6 week old sleeping problems

My baby will sleep well during the night, pretty much on a 3 hour schedule sometimes he will give us 4 and last night even 5 which is great. He realises the difference between night and day.

However his day sleeps are terrible at the moment and he's getting so grumpy and overtired. He is a baby that needs to be rocked and cuddled to sleep. I do the feed, change, play, sleep routine trying not to keep him up for more than an hour or so. At the end I will generally see if he needs any more to eat, wrap him up then rock for a bit then cuddle to settle him down, however long it takes to do (can be ages as he's so wriggly and finds it hard to relax)

But the problem is quite often as soon as I put him down in his bed, he wakes, or if he does stay asleep he will wake after 20 mins or an hour at most.

He's getting really over tired and this constant putting him to sleep then him waking thing means I never get anything done and am very tired.

I don't want to be rocking him to sleep all the time, but he's got reflux so he's quite sensitive and cranky at times when he's in pain- he screams a lot on the worst days. All the books say put them down in their bed when they are sleepy but not yet asleep. If I do that, he just screams.... he wouldn't just go off to sleep...

Any advice for how to get past this would be great. I realise the cuddling to sleep is not ideal but like I say he won't self settle... he will sometimes do it if he has a dummy, but not always. He hates the dummy most of the time and as soon as it falls out he's unsettled again anyway.

I'd often just wear DD on days like that - she had terrible reflux too. Admittedly we still have sleeping issues now so maybe that contributed, but her naps have been fine for a few months now so maybe it didn't.

It meant when I was at my wits end, or desperately needed to get something done, I could just pop her in the wrap and go about my day and she'd get the sleep she needed. In hot weather, I'd just wear a singlet, and she'd just be in a nappy so we didn't get too hot.

I am afraid that this is just how it is often with a reflux baby.

I had no success with feed play sleep, DS1 would need food little and often to deal with the pain of the reflux, the milk helped him. Refluxers tend to be snackers, and not life life to the routines suggested by books or plunket nurses
My question is: is he waking again because he is hungry? maybe another feed shortly before sleep is needed.

Maya22, so basically do I just need to do whatever works and muddle through each day? hehe that's pretty much what I'm doing now, as trying to stick to a routine is not working- I have to be loose about it. He works sooo well with his night routine I just don't get it. Maybe the reflux bothers him less at night, or he's just so tired by then I'm not sure.

Have just bought a rocking chair to save my arms and back from dropping off with all the rocking lol

I do definitely find it hard to realise when he is tired because he yawns quite early on, like right after a feed when he's just gotten up, and he quite often has jerky arms and legs as he's really strong and is always punching and kicking about. I usually take it that if he's grizzly and crying I've left it too long? It's really difficult!

Where might I get the baby whisperer DVD and the book the happiest baby on the block?

Both my boys had/have reflux so I feel ya! My boys do much better when they're not overtired (and so do I lol) so my plan of attack was to get them to sleep any way possible until the reflux is well under control (about 5 months with DS1, with medication and we're still getting there with DS2).

With DS1 I would try putting him down in his moses basket or cot and then resettling in the cot but if it got to 2 hours without a nap then I would rock him to sleep and hold him for the whole nap (I spent HOURS on OB) or wear him in the Ergo once he was big enough. Some days I would just walk around the mall with a coffee while he slept!

It's not quite as easy to do that with DS2 as I have a toddler as well, so if we're having a day at home then I put him to sleep in the swing (borrowed from a lovely neighbour!) or if we've got to go out I try and time it with his longest nap (lunch time) and leave DS1 at home with our helper. When he was younger (up till approx 8 weeks) I would wear DS2 in my Moby so I could get stuff done and he was upright but had that closeness with me, which he really needed then but isn't so fussed about ALL the time these days.

So my tip is to get him to sleep however/wherever you can for now and get the reflux under control. You can work on getting him sleeping in the cot later.

DS2 is sleeping in his cot overnight, we have the head end raised quite high so he's not flat on his back.

Good luck

Buy a wedge that makes it pretty safe. They are only 20 something so cheap as. As long as hes in one of those snuggly then he shouldn't roll. Alex has been side slept since birth in one. Did the same with Daniel and he had silent reflux.

I second the wedge... DS slept in it until he was about 6 months old and could roll out of it. And having a couple of phone books under the end of the cot worked wonders for us too.

When side sleeping, don't swaddle with both arms in. Leave one arm out (the side that he is lying on), and this way it makes it very difficult to roll on to his tummy. So if you did this and used a wedge, or rolled up towels (this is what I use) it is quite safe.

Back sleeping is best for almost all babies, but many drs and midwives recommend side sleeping for reflux babies.