I've had a rough few days with DD, who seems to have trouble falling asleep during the day. Funny thing is, she's really great about almost sleeping through the night, and has started falling asleep with only a little coaxing every night between 9 and 10pm... almost like clockwork.
As soon as she wakes for the day though, she seems to insist on this condensed schedule where she feeds almost every HOUR. We get a few periods of activity throughout the day, but they don't last more than 30 mins at a time. She usually falls asleep after feeding but it's more like a quick doze, because she wakes herself up again within the hour. I don't get a chance to get anything done during the day except feed her or hold her while she sleeps, and it's getting to be unbearable! We didn't have this problem a few weeks ago.
I'm starting to wonder if she's getting bored of hanging out on the couch with me day after day? Showing her toys or making faces at her only seems to entertain her for a short time. She enjoys being moved in her carseat and it often puts her to sleep, so I popped it in the stroller and we went for a walk this morning. She stayed awake the entire time, staring blankly over my shoulder, but when we got back to the house she started fussing so I gave her a pacifier. She fell asleep so I moved her inside, and that was 2.5 hours ago! I'm feeling like I may have found something that works. I just don't like leaving DD in her carseat for such a long time, but I know if I move her, she'll wake.
Has anyone else found their LO to be similar? Do you have to engage your babies in certain activities to get them to fall asleep and stay asleep? Is it possible for babies to be bored at such a young age?
For the record, I'm really not a fan of this game where the rules keep changing!
Re: Trouble sleeping during the day?
My little one changes the nap time game rules daily, but I have kinda become a fan of "Guess how to put me to sleep" game.
What I find that works all the time is swaddling, sometimes mixed with putting him in his bouncer, but sometimes he demands me to hold him. Sometimes I have to walk around, sometimes I have to breastfeed him asleep. I don't think babies get bored at this stage either, I repeat patty cake song and movements for ten minutes straight..while I was going crazy, he was facinated from the first time to the last.
I've noticed my DD will get caught in a vicious circle of over tiredness if I don't stop it. But my LO definitely is not a baby who puts themselves to sleep when their tired; she needs assistance. So I wear her in the sling and this works; i do have to walk to get her to sleep, then i can sit and do whatever, and when she goes to her next sleep cycle I have to walk again and the motion has a 60% chance of getting her to her next sleep cycle-but i have to walk for 15-20 minutes!
like your LO though she seems to do well at night. around 745-800 she'll go down, right when it gets dark. I know she wakes up throughout the night but for some reason doesn't seem to have a problem getting back to sleep on her own.
Hm I don't think it's a growth spurt. She's been like it for over a week, which is a long time for a 7 week old. She's still typically eating over 1L of formula a day, it's just that she used to have several larger feeds (and longer sleeps) vs. multiple smaller ones (and shorter naps).
I've heard that some LOs fall asleep when worn in a sling. You ladies must be good at getting them in and out of it seamlessly, because the sling that we have is quite something, and we'd definitely wake DD if we tried to take her out of it after she fell asleep!
Thanks for the tip re: being careful of baby's airflow in carseat. I'll be sure to keep a close eye on her when she's in it.