Sleep tips for the day

I've got a one month old baby who sleeps well at night (phew) but I really struggle during the day to get him to go to sleep.

I've tried all sorts of tricks like swaddling (including the miracle wrap), womb music, rocking, dummies, stroking his head etc but often I spend half an hour or an hour rocking the bassinette or him in my arms (boy am I getting a sore back from that) and then he wakes up half an hour later and we have to start all over again and if we were working on a 3 hour cycle he probably skips at least one of those sleeps each day. Then he gets all over tired and cries, if he was fine without the sleep it would be ok but I know he must be overtired so any ideas would be awesome!!

He feeds really quickly, and then starts yawning almost straight away so we're pretty much feeding for 10-15 mins, then changing his nappy and if we're lucky and he hasn't yawned he might get 5 mins to kick his legs and tummy time, so he's probably up maximum half an hour - or theoretically he's up for half an hour.

DH just settled him now and noticed his bassinette was on a bit of a lean (to the side) so we've straightened that up in the hope that it helps and the only other thing we've thought of is maybe he's getting too big for the bassinette? How do you tell? He's 58cm long and 5.1kg. Though I guess if those were the problem he'd also not sleep at night.

So any extra tips most welcome as DH goes back to work tomorrow so when I'm getting frustrated I won't be able to get him to take over anymore.

Edited by chelle

Nah I knew what you were looking for before I came in here

- You already know this, but he's definitely getting overtired. Sleep begets more sleep and so on. Yawning is actually quite a late tired sign, he needs to be down pronto if he's already yawning. Plunket have a good DVD on tired signs When JJ was small, his first awake time of the day was really short, essentially just a feed and straight back to bed, or it was all over rover and he'd be overtired and impossible for the rest of the day.

- Are you demand feeding or trying to keep to a schedule? When they're that little demand feeding really is the best way of doing it. Sounds like he's getting hungry, and then as soon as he gets some milk he's wanting to sleep. I'm not saying 10 minutes isn't long enough, for lots of babies it is, and every baby is different, just could be something else to consider. There are some things you can do to encourage him to feed for longer if that's the case, and then you might get a longer sleep out of him afterwards (it's not quite your situation, but this page has some suggestions if that's the case.)

- If he's still swaddled I doubt it's that he's getting too big for the bassinette. On a similar note another thing to look at is that he might be too hot? How many layers is he in?

- If you keep having problems settling him might pay to check out a family centre if there's one near you.

- My "if all else fails" advice is always - will he sleep on you? Have you tried wearing him?

Thanks weegee, that's really helpful - that article is good as he's a pretty sleepy (feeding) baby. I am demand feeding but maybe I'm thinking too often that he's crying because he's tired but it's actually because he's hungry AND tired. I was assuming if he'd already been fed in say under 2 hours that he wouldn't be hungry, so it must be something else, and also he hadn't been interested in the 2nd side when I offered it in the first 2 or 3 weeks so I stopped offering. I just tried doing that twice this afternoon (and fed a 2nd time for 20 mins even though he'd only been fed 1 hour before for 15 mins) and both times he took the other side, only for 5 mins but better than before!! Then abracadabra he's gone to sleep both those times without me doing anything (except swaddling and the dummy the first time).

With the swaddling, he's either only in a nappy or a singlet as it's been pretty hot. So I don't think it's that.

I've been to the family centre a couple of times, so think I'll go back again too. They put on the DVD both times, but I think I was too tired and zoned out a bit and didn't really take it in.

I've also got a sling, but need to talk to someone about using it as he doesn't look that comfy in it!! There's a place up the road that demonstrate, so I'm going to go along to that next time and get them to help me out as thought that might be a good idea.

I just remembered, the other thing that really helped me when JJ was tiny was Dunstan Baby Language. It doesn't work for everybody but even if you can distinguish between two cries it is useful. Do a search for it on YouTube (I'd link to something but it never lasts long due to copyright stuff - the best overview is her interview on oprah). Basically if the cry starts with a "na" or "nya" sound it means he's hungry and if it starts with something that sounds more like an "ow" it means he's tired. (There are other cries but I found them harder to pick.)

What sort of sling have you got? There's lots of info on positioning on the slingbabies website too

I agree with Nikki. Jackson always has his best sleep in the AM (sometimes up to 3 hours on a good day) and then tends to cat nap in the afternoon. I put Jackson down at the first sign of tiredness, usually rubbing his eyes.

I found when Jackson was that age he would be awke for 10 - 15 minutes max before going back to bed. I didnt worry too much about play time cos he wasnt too interested.

I too had a pretty sleepy baby and he never was able to stay up for the hour people said he should. I think it's more important to listen to your baby than aim for a time. Learning their individual signs and cries and personality will help you most in the long run. In saying that i'm also a big fan of guiding them towards a routine that gives you both some predictability.

I loved the Dunstan thing but it did take us about 2 weeks to really get the hang of the cries. I got it out of the library, which was only $5.

Otherwise i think all babies at this age are a bit all over the place. I'm sure you'll have it sussed soon so try not to get too woried about nailing it all straight away. Sounds like you're doing great and there's always good advice here.