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View Full Version : My daughter won't sleep -HELP!



rorysoc
04-01-2005, 11:51 AM
My daughter is almost 5 weeks old and can not fall asleep. She does not sleep during the day - even by rocking, car rides, swings, etc. and when it comes time to go to bed at night, it takes her about 4 hours of crying to wind down while we try to soothe her.
We know that she needs to sleep better during the day to sleep better at night, but it seems impossible. Any suggestions or anyone else have a similar situation?

inmypjs
04-03-2005, 07:35 PM
My son is 4 months old and has always been a VERY awake child. So I can identify with the struggles you are having. The day he was born he was awake for 30-60 minutes on several occasions, while most of the other newborns slept all day! He is just now sleeping through the night.

The 2 biggest things that helped my son sleep were swaddling and white noise. I could never seem to get the hang of swaddling until we ordered a Miracle Blanket online. It is great for swaddling. We used static on a small TV set for loud white noise. These suggestions came from Dr Karp's book The Happiest Baby on the Block. I highly recommend it. Not all of his ideas worked for my son but it at least gave us things to try. I got a copy at the library and later bought the book.

I'm sure you've heard this before, but one of my friends always reminds me that all babies are unique and if your baby is not sleeping, eating, etc. etc. the way that other babies are it doesn't mean you are doing something wrong! When I would get really discouraged about my son's sleep, I tried to remember how brand new he is and that he is just trying to figure it all out - just like me! Good luck.

canadian mommy
03-31-2006, 06:30 PM
>My daughter is almost 5 weeks old and can not fall asleep.
>She does not sleep during the day - even by rocking, car
>rides, swings, etc. and when it comes time to go to bed at
>night, it takes her about 4 hours of crying to wind down while
>we try to soothe her.
>We know that she needs to sleep better during the day to sleep
>better at night, but it seems impossible. Any suggestions or
>anyone else have a similar situation?
>
>

canadian mommy
03-31-2006, 06:35 PM
You are not alone! My 7 week old son did not sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time (in someone's arms) for the first 3 days. For the first several weeks, he was very fussy and would not sleep even in the car or in someone's arms. We finally saw a pediatrician and he suggested cutting dairy products out of my diet. We also took him to a chiropractor. Not sure which one of these helped, but something seemed to. He's now much less fussy. Hope this helps!

Mazz
04-02-2006, 06:31 AM
I agree with the the suggestion to swaddle!! I swaddled day and night for the first 5 months for my DD. It is wonderful to get her to sleep and she didn't wake herself with her hands after falling asleep and therefore she would sleep longer. I would suggest getting Dr Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block CD not the book. What Mom with a 5 week old who won't sleep has time to read?!!!

Get the CD and just watch it (I bought mine on eBay for $13). You can also rewind to get the swaddling technique down to a science. Dr Karp does a great job of showing you exactly how to do this.

Good luck!!

megs4413
04-03-2006, 10:29 PM
I'm going to second the dairy thing. I don't know if you're BF or not. I was not and DD was on regular formula. For the first 8 weeks of her life she was not a sleeper! We switched her to soy formula when she was sick at 8 weeks because the ped said it was easier for her to take and she got MUCH better. Since i thought the illness was gone, i started her back on the regular formula and back again were the problems we were having. So we diagnosed a lactose sensitivity and switched to soy for good.

It may not help you, but it might be worth a try. Also, is it warm enough where you are to go outside? I dont know why but when we took DD outside she fell asleep more easily. I used this trick during the day so she would nap better, which in turn helps the night sleeping.

We ended up resorting to cosleeping, and in all seriousness...it worked wonderfully! I know you said you tried everything and I don't know if that was included. I've heard the horror stories about transitioning from your bed to the crib, but we didn't have too much trouble and IMO it was worth it.

Let us know how things are going and i'll keep thinking about other possible solutions....Good luck! Hugs!