Newborns who won’t sleep
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Topic: Newborns who won’t sleep
Posted By: FionaS
Subject: Newborns who won’t sleep
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 11:56am
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My first daughter was a great sleeper until 2 weeks and then all of a sudden wouldn't nap no matter what we or plunket tried. She just cried all day. I was sure my second wouldn't be the same but...what do you know! She is now 17 days old and won't nap either. She has been awake since 8.30 this morning. I know all the stuff about tired signs etc etc and have that down pat but no matter whether she goes to bed awake 30mins after waking up or is fed to sleep or put in the sling etc etc she just won't go to sleep or stay asleep.
What do you do with a baby who won't nap when you have a toddler? ------------- Mummy to Gabrielle and Ashley |
Replies:
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 12:10pm
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no point me saying sling again - seeing i already texted that... lol!
i know that with eden i would put her back down no later than an hour after she had got up - regardless of what was going on an hour was her limit... nice snug swaddle so she cant startle herself awake again... not sure what ashley is doing when she wakes up or if she screams as soon as you put her down but if she wakes and is happy to lie there then i would leaver her, ditto to going down.... i remember being a bit weirded out by one of my kids who would lie there wide awake for ages after i put them down, just staring at the ceiling.... |
Posted By: FionaS
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 12:17pm
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I'd say 40mins is Ashley's limit but it doesn't seem to help getting her down within that window. She fusses and ends up crying reasonably quickly. ------------- Mummy to Gabrielle and Ashley |
Posted By: monikah
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 12:27pm
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if you leave her to cry does she settle or get worse? i know with mack he would scream for a little while and then crash out and now he will always go down for naps no problem (as long as he is actually tired) i didnt let him scream for long, if its a loud, obviously something is wrong scream i check him but often it was just a scream for about a minute and then get quieter as he settled himself.
also does your toddler like walking? maybe you could go walking in the pram if your real desperate ------------- 
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 12:28pm
| maybe shes windy - didnt you say she was getting lots of hiccoughs!? |
Posted By: FionaS
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 12:33pm
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she is windy yeap. She is pretty happy if held but still stays awake ------------- Mummy to Gabrielle and Ashley |
Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 1:21pm
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Oh this sounds like my daughter until about 3days ago! Yes she is older 6weeks on Wed, but what I changed was instead of demand feeding I have structured her. She wouldn't go down for day sleeps at all and if she did it would take an hour of me rocking/swinging/bouncing/jiggling/walking/cuddling etc and letting her to sleep on me then having to hold her on me most of the time as if I put her down she would wake and cry and scream. I did nothing all day because of this. Now I have a flexible bedtime routine where I can adapt to any situation really. We are also instead of feeding on demand now feeding on a 3hr structured routine, I am going to try change this to 4hrs in the weekend. But she is now sleeping 5hrs during the night waking at 4 going another 3hrs, waking at 7 and staying awake but not too grizzly I'm not sure I have made dp get up to her the last 2days at 7 lol. Maybe this could work for you? It is really helpful knowing when she is going to feed etc for me as it means I can plan my day. She is now going down for naps without fuss, I basically put her down and she grizzles abit then sleeps, normally during the day I let her sleep on the couch on her tummy next to me but at night when I put her down for good, which for us is after the 11pm feed I swaddle her and cuddle her to sleep then put her in her bassinet and she sleeps really well! I have used alot of different advise from everyone to come up with something that works for us. ETA that when she sleeps on her stomach she farts alot so is obviously very windy and this must just help her get it out ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 2:14pm
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I'm a cop out .. Elias doesnt like to sleep during the day in his bassinette .. so I carry him, I just got good at doing things one handed lol.
------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: MrsMojo
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 2:26pm
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Have you seen The Happiest Baby on The Block? His method of swaddling, shushing, side carrying and jiggling always works for Andrew. My rocking chair helps send him off too and I sometimes hold him for the duration of his nap to extend it (front pack, sling or wrap will make this hands free). -------------  
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Posted By: pepsi
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 2:59pm
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Alyssa never slept during the day (often not much at night either). I used to tell the Plunket nurses and everyone else how she would be awake for hours and hours (not just an hour or so like everyone else's baby seemed to sleep).. But none of the suggestions they would tell me worked for us.
She was a very windy baby and ended up she had reflux as well, which unfortunately I didn't realise at the time, so we never got to control it with meds. Sorry, not a very useful post, but I was in the same boat and never really figured it out. |
Posted By: FionaS
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 3:00pm
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Thanks everyone. Great to her others rock / feed to sleep etc. I think I thought babies self-settled easily at this age.
At the peak of her unsettledness Elle stayed awake for 22 hours straight!!!! So I have some nervousness when I have another who doesn't nap well. However, I am well aware Ashley is a different person so it HAS to be different this time around! She finally crashed on me and we slept together for a bit and now she is asleep in her bed. ------------- Mummy to Gabrielle and Ashley |
Posted By: KH25
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 3:12pm
My sister is having this issue with my niece (9 weeks old). She is formula fed and now pretty much sleeping through the night (well to about 5am) but just won't sleep during the day. Sometimes she is grizzly, sometimes she will have a short 20 min catnap, sometimes she will just lie there. My sister is trying to get into the family centre for a day to see if they have any suggestions. It might be something for you to think about doing aswell - maybe if you can get on top of it early enough, it might help  ------------- Kelly, mum to DD, 19Jun06 (26wks 1lb15oz) DS1, 24Oct10 (32wks 4lb11oz) and DS2, 31Dec11 (32wks, 4lb11) http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Pinkygirl
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 3:36pm
| My DS would be terriable between the weeks of 2 and 6 for going down during the day. He would cry all the time. I tried everything he seemed to be real upset just before he would do a poo too so took him to the osteopath and she fixed him and he was musch easier to settle since he didn't have a sore tummy. |
Posted By: MrsMojo
Date Posted: 24 August 2009 at 3:56pm
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If only. I don't even bother putting Andrew in bed for his late afternoon sleep because if I need to spend time resettling him I can't get dinner etc sorted so at this time of day he always goes into the front pack for his sleep. Some people will try and tell you you're making a rod for your own back and setting bad habits but we rocked and fed Michaela to sleep for months until we decided we didn't want to anymore and it only took 3 days to train her to self settle and with Andrew, even though I hold him for some sleeps, he doesn't expect to be held for all sleeps. Google "4th trimester" and you'll find some great articles which help explain why many babies are like this. -------------
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FionaS wrote: