Need some tips from experienced parents

[rebeccaravit]

My 7 week old son will only fall asleep and remain asleep when he's on either myself or my husband. He hardly naps at all during the day anymore and in the evening will fall asleep after eating, and when placed in his crib will wake up after a few minutes. When we pick him up, he falls asleep quickly and the cycle begins again. Other than create a family bed, what should I do? The few times that I did let him remain sleeping on me has been so that we could nap together. If he's going to stay sleeping for at least an hour then I could too, right? Unfortunately I looked like Popeye b/c I slept with one eye open. What are we doing wrong? How can we fix this situation?

[cbm]

You aren't doing anything wrong. If you do a search, you will see that many people have been in the same situation. Considering the age of your son, you may want to try to swaddle him. The crib may feel too big to him when only a month ago he was in an enclosed place. I am sure someone else will have other ideas.
Of course, if he sleeps go ahead and take a nap. That is the best way to do it and, sometimes, the only time to do it.

Claudia

DS 12/18/04

[kensjen]

That is very common at that age, your son just likes to be close to you. Have you tried a sling or some type of carrier? When my DS was that age, he would sleep in the sling and I was still able to do things around the house. Check out the carrier forum for some suggestions.
Also, swaddling is another good suggestion, have you tried that? Something that will make him feel all cuddled and secure is probably what he needs. A bit of trial and error, and you should be able to help him sleep better.

HTH! :)

[rebeccaravit]

We have been swaddling him when we put him to bed, but sometimes he still wakes up. I have also been using the Baby Bjorn at home to get some things done, however there are times when you just need to have him off of you KWIM? Maybe I need to keep swaddling him during the day, not just at night and that will make him nap longer during the day instead of just a few minutes at a time. I know that napping during the day leads to better sleep at night. Thanks for your advice!

[mama2galpals]

ok what time are you putting him in for his nap(s)? at 7 weeks i'd typically have them awake in the morning and then it is on and off all day with the sleeping. it's hard to make a nap schedule at that age. but my main suggestion for at night would be to make sure that he is eating very late so you can at least get six hours of sleep in a row (if possible). i know it's easy to get into a pattern of having him sleep on you but maybe in order for you to get some rest at night you might want to keep him in your room in a bassinet or one of those cosleeper bed things?

i found that when they were a few months old then they'd get on more of a schedule where maybe they would sleep from 11 or 12 at night till six or seven in the morning and then be up for a while and then eat and sleep from 10 or 11 for a bit and so on.

of course everyone has their own methods and ideas so what works for you is what you should do! hope any of these suggestions helps. :)




rita
mommy to
olivia '97
stella '00
emma '03

the truth can hurt your feelings, but lies can break your heart.


http://lilypie.com/baby3/030123/3/4/1/+10/.png

[ethansmom]

Yes! I would swaddle anytime he sleeps.

Sorry, my DS was like this too until he was about 10 wks.

Sorry I'm not more help, but now is a good time to start practicing the "this too shall pass" chant that will take you through his childhood!

[lizamann]

>
>Sorry, my DS was like this too until he was about 10 wks.
>

Even sorrier, my dd was like this until she was much older.

Now, at 2.5, she sleeps almost all night long, but getting her to actually GO to sleep is near impossible.

I have no advice for you but wish you luck.

(Sitting here bitter at the moment since dh just rescued a screaming protesting dd from her bedroom while I was taking a much-needed break from trying to get her to sleep. So this is a touchy subject at the moment.)

[almostamom]

You aren't doing anything wrong. At that age my DS only napped in a few places - on me, on my bed if we were together, in a bouncy seat, or in his swing. The swing was his favorite. In fact, he still would only nap in the swing or with me on the bed until about 6 or 7 months. I found that once we found a routine, it was easier to put him to sleep (bath, book, bottle, and then bed) - for naps we just eliminated the bath part. I tend to be someone who says "whatever works". PP have given you great suggestions - maybe try the swing or the bouncy seat too.

HTH,
~Linda~
DS 11/9/04

[pl71]

My newest baby was like that until around 2.5 months. He loved to sleep laying on someone, but wouldn't sleep in the crib. He would sleep about an hour laying flat in the crib and wake up crying. I couldn't take it. I decided it was mild reflux. He didn't spit up a whole lot, but the few times he did it was when he was laying down flat. I ended up using the swing and bouncy seat so I could get some sleep. I would always try to lay him in the crib at first and if that didn't work out I'd put him in the bouncy seat. After a couple months there was no need to move him to the bouncy seat.

You might want to try elevating the crib a bit or using a swing/bouncy seat. From what I read, mild reflux is very common in young babies. Even if they don't spit up much, they might have a little heartburn.

On the bright side, my baby completely outgrew the reflux and never spits up at all now. Plus he is the best sleeper. I just lay him down in his crib and walk away, he'll coo a bit then fall asleep. So just because you have a rough start doesn't mean you'll always have problems.

[nola]

Well, Katie did the same thing for the first couple of weeks. By that time I was getting sick of being "a baby mattress" and I really wanted time with my hubby. I feel kind of guilty that this happened by two weeks when you have a 7 week baby, but at that point I was saying "she is *already* two weeks old, blah, blah, blah" Makes me laugh now.

We slowly transitioned her to sleeping on her own and then sleeping by 8:30pm. At first I had to stay with her while she was sleeping on her own. I would pick her up every 5-10min to reassure her. By the second night she was pretty much sleeping in her own crib. But, then she had problems a couple nights later, so I just keep picking her up every 5 minutes and reasurring her/calming her etc, but it was only a couple of times and then she slept. This seemed to work for her. She sleeps the night and she enters sleep on her own. At night, not during the day - haven't had luck with day naps. Um, others will tell you that I abused her, and maybe so. Good luck to you either way, and be assured that eventually he will sleep at night. :)