Anyone else have a baby that dont sleep?

[mrscricket]

Jodles - my only suggestion would be could you take her for a walk in the pram or drive in the car at 4pm? I used to do this with DS and he would either nap, or just lie there awake but resting. I would find that this would let me stretch out his bed time to atleast 7-7.30pm. Or how would she go if you put her down in her cot at 4 but woke her after half an hour?

[deni]

Hi Salsa,

Our 4.5 month old has been sleeping only 45 minute cycles, 3-4 times a day for the past two months. Gone are the days of two hour day sleeps for him, it seems!

Lately I've tried resisting going straight to him when I hear him waking, if he's happy -sometimes he talks/sings to himself, and I hope he might resettle back to sleep. (So far hasn't happened!)

I've rung the child help line and they said to look out for the very early tired signs, which I am doing, and he tends to stay up for 1-1.5 hours at a time, tho the end of the day I keep him up from 4pm to 7pm. Day sleeps tho still tend to be around one sleep cycle, - 45 minutes - with the occasional 1 hour sleep.

For myself, I've decided that 2-3 hours is probably all he needs - and if your bub is happy enough, go with the flow, as long as you're putting him to bed before he gets overtired - it might be worth trying waiting outside the door after 45 mins and try to resettle when he starts to stir, or you could just leave him in the cot a bit longer to see if he does it himself (my boy tends to become wide awake if I attempt to rock the cot or pat his side).

The main disadvantage of these shorts sleeps is of course, that YOU are not having a chance for day sleeps!! I can so relate, I get so tired during the day and would love to lie down for 1-2 hours but find as soon as I start to drift off to sleep DS wakes again.

Try not to compare your son too much with other babies who are "good day sleepers", every bub is different and as long as he's not overtired, generally happy and feeding well, and sleeping/settling well at night, I wouldn't worry too much, and you'll probably find taht when he's a bit older he might drop one of his short sleeps and make the other sleeps longer in the day.

Oh, one more thing you could try - if you do the feed-play-sleep routine, try feeding again before putting down to sleep (if you're breastfeeding) - as long as you change nappy or something just before putting him to bed to wake him up so he's not in the habit of being fed to sleep, then you can be confident his tummy is very full and he wont wake up due to hunger.

[jodles79]

Jodles - my only suggestion would be could you take her for a walk in the pram or drive in the car at 4pm? I used to do this with DS and he would either nap, or just lie there awake but resting. I would find that this would let me stretch out his bed time to atleast 7-7.30pm. Or how would she go if you put her down in her cot at 4 but woke her after half an hour?

Thanks Mrscricket that is a fantastic idea I just never thought about doing that. I think that she would love that as she is a outdoor baby. Loves looking at birds etc..(I hope I am responding right way new to bellybelly)...Thanks Jodles79

[SophieRose]

Yes i do have baby who doesn't sleep. And he's not even born yet.
Plus he seems to think that because he doesn't, mum doesn't need any sleep either.
*grrrrr*
Sorry. Little annoyed with my son right now

[~Trish~]

How are you going Salsa? Have things improved since your post or are they the same? I'm guessing that your bub is overtired and that is why he won't sleep. Babies as young as yours can usually only handle 1 - 1.5 hours of wake time before they need sleep. Catherinemoses gave some great advice about watching for tired signs and then putting your bub straight to bed. He may yawn or start grizzling a little or rub his eyes, if you see him displaying any kind of tired sign, pop him straight to bed. He needs LOTS of sleep at his age!

You don't need a strict routine at all, you can just set up a basic pattern for the day and he should start finding his own natural routine. For example: wake up, have a feed, play time (or mum's errand-running time ) and after being awake in total for 1 - 1.5 hours, put him to bed. Repeat throughout the day until bedtime. As he gets older you can start stretching out his wake time.

I hope this helps

[Salsa]

Thanks for the replies.
I have used some of the suggestions and over this past week things have been better.
Last weekend was terrible and I figured I needed to get straight onto those early tired signs. So although its been a bit tough with balancing a young school kid and new baby I have been managing to get baby off to sleep in his bed for 4 mornings in a row now!
Im starting to see a slight pattern emerging for him, but evenings are still a bit tricky. I believe we will get there though. Im finally starting to understand what his cues are.
I think it has been really important getting him to sleep in the morning after breakfast, other wise that seems to screw up the rest of the day if he dose not.
He does not have long sleeps (half hr), but they are happening! Better than the 10mins that he was doing. I assume if I keep consistant, then his sleeps will lengthen.
oh, and I have found that the feed, play, sleep routine needs to be feed, play, feed, sleep for him.

[Sammiejane]

Salsa - Have you thought about seeing an Osteo? They work wonders on bubs that have colic and their sleeping changes dramatically.
I can highly recommend that you see either a Pead. Osteopath or someone that specialises in Peadiatric Craniosacral therapy

At this age i would go for a walk at the difficult time to get MJ to sleep, but mostly she fell asleep after or during a feed. yes it does mean that they dont self settle, however i think that it is something that they can learn later on when there is a better undertanding of what is expected of them.

As some of the others have said - go with the flow, if you notice tired signs stop stimulation and maybe have a cuddle, I didnt put MJ down awake when she was a baby much (at times i did) and she now goes down awake and most nights there is no problem anymore.

Around this age there is a growth spurt too (maybe the tail end of one) and so then things will change again.
Also your DS will be starting to become more interested in the world around him now, make sure that there are times of stimulation and play as this will help him sleep after.

GL - it gets easier (as i am sure you remember), but takes time and IMO i would rather take things slower and have a happy baby than push firm sleep times (not saying that you are doing this)

HTH

[~Trish~]

Yay for seeing some improvement!!! You sound like you are going really well . And there is nothing wrong with feed, play, sleep, play - whatever works for you guys LOL!

It's amazing what good sleep does to them. Regarding the 30 minute naps, it sounds like he is waking up after one sleep cycle (most baby sleep cycles range from 30 - 45 minutes on average). It will get better over time, but I found my DS2 would be really cranky if he only slept one cycle, he didn't seem to know how to go back into deep sleep. He would wake up at exactly 40 minutes each time, so I started sneaking into his room a few minutes before his cycle would end and I would watch him. As soon as he stirred slightly (he would usually sigh and move his head) I would start patting his tummy really gently, this would help him get through to the next sleep cycle. It didn't work every time, but it worked for at least one of his 3 naps a day. Eventually he didn't need me to do it anymore, I think I helped him learn how to do it himself

Anyway, that's just a tip from me, your bub may be very happy after his 30 minute nap! They're all so different.

Well done, you sound like you are doing a wonderful job!

[Salsa]

Thanks Sammiejane.
Yes, I took him to the osteopath last week and again yesterday. I think that has helped.
And I have also been trying to be more go with the flow.

I have been going for more walks in the pram, using the sling at home, being more patient with sooting him in my arms etc.

Trish - I have been trying to get him back to sleep after he wakes form his first morning sleep and it has lengthened a little each day.
I am putting him in his bed for his morning sleep so he knows that as a routine for that time of day (overnight we co sleep and by afternoon Im doing errands and school run etc so he has to sleep in car or arms or rocker or sling). I have peeked in o him twice for morning sleeps in last few days and seen him awake but quite and a few mins later when I check again he is asleep! So he can do it and must be feeling quite secure and more comfortable (due to medicine and osteo I think) to be doing that.

I`m quite happy that its improving!!!

Thanks again for help.

btw - i read somewhere that if they wake up crying its cause they are still tired so I have been trying to use that as a guide for whether he is ready to get up or needs to go back to sleep.