Refusing to sleep

[danniellabella]

I've tried everything that I've read on this website to try to get my DD to sleep.

I know her tired signs and when she is tired I'll put her in her basenette for a day sleep but she refuses to go to sleep. As I write this she is grissling in the bedroom.

When she was 6 weeks old she started sleeping through the night, but since 11weeks old (she's now 12 weeks) she's stopped sleeping through and refuses to sleep in the day as well.

I'm worried that she isn't getting enough sleep for her age and it's also starting to get to me because I really need a break in the afternoon which is when she should be having a sleep.

Should I keep persisting with a day nap and just let her settle herself?

[~clover~]

My boy is the same age & pretty much doing the same thing through the night He's only slept an hour at a time through the day from the start. Try laying down with her in the day. I do that when I can't get Jesse to settle. If your worried about falling asleep with her there, get all the pillows off the bed & lay on top of the blankets, maybe with a baby blanket on her.
She might be more relaxed with you there. They say babies will get as much sleep as they need. My last had colic & hardly slept & they kept saying that too me. Just relax. Hold her & rock her & walk around with her if you have to. It will get better.

[beckles]

hi danni, sorry your little one is worrying you at the moment. Just wondering if you would consider using a sling, my experience has been that they sleep more soundly and for longer in one. the added benefit is you have your hands free to do what needs to be done. sleeping through at 6 weeks is highly unusual, it is quite normal for babes to wake often during the night up to 2 years old or longer! skye's suggestion of lying down with her is one i would try too. it also has the advantage that you are resting and can re-energise throughout the day especially if you are waking through the night with jazz. good luck with it all, it is tough to have a new bubba and worry about them.
beckles

[danniellabella]

I do have a sling and she used to love it but now she usually hates being in the reclined position coz her legs are really long and she feels cramped.

Last night she spent her first night in the cot in her own room. She still woke the same number of times but my quality of sleep was better. I have a CD player in her room and had some soft music playing which helped a bit. One time I got up to her, picked her up coz I was about to change her but then I had to put her down so I could go to the toilet. I put the dummy in her mouth and put her back into the cot with the music playing. When I got back she was fast asleep and stayed asleep for another couple of hours.

[Ginger]

hi danni- another thing that used to work for my ds when he was your dd's age was to take him for a walk in the pram in the afternoon. i would take him and the dog up to the park for a walk and find that he would drift off to sleep in the pram. then when i got back home i would just leave him in the pram with a blanket over him and would sleep for another 1/2 hour to an hour. not a huge sleep but enough to give you a little break?
now that he's a bit older, if i can't get him to have his arvo sleep i will often give him a breastfeed and then either put him in the car and take him for a leisurely drive around the hills where we live (works 90% of the time) or pop him in my sling while i do some things around the house.
best of luck and try not to 'do your head in' over daytime sleeps. it's hard not to, i know!

[~clover~]

Sounds like she might just want to know your still there. I've noticed Jesse is starting to notice when I leave the room & if he doesn't know someone talking to him or holding him he will watch my every move.
This is how he worked pretty much from the start.
He would go to to sleep around 8 or 9 & wouldn't wake up til 4 in the morning. Bliss. He had the odd bad night, but I was happy.
During the day he has a feed first then is awake for about an hour after the feed, then sleeps for an hour. Then wakes up for a feed. He gets dozy from the feed, but wakes up when its over.
Til 2 weeks ago he was like this. He was even starting to go 3 or 4 hours through the day between feeds.Then one night he woke every 2 hours screaming for a feed & when I'd go to put him down he would wriggle & cry like he had wind. It sometimes took up to an hour to settle him & be able to put him down.
He's just starting to get better. I think he had a feed at about 7.30 last night, played for a while then slept til 3 this morning. But we went to my brother place last night & he always seems to sleep better if there are a few people around & music going when he goes to sleep.
Even bed times got harder. I used to go put him in the cot with his dummy & walk out & he'd put himself to sleep. Not now. Lately I've been going in about 8 or 10 times to put the dummy in before I give up & pick him up and rock him. He did put himself to sleep last night, but like I said we were out. I dunno what to think...

Sorry for the long post

[sunshine_sieben]

Hi DaniellaBella,
Have you tried a HugABub style wrap? Bubs is in an upright position in there. It was the only thing that worked for me in the first 3 months. And I used it a lot for another 4 months or so. An absolute lifesaver. You might be able to try one a friend has or pick one up second hand. Or even make one yourself (quite a cheap way to go, depending on the fabric you chose).
Rest assured, your bub will sleep when she needs it.
Or have you tried "driving" her to sleep. Although my DD hated the car, I've heard of lots of people driving the kids around to put them to sleep. not exactly an environmentally friendly or cheap option (with current fuel prices), but it might save your sanity.
At about 6 weeks I just completely gave up on the cot (until I gave it another go at 6 months) and just co-slept. During the day, if I didn't have the luxury of time to have a nap with her, I would feed her to sleep on my bed and then sneak away once she was asleep. Same in the evening. When she started rolling, I put a bedrail on my bed.

Hope things get better and you get some rest (and well-deserved me-time).

Sasa