How do you settle your newborn to sleep during the day?

[Willow]

DS is a week old tomorrow and we are having some issues settling him to sleep during the day.

He is breastfed 3 hourly and at this stage his feeding is going wonderfully (and hoping it stays that way!). He has a nice bath, a breastfeed and is put down at night and sleeps and settles pretty well overnight so far. I'm generally feeding him before he goes down, then 3 times overnight. So our nights are pretty good and I'm getting about 6-7 hours sleep at night.

The problem is during the day. I've tried to let him settle himself in his bassinet after a top up feed (we're trying to use the feed, play, sleep routine) but he just won't settle. I've tried settling him in his bassinet but this doesn't work either. Most of the time he has one big sleep at around 11am but his early morning and afternoon sleeps are pretty hit and miss at the moment.

I went out today and brought him the music for dreaming cd and am going to start using that this afternoon. We've been out this morning and he slept in the car, woke for a feed and then went back to sleep and is still sleeping now, so today is a really good day, but I don't want to have to put him in the car every time I want him to sleep!

I can see that I'm probably putting too much pressure on both of us to get into a 'routine' at this early stage but I had a few settling issues with DD and I just hoped we wouldn't have to go down this road again. It's making me very anxious to the point that I've totally lost my appetite

Please share with me your techniques or at least let me know I'm not alone!!

[Spring Angel]

Willow

My DS was exactly the same and seemed to be awake all day. It is really hard because at that stage it doesn't feel like you can do much to entertain them. What worked for us is carrying Ollie around in the sling but my back was getting really sore carrying him around all day.

If your DS falls asleep in the car then you can presume that he is soothed by movement, do you have a swing? My DS falls asleep in it every time but if I try to settle him I have no chance. The swing cost about $170 and it was the best money I have ever spent. He is sound asleep at the moment blissfully swinging away.

HTH
Spring

[Willow]

Spring, he is happy to doze off if I'm holding him but obviously I can't do that every time I want him to sleep and I also can't spend 4 hours a day trying to settle him in his bed when I have DD to look after too.

Thanks for the tip re the swing, I will keep it in mind. Do you have any problems though when you want him to sleep in his bed as opposed to the swing?

[Spring Angel]

I think our boys must be twins, DS would sleep in my arms for hours on end but would not tolerate being put down. DH even calls him my velcro boy because he is always stuck to me. However I can put him in the swing as soon as I see his tired signs but still with his eyes open and within 10 mins he is sound asleep.

I was really worried that he would be reliant on the swing to settle but I only use it for his morning and afternoon sleep and I don't put him in any time in the evening. He settles at night no worries, he usually feeds to sleep and then we have a cuddle and put him down.

He is getting pretty good at sleeping at night and will usually have a 6 hour stretch, but the other night after his 2.30am feed he just wouldn't settle, I tried the swing for about half and hour and then put him to bed and there wasn't a peep.

Spring

[Ginger]

spring angel- can i please ask you about your swing..what brand is it and where did you get it?? as i have my very own velcro boy and i'm scared he'll still be lying on my chest on the couch when he's 18yo! lol

[Spring Angel]

Lol Gracie, IKWYM

It is the Fisher Price Playful Pets Swing and I got it from good old Target.

Springxx

[Snacks]

Hey Willow, what about rocking him in the pram with your foot?

[Bathsheba]

I used to BF lying down in bed and when he was asleep I'd carefully move away. Sometimes I'd try to move him into his bassinette, other times I'd just make sure he was in the middle of our Queen sized bed and feel safe enough to leave the room. Actually we still do this but these days he doesn't always need to be fed to sleep. Some people might say that doing this "creates a rod for your back" but don't listen to them. Over the course of your babies life you will find that many different strategies help to settle. This is just a sure-fire method for the early days (in my experience) and when you are exhausted you do what works!

[visitor2]

I used to have to settle Eleanor in her rocker chair and once asleep pull it by the handles in to her bedroom so Alex wouldn't wake her. Now she falls asleep with a cuddle or being wrapped with a cuddle she seems to like that with teething. She's never self settled.

[Willow]

We've had some success with rocking him in his pram (it has the bassinet attachment on it at the moment). He slept for about 2.5 hours in it yesterday afternoon and is asleep in it now.

Maybe this will just have to do for now until he is a bit older and I can try settling him in his bed.

Thank you for all your advice.

[visitor2]

Willow it took me till Eleanor was 7months old to be able to get her to sleep in her cot during the day she just loved being in her rocker. But now she'll sleep in her cot during the day fine but i still have to cuddle her first.
I used to do the same with the pram and bassinet.

[Ginger]

bath- what does creating a rod in your back mean? i use this technique with ds all the time

[Tracey]

Willow... I say anyway he likes to be settled & will sleep is his perfect way! Zy used to be cuddledc& fed & then slowly lowered into his hammock... It never worked! He'd look at me & cry, so I pretty much wore him all day in the HAB!
Then whilst in bali he settled easier by being fed 1 breast then swaddled (groggily) & fed the other breast til he was snoring, then I'd lower him into the cot...

This I kinda continued once we got home from Bali & he now sleeps 1-2hours between day feeds... But its'still hit & miss some days!

Whatever works hun...

[krisp]

We wrapped our DS until he was about 8 months old and he slept really well during the days - it was his nights that we had trouble with. Didn't sleep through til 17 months!

But on bad days I popped him in the sling and he would go straight off to sleep and then I'd gently pop him in his cot.

[Bathsheba]

Gracie: Some people (usually grandmothers) believe that feeding or rocking a baby to sleep will "make a rod for your back" meaning that you will be spoiling them to your ongoing future detriment. From my experience (and that of many other mums here in BB) this is a fallacy.

We also used to rock our newborns to sleep in our pram with the bassinette attachment... it's a really good one hey?

[Beach Mama]

I used to settle Izzy by rocking her cradle until she would doze off, she would cry but not a distressed cry just that,"Im tired and cant for the life of me figure out how to get to sleep " I slowly phased out the rocking before I moved her to her cot - same routine as I do now. I would pick her up in the lounge or wherever we are and say "Time for a nap now, you are going to have a little nap now" over and over in a sing songy voice, then "ssssshhhh" while she was in bed. I slowly started rocking the cradle less and less just before we moved her at 3 mths because I knew I couldnt rock the cot!! but kept up all the other cues. Now shes in her cot the verbal cues are the same, and I occasionally have to rock, sing or cuddle her before putting her down if shes overtired, but she will settle herself.
HtH! Good luck and be consistent - I found over the course of a few days I could see it working and the time spent rocking and settling lessened.

[fionas]

Exactly the same as Tanstar with my 3 month old. I found at first she would always go to sleep after a feed then moved to the feed play sleep routine. To get her to sleep I would rock her in my arms or in her cradle until she was in a light sleep. Or put her in her pram bassinette and rock her backwards anf forwards in that. But only until she was in a light sleep, never fully asleep. Gradually, I've reduced the amount of time and settling I do. At first she would grizzle when I left her and I'd return and just reassure her I was still around. I did that for a couple of days and sometimes I would go back to her up to 4 or 5 times but if she seemed wide awake I would get her out. No point wearing both of us out with a fruitless exercise I figured.

I never believed other mums when they said that they could put their baby down pretty awake (but showing sleepy signs) and they would self-settle but she is now doing this. I think she just needed to learn that I was still around and I wouldn't make her try to sleep if she absolutely didn't want to.

[Mumof8]

A bath and a good feed is always good. When my babies were little I made
the mistake of letting them go to sleep on the boob then i'd put them to
bed and about 5minutes later they would wake up again.
It was hell on earth but i worked it out,if I put them to bed awake they
would be fine and go off to sleep. Clinic said if they fall asleep on the boob
they relate to the boob as sleep. It made alot of sence. So after a couple of days
letting them cry a little it went from no sleep to sleeping 3hours in between feeds.