6 week old - settling no existant

[baysmum]

Hi

Just wondering whether anyone has any suggestions to get my 6 week old to sleep. If she doesn't fall to sleep when feeding han you usually spend the next 2 hours getting her to sleep if at all.

Night time is a little better but only just.

Any suggestions would be great!!!

[MariaO]

For the first 5 or 6 weeks we used to walk the floor constantly to get my little one to sleep. I then gave her a dummy and she self settled. Are you using a dummy or do you not want to?

[misskittyfantastico]

We spent hours and hours in our rocking chair....I also found that firm wrapping and bum patting helped:)

[RynosMummy]

same - we rocked, patted, walked, drove, basically anything and everything as long as is put him to sleep

all u can do is perservere - it will get easier :fingerscrossed:

totally agree use of dummy does help, but u mite need to try it a few times before bub will take it! i must admit i was totally against the use of a dummy, but when he finally took it, it was so much less exhausting for me, i got some rest too, instead of standing rocking him and patting him to sleep every time

good luck ;)

[red crayon]

it's hard at the start, isn't it. i was adamant i wasn't going to use a dummy. then i'd use it only to settle my ds and then take it out when he had fallen asleep. and then finally it became part of the sleep routine. at such an early age, anything that works is good. i used to pat spencer's bottom to sleep when he was 6 weeks and then as he got older and this routine became stale, i used to rock him. good luck.

[baysmum]

Yeah we are using a dummy, sometimes it is our only life saver!!!

What she seems to do too, is be completely asleep, than about 45min to an hour later she is awake and crying. Sometimes she goes back down ok and sometimes she doesn't sleep until after her next feed. A little frustrating.

Does anyone else have this problem???

[Jamily]

Hi baysmum

I had the same thing with Emily. Babies sleep in 45 min cycles, so after 45 mins bubs will wake up and if they are unable to self-settle they will not be able to get back to sleep without help. If they get too worked up they then 'miss' the sleep cycle and you have to literally wait for the next one to come around. Sometimes (like Emily) bubs don't seem to want to be able to go back to sleep. She was a classic 'cat napper' and seemed to be happy with it.

To help me feel more human I tried to follow a routine - I was very flexible with it, and used it as a guide. I can PM it to you if you like. That way I knew that Em was not hungry etc.

Now she is a fabulous sleeper, day and night - it does get easier but at such a young age I'm afraid there isn't much I found I could do. Someone gave me a tip that sometimes worked well which was to sneak into her room just before 45mins was up and as she stirred, shh and pat her bottom. Occasionally she would drift off again for another 45 mins.

Good luck and let me know if you want the routine. As I said I am not a routine nazi but it made me feel like I was on top of things a bit better, instead of facing each day without a clue.

Claire x

[Tea Lady]

I think Clairet's suggestion of sneaking in and settling as she stirs is a really good one. What are you doing to settle her? Is there anything in particular that works for her? Some thing's we've tried, or I've heard are good are:
* bouncing on a gym ball
* running a pram over a bump on the floor
* using a sling (a bit tricky to get them out without waking though!)
* swinging in car capsule
* swinging in your arms
* using the "magic reflex" - stroking downwards from the top of their head to in between their eyebrows makes them close their eyes at that age, and if you're lucky they just might stay closed
* wrapping
* singing
* letting them watch TV if they're really upset

I don't know if that's any use, but sometimes a different idea helps. I also made lots of use of my local library and got out lots of books on settling, which at least gave me something to read in the hours and hours it took to get my bub to sleep :laughing:

[reAllytee]

Geees where were you guys when i brought bubs home from hospital LOL :p

Our life saver was bubs rocker/bouncer through the day we had it in the bouncer position & then sleep times it was layed back & used as a rocker so we often sat on the lounge & rocked while watching t.v or at times i multi tasked having bubs in the kitchen while i washed up & had my foot rockin him LOL !
Otherwise we did the laps in the pram around the house !
A sling is another good idea as i found the baby carrier was the only way i got my bubs to sleep as he wanted to be with me all the time.

Good luck i know its hard but there really is no set routine at this age its just try everything & hope something works then stick to it !!!
:hugs:

[Goosie22]

Just wondering whether anyone has any suggestions to get my 6 week old to sleep. If she doesn't fall to sleep when feeding han you usually spend the next 2 hours getting her to sleep if at all.

Have you tried just poping bub back to the breast untill asleep? I know the "self setteling/sleep training" people think its a bad idea, but it is the natural thing to do it isnt a bad habit, and they dont do it untill they are teenagers and it cuts the noise level;) .

[Sonja]

We read "The Happiest Baby on the Block" when our Lucy was about the same age andit literally saved our life. It's by Harvey Karp and is wort its weight in gold. there is also a video which our MCHN had so you can see the 5 S's in practice. Essentially, you try a combination of the following:

swaddling, shushing, sucking on a dummy, swaying and, once wrapped, holding the baby sideways (you kind of have to read about them to understand how sideways worked, and it didn't really work for Lucy). With Lucy, the swaddling, shushing and giving her a dummy were a god-send - it was like turning off a switch in terms of calming her down.

Once she settled, we would lie her on her side in her bassinet and hold her with one hand and pat her back / bottom until she went to sleep. if she cried, we would shush very loudly across her ear (not into it as you can damage their very fragile ear drums). This method is described on the huggies website (www.huggies.com.au) in the sleep / settling part and is the method used by "It's Time to Sleep", which is a very helpful dvd put out by one of the Victorian sleep schools. We don't use this all the time as it can be exhausting, but it does get results.

good luck!

[Me]

I found at this age that if I could catch the early signs of sleep i'd swaddle DD then put her in her cot and she'd generally self-settle without any crying. if she was whinging, i'd let her go for a few minutes - if i felt it was ramping up i'd go in and settle, someday the pat-shoosh thing will work, some days just the dummy, but if she was still only whinging i'd let her keep going for 10mins or so and she'd generally fall asleep herself. if i miss the early signs that she's tired then it can be hours before the little gem goes to sleep - if at all. i think 1 day it took me 5 hours of trying every trick in the book to get her to sleep, but generally speaking, she's not too bad(IYKWIM). in the end i rang dh to come home from work and take over for me - but to my luck she fell asleep just before he rang to say he was on his way!
if you are still having no luck talk to your CHN about a referal to a feeding/settling clinic - i went to one(unfortunately they couldn't settle DD at that time :laughing: ) but it was still helpful information for me and allowed me to see exactly how things were done, eg how to pat and shoosh etc.

good luck and sending good sleep vibes your way!

[kuz78au]

Hi Baysmum,
I hope things are going better! Everyone above has posted some fantastic tips and hints! We used to wrap our boy and rock and pat him on the back until he went to sleep. Sometimes it took 10 mins, sometimes 2 hours. But eventually he got better and was pretty good when it came to self settling. The dummy is a great tool isn't it?! We love it!

It will get better! Good luck with it all! :hugs:

[Cheeky Little Monkey]

Have you thought of buying a swing for your baby?
I dont use it all the time but it does help to settle and soothe our little girl at times when she is overtired.

[Tingles]

G'day,

My youngest Louisa is 12weeks old - I felt like you at about 5/6 weeks - this baby won't settle... I think you kind of reach a crisis point at the 5/6 week mark... I got on the Huggies web site & refreshed myself on the baby patterns - I was missing tired signs. My baby generally has a 3hr pattern - 1 hour after a feed she is yawning - I make sure she has a clean nappy - wrap her & either hold her while I rock, or put her in het bassinet - I have found with all my babies wrapping is sooo important! Also, don't rush to them when they cry as they may settle themselves again!

Good Luck!