sleeping during the day

[kellyandben]

My son Ben is 7 weeks old this week and is having trouble sleeping on his own during the day. The nights are generally OK (he is now sleeping in his own bed from about 9 p.m. and wakes every 3 hours for a feed) but he does not like sleeping in his cradle on his own during the day. At the most he will sleep for 30 mins but usually even if he is asleep when I put him in or he settles well he wakes up pretty soon after and cries until he is picked up again. I can get him to sleep by wearing him on a sling on my front but this means that I NEVER get a nap during the day. I wrap him, give him a dummy and spend time settling him in his cradle but it hardly ever works. Anyone else have this trouble? I know its not much of a problem but I am getting very tired and would LOVE to sleep even a little bit during the day.

[Frazzled]

Our baby started this around the same time and since then really only cat naps, the most he sleeps is 45mins until the afternoon then he has one sleep of about 1.5-2hours. Now he sleeps thru most nights for about 12 hours. Lots i have read says that most babies change around 6 weeks and continue to have more wakeful periods.

Sorry, i can only offer reassurance cause Elliot's patterned hasn't really changed since then but he is a great night sleeper. :sleeping: :sleeping:

[misskittyfantastico]

Our Bub also only catnaps ( 40 mins at a time) during the day but initially was VERY hard to settle - All I can say is they are all individual and will get there in the end:yelclap:

[mum24]

Assuming you've eliminated the wind factor... can be a problem during the day esp if bubs is feeding alot.

This is what is working for me, so far, when bubs is really awake I pop him up onto a triangle pillow with his sesame street jungle gym over him and it'll occupy his time for a short time, I can get stuff done. When he's showing sleepy signs I'll put him in his bouncer chair ( in the loungeroom with tv on and dd running around being noisy ) with his dummy and he usually settles down quietly and nods off for quite awhile. Of course he'll only settle once his tummy is full ( and not of wind ).

It could be that during the day your bubbas are expecting noise so maybe feel more secure to fall asleep then when surrounded by it, kind of like when in the womb ( very noisey in there ).

Hope you find a solution soon:)

[kuz78au]

Hi there,
Totally sympathise with you! We went through a period of this with our boy. He only sleeps in his cot at night and during the day he sleeps either on a lambswool on the floor, the pram or a rocker/bouncer. He only sleeps for about 30 mins or so too and is still waking for 2 night feeds (and yeh I know what you mean about trying to sleep in the day, I'm still struggling with this also). But I actually prefer him NOT to sleep in his cot during the day. I found it helped him work out night and day (if that makes sense) as I try and keep the noise going during the day and also if you are out he can still have little naps. We usually have to rock him or hold him for him to go to sleep, but recently (just this past week) he has been drifting off on his own which is great!!!! Not all the time but most times! So hopefully your little one will change soon and be able to drift off himself! :yelclap: (By the way our boy is 9 weeks)

Also with the sling thing, I have heard they can get used to you holding them all the time and will only fall asleep that way? I haven't got one so I don't know, just thought I'd throw it in! Something I have learnt is whatever works for you, just do it! :p Don't worry about what people say! :ecomcity:

[1stbaby]

My DS is seven weeks and the same. He sleeps well at night but is reluctant to sleep during the day. However I have had some luck this week by feeding him till he's drowsy then walking him around the room and then putting him in his bed. Sometimes he wakes up but sometimes he doesn't.
Afternoon is really bad so what i have been doing is putting him in the pram and walking to the park. By the time he reaches there, he's asleep so I just park up for an hour and have a rest there myself till he wakes up. Its worth it for a bit of a break if he wont settle in the afternoon.

[Cilli]

Hi guys
I'm in the same boat with my 3 1/2 month old boy. He only has 3 x 30-40 min naps in the day and is also still feeding every 3 hours at night... so mum's pretty tired!
The settling class I went to said to try and resettle babies if they wake up from a nap under one hour - I've tried this but he is wide awake and won't have a bar of it!
I was reading Robyn Barker's book Baby Love this morning about catnapping and she says in her experience daytime catnappers can't really be trained to sleep for longer but they are generally better night sleepers.... something positive to hold on to??
And I thought also (trying to train myself to feel better about it if I can't change it!!) having them alert during the day can be good as you can get out and about and do things like go for unch, coffee, shopping etc.

[stoked2be-a-ma]

I saw a sleep therapist when my boy kept waking after 30 mins. She said that babies sleep in cycles like us but it actually takes them 30 mins to get too sleep, if you can re settle your baby after the little nap they will most likely sleep for around two hours. If you are not around when they wake they get frightened and awake properly and thats when they get over tired and go forever. She also said if I could get him sleeping 4 hours a day he would sleep longer at night and I found it worked well for a while - different story now. I had bubs in the lounge room and he still sleeps on the couch during the day. She also said that it doesnt matter where bubs sleeps during the day so long as they get enough of it. Maybe if you sleep bubs in the pram in the lounge room and give him a pat and a rock when he wakes he may go back to sleep and sleep long enough to give you a rest and if what they say is correct you may get more sleep at night. Hope it all works out for you.
When he was that age I found if we travelled a long trip and he slept in the car the whole time say 3 hours he would sleep again later and only wake once at night. So it was right for him - more sleep during day more sleep at night. Apparently they are more relaxed.

[kellyandben]

Hi everyone,
thanks for all your helpful replies - I really appreciated all of them and have taken your ideas on board. Over the last couple of days I have had some real success with Ben - I have totally given up on putting him in his cradle during the day - he gets too stressed if he wakes up and finds himself there. He now sleeps in his rocker (which is a vibrating one which he loves) several times a day. If he wakes up a little bit I just rock him for a few seconds and back to sleep he goes. Can't believe the change it has made! As a few of you said - it is funny that the more sleep he has had during the day, the better the night will be as well. He has been sleeping for longer periods at night too - he can go about 5 hours now before his first feed in the night but then needs another one at about 4a.m. It is much better than every 3 hours.
I can also relate to the 30 minute thing - once Ben has had 30 mins sleep I know he will stay sound asleep for a while- that is our challenge at night - it takes us a couple of attempts at resettling before the 30 mins can be achieved but then he stays asleep for hours.
Even the screaming in the evening (which was due to overtiredness) hasn't happened for a few days now. Fingers crossed these techniques keep working for a while!
Cheers, Kelly

[Jaileth]

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for posting thiss - I am having the same kind of trouble with Corin (who will be 6 weeks old tomorrow) and will give the suggestions you got a go.

[LittleBoysRock]

I had the same problem with DS when he was about the same age.

I had to have him in the sling all the time. At about 12 weeks he started being to sleep on his own and we havent looked back. My advise is although it can be exhausting not sleeping yourself, it is really important for bubs to sleep. I would just persist and see if it changes in the next week or so.

I kept trying to put DS down in his cot by himself and it worked eventually. The other thing that worked for us during the day was to place DS in his rocker and rock him to sleep. :)

Hope this helps somewhat. :)