is the key as it's taken till now (3 months) to get him to the stage where he resettles by himself, i used similar techniques to Trish! Found Pinky McKay's "Sleep (ing?) like a Baby" to be super helpful!

Goodluck!

[nagromeyk]

so 40mins from when he first goes down I should be going in to comfort him so he doesnt fully wake again?

[~Trish~]

Maybe just clock watch a couple of his naps and work it out from there. My DS2 would wake up exactly 40 minutes (how did he always wake on the dot?) after I put him down. I would look at the time when I put him down and then a few minutes before the 40 minutes was up I would creep into his room and stand close by. As soon as he went from being completely still to slightly stirring I would start patting him rhythmically on his tummy. This seemed to help him make it to the next cycle. I won't lie and say it worked every time, but the hard work did pay off!

I hope it works for you too if you decide to give it a go

[thepixie]

Sash if he sleeps well at night ask yourself what is the difference between night and day sleeps.... can you make the day sleeps as much like the night as possible - maybe light in his room is waking him after one sleep cycle? just a thought and hope you work it out soon....

[~Trish~]

Both my boys are great night sleepers, day sleeps seem to fall into a different category with them!

[nagromeyk]

ask yourself what is the difference between night and day sleeps....

Pixie - dont worry hun I have asked myself that question about 12 million times today LOL
I basically spent most of the afternoon beside his cot apart from when I fed him

I knew he was tired as his eyes were sooo puffy and he kept clenching his fists and rubbing his eyes. Funny thing is I put him in his Fisher Price Swing about an hour ago and he is dead sleep... grrrrr

Trish - I might give your suggestion a go tonight. I just cant work out why I dont need to go to him in the night. I pretty much walk out of the room about 10 minutes after I put him down and go to bed myself and he will sleep through till 2am!!

[Rumpleteaser]

Sasha: I know what you are going through, I was just about to post something similar.

I was just wondering how long day time sleeps should last. Jonah is quite happy to slepp all day long if he is in his sling or being pushed around in his pram. But I find I can only put him down for 30-45 mins before he wakes. I'm relenting and just carry him around with me all day in the sling, he is quite happy then. He generally sleeps well at night going 3-5 hrs between feeds. Though the last couple of nights he has been harder to resettle and have been having him co-sleep from about 4am.

[nagromeyk]

Charlotte - I'm not a big fan on co-sleeping and cant really do it anyway as my dog sleeps with us in our room... spoilt she is!

Now I'm confused though - I just read somewhere that babies when they wake during the night dont necessarily need a feed. I am thinking Kye cant go more than 3 hours during the day without a feed how would he survive going more than the 5 hours during the night

I guess that is another thing to trial tonight whether he is waking up out of hunger or just cause he hasnt got to "the zone" hehe

ETA: Hmmm just tried something - while he was in the swing he stirred - looked like he was waking up so I quickly got up and started the swing again and he re-settled..... hmmmmm interesting

[Rumpleteaser]

Jonah was feeding every 3 hours untill last Thursday, then he went 5 hours between feeds. Since then he will generally go 4 hours from when I put him down about 9pm, then 3 hours after that. I think that is because he does not feed as well at the 1 am feed because he and I are both sleepy.

[~Trish~]

I guess that is another thing to trial tonight whether he is waking up out of hunger or just cause he hasnt got to "the zone" hehe

The age old question, "Do I feed or try to resettle?" LOL! Trial and error really. My DS1 started sleeping 8 hours overnight (without a feed) at 5 weeks of age whereas my DS2 took much longer to get to that stage. I guess it just depends on the bub, it's definitely worth finding out

Oh and Woohoo on resettling him in the swing!

[thepixie]

Sorry hon of course you have! Good luck with it

[nagromeyk]

Well good morning girls, last night was not too bad I guess. I put Kye to bed at 7:30pm and he woke at 11:30pm.

Trish - tried the whole "resettle" thing at 11:30pm but no he was hungry LOL.... so I think for me the theory is clear. Kye is just a hungry chappy who loves his tucker! hehe

I sat with him from midnight. He went back to sleep all by himself and I stayed and watched his sleep pattern till 12;45am. He tended to stir every 10 minutes or so. When he did I just rubbed his tummy in a circular motion and then he would settle again. I stayed with him until 12:45am thinking he would of well and truly hit the 2nd stage. He woke again at 2:30am hungry (eating his fists) so I dont know LOL

I'm thinking that maybe he just isnt gonna be one of those babies who goes longer between feeds. He is 6 weeks old tomorrow and already weighs 6.29kgs

I have just fed him now - he only took 90ml and he is crashed on his playmat on the kitchen table so I am guessing 'making day sleeps different to night' means he doesnt sleep in his cot during the day but out around the house instead. I guess if he is getting the sleep it doesnt really matter WHERE hey??

[~StarBright~]

Hi sasha- i hope you dont mind me crashing-but i am having very similar delemas with my little boy!! I was just about to post a thread but saw this one and thought i would just join in!!

My biggest problem is that he will easily fall asleep after feeding- usually on me, but then the second i try and move him to his bassinette- its all over!! I have tried doing it as soon as he falls asleep- i have tried waiting till i think he is in a deeper sleep- and both ways he still wakes up!!!!!!

Or if he does resettle- then the sleep only lasts about half an hour- (i had never heard of these sleep cycles before... very interesting!!!)

He has started sleeping more at night- he has his shower with dad at about 5:30- then a feed and he goes down for a good 5-6 hours then a mid night feed then another 4-5 hours- but then then he wakes at 5:30am or so he will go back to sleep but it all goes down hill from there some days it will only be two hours - other days he is really good and sleeps another 3 or 4 but when he wakes at the 9-10am time he wont sleep for longer than an hour at the most during the day- or its a 30 mintue nap here or there- and then he gets REALLY cranky and over tired in the afternoon and it can take up to an hour or two of settling and feeding to get him to sleep- and sadly i have found that he will just cry and cry and work himself into such a state that i can not settle him and he just basically has to cry till he wears himself out- which is torture for me to watch!!!

I will be taking on some of the advice already given and try keeping him a little warmer ( i tend to think coz its day time he will get too hot- but maybe he needs a good wrap) and also checking him with his sleep cycles.. i am going to start keeping a bit of a journal on his sleeping too- coz the days seem to blur together and i dont always remember how much he has actually slept!!) But any advice on the moving a sleeping baby without waking would be appriciated!!!

Thanks sacha for the thread- good luck with the rest of the afternoon!!

SB

[satya]

I've found that my son sleeps better during the day in the lounge room. He sleeps well either in a rocker or on a towel on the floor. Sometimes I'll put him in his room during the day but he tends to wake more in there. I think the noises around him (including from the TV) help settle him. I've been told by the lady who runs my mothers group that it is not a good idea to get babies to sleep anywhere else but in their cot and that I will be causing problems when he's older. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if she's right. Mind you she's not got kids of her own so has no idea of what its like to have to settle your own child. I bet she doesn't do it by the text books when she gets around to it. MY MCHN who has grown kids doesn't think it's a problem.

Our lounge room is also darker than his room as it has only one window which is tinted. Once the blinds get shut it's very dark in there. It's still quite light in his room during the day even with the blinds shut.