No daytime sleep

[watermelon]

Hi, I was hoping someone could shed some light on whether this is normal or not.

My 7 and 1/2 week old baby has started to not wanting to sleep at all during the day.
She generally wakes around 4 or 5am after sleeping through from 7or 8pm. She then is awake for almost the entire day.
For eg. yesterday she woke at 4am and I fed and changed her she then stayed awake in her cot (fairly happily) until 6am when she fed again. Wide awake after that until the 8:30am feed we then went for a walk in the pram and she slept for maybe half hour total during the walk. She then stayed awake all the rest of the morning and the afternoon until about 4:30pm when she dropped off for another half hour sleep.
She's generally happy during the mornings but by lunch time is getting grumpier and grumpier, starts rubbing her eyes, thrashing about and crying so she's obviously tired.

These are the things I've tried:
1. a dummy (sometimes she takes it but cries when she spits it out)
2. rocking her to sleep (but she wakes again as soon as I put her down)
3. swaddling her tightly
4. giving her a bath
5. putting her in the sling (she wakes as soon as I take her out)

Nothing seems to work. I demand feed her and she doesn't appear to be hungry as she refuses some of the extra feedings.
On days where she is really tired she sometimes vomits up entire feeds (immediately after or during the feed) but the child health nurse says she's fine, gaining a lot of weight and its not reflux or she would be screaming after all feeds.

Surely she must need more sleep than the 8 or so hours she gets at night, cause she appears tired but just fights and fights going to sleep.
I'm glad that she sleeping most of the night but its getting very tiring during the day trying to settle her, I'm not getting anything else done.
Has anyone else had a similar experience or any ideas that might help me to settle her?

Samantha
dd Sophie 20/7/05

[mariafresnel]

Hi my name is Maria, mum to baby Sophia 11 months and angel baby Perri (1/8/05).

You look like you done some amazing things to help your little one settle down and go back to sleep. Sophia was just like your bub, and what I ended up doing was eliminating all of the sleep aids, as they were getting in the way, and I did the following:

1. ensured her room was dark (day and night)
2. bought a room thermometer to make sure her room was not too hot or cold. I altered her clothes and bedding accordingly.
3. removed dummy, rocking, patting etc and implemented wrapping her, and putting her to sleep a little while after she fed, so that her milk went down (so to speak).
4. I put her in her cot awake, so that she self settled. Occaisionaly she would protest (most times actullay), but it was about me being persistent....i would tell her (quietly) that it was time to go to sleep, and I would leave the room. If you use Tizzie Hall's (www.saveoursleep.com.au) tips, you would have to wait 6 mins, she almost guarantees that babe will fall asleep in this time, if not go back into room and help (by being htere, not picking up etc) babe to go back to lseep.

Sophia is 11 months, and I still have to wrap her to go to sleep....she protests, but not for long, and she has great day sleeps and sleeps through the night (at this stage anyway!!).
mariafresnel@yahoo.com.au

[sasholi]

Hi there. I'm sorry to read about your frustrations.

My son is now six months old and went through a very very awake period before he was three months old also so I can definitely sympathise with you! I usually found I was happy if he was happy, but when he was grizzly I knew it was time to sleep but because he is such a happy baby, by the time he got grizzly he was sooo overtired that he just wouldn't fall asleep (does that make sense?). It was doubly frustrating because I felt like the only person in the world whose practically new born baby was the only dud one out there awake most of the day (I mean, aren't they supposed to *sleep* most of the time??!!) :rolleyes: .

Have you taken bubs to the child health centre or to a pead to discuss her sleep issues? Since she is getting grizzly by lunch time it would make sense to want to change the situation.

Also, remember, they do not stay that way forever. With my LO I found that he eventually started sleeping more during the day with much persistence, tears, and stress from me though. (Some days I'm not sure the stress is really worth it!!). Then it became a bit more predictable. Then there were weeks when he wouldn't sleep much. And it changes all the time.

Remember, each phase doesn't last forever.

However, babies do need sleep during the day, even if they are getting a good stretch overnight.

At the moment however, because bubs is still so small, she is just figuring out the world around her, so maybe just do what you can to get her sleeping during the day and go with that. Keep her in the sling until she wakes up (make sure you have a super comfy sling. I have a really really comfy one that I can basically chuck bubs in to do the housework and everything without the back ache - if you need the name of a really good one let me know and I can give it to you). I remember going for two hour walks nearly every day with my LO when he was your bub's age.

But what I found is you don't want them sleeping so much it robs their night time sleep.

My pead said you want them having about 4 naps a day at that age in excess of an hour each nap (that is in the perfect text book world). She said to aim for it. She told me when you put bub down for a nap try to get her to sleep. If you can't do it after about 30 minutes, do what will get her to sleep (sling, pram, car) so that she gets her sleep.

Go with what works. It won't last that way forever.

I'm sorry I'm not much more help and all I've done is babbled on! But just know you aren't alone!

[sasholi]

I just read the post above mine after I sent this post.

I think they have great ideas in them too!!! I remember now - the darkened room really helped my baby go to sleep also during the day (he is a very alert child).

Good luck and let us know how you go!

[watermelon]

Thanks for the tips everyone, I'm going to try them. We are going to visit the paed on wednesday so I'll see what he thinks.
I have the Infantino baby sling and a pouch that goes on the front but I'd be interested to hear about other comfy ones cause it does make my back a bit sore.

I'll keep you posted on how we are going.

[sasholi]

The one I use is called Hug a Bub. It's brilliantly comfortable for me, although I have to admit that it is a bit of an exercise getting it on. But if you are going for a for a walk or using it for an extended period of time, I would highly recommend it.

I also used the baby Bjorn for short spurts (from the car to the apartment etc) as it is super easy to put on and off but it was no way near as comfy.

You can check out the Hug a Bub at www.natureschild.com.au or I'd try ebay as some people may sell theirs for cheaper?

They aren't cheap - $110. But if you like to wear your bub a bit or that's how she'll sleep for now, I'd highly recommend this one. It helps when out shopping and just makes everything soooo much easier (my bub wasn't a pram sleeper so whenever we were out, which was often as I got bored at home, he was in the Hug a Bub). It distributes the weight more evenly across the hips, rather than the shoulders.

Good luck!

[mummyb]

hi
well i know all about the sleepy time blues ,my 14month old is still not sleeping throug nedds to be wrapped oh it goes on but i wont bore you .
everyone has already given you amazing advice .so i thought i would just encourage you to keep on keeping on . ;)
i always say the 1st 10 weeks are the hardest so your almost thru.
how amazing are you tho trying all those things it takes hard work to look after a little baby all day especially when their not sleeping .
i hope your getting some rest ?
i still mark my days good or bad on wethter i get a shower or not.
my ds and i are off to tresillian next week ,maybe their of karitanes care line would give you some extra support.
tresillian and karitane both have residential units where you stay for up to 6 nights .they do ,feeding issues,sleep issues etc etc .you need a refferal from your gp or clinic nurse and the wait is quit long but dont let that put you off lots of people pull out and you can find yourself moved up the list quite rapidly .
anyway i relay do think your amzing for giving everything ago .goodluck . :D