Sleeping and Feeding

[yhtking]

I'm about to pull all my hair out. My 4 1/2 weeks old DD is just not sleeping well at all. She does not like to sleep on her backs. She does not like to be swaddled. She can only sleep 30 to 45 minutes interval. Is that normal for this age? My first child slept and fed every three hours at this age. But this second child is feeding and sleeping in much shorter interval. She does not have acid reflex if in case you are curious. I'm just totally sleep deprived. Would someone out there have any wisdom to share wiht me?

Thanks.

[the2amigos]

I think this can be normal at that age. Could be she is having a growth spurt? I've found that wearing my guy most of the day really helps him with sleeping at night. Can your DP help out at night so you can get some rest?

Hoping you get some sleep soon!

[Karenn]

Oh how hard! Both of my kids were (are) like this. Fortunately, they would at least let me swaddle them!

Short intervals of wakefulness helped. She would sleep longer and more soundly. Sometimes I put DD to sleep after just an hour of wakefulness. For sure I started putting her to sleep at 1.5 hours of wakefulness. I carried her in a sling a lot also because she would sleep there. I found that the more she slept during the day, the better she would sleep at night. Hang in there! It does get better. My 45 minute napper takes 2 hour naps now and sleeps all night. It just took a long time and a lot of sleeplessness to get to this point!

[kaylinsmommy2]

I'm so sorry that your DD is not sleepign well. I remember those times... :) DD very often only slept for 30 minutes at a time. But we continued to swaddle her (in fact, around 4 weeks, I bought the miracle blanket: miracleblanket.com, which made swaddling easier and kept her in it longer) and let her sleep in her swing if that's where she fell asleep. I also occasionally held her in my lap for naps. Around 3 weeks, I gave in and let DD cosleep with us which helped me get A LOT more sleep. :) Another thing that helped was napping together. I don't know if you're nursing or not, but I would lie down next to DD and nurse her while I slept, and then she would sleep for a few minutes when she was done.

I know it's hard, but I'm sure it will get better! I do think that 30 minute intervals are normal, but really difficult on the families! :)
Caroline
Kaylin 6/5/04

[TahliasMom]

Have you tried taking naps with her? Way back when DD was that age I noticed that she would sleep much longer if I was snuggled next to her. And if she started to stir I would just lay my hand on her belly and she would usually fall right back to sleep.

Also, our DD was not a swaddler, 1.5 weeks old and arms came flying out and she slept horrible. We got her a sleep positioner so she could sleep in bed with us without fear of being crushed and started to wrap a blanket around the whole thing. DD's arm were always free but the rest of her body was nicely and snuggly tucked! We saw quite an improvement in her sleep around 8 weeks when she started to nap for 2 hour intervals, up for maybe 30 minutes at a time and sleep 5 hours at night!

good luck and hang in there...

[yhtking]

thanks for everyone's input. I tried everything. I napped with her during the day sometimes. I let her sleep on top of me so both of us could get some sleep. I hope this is a phase....

[yhtking]

thanks for everyone's input. I tried everything. I napped with her during the day sometimes. I let her sleep on top of me so both of us could get some sleep. I hope this is a phase....

[yhtking]

thanks for everyone's input. I tried everything. I napped with her during the day sometimes. I let her sleep on top of me so both of us could get some sleep. I hope this is a phase....