My baby refuses to sleep!

jasi704

I'm losing my mind over here. DS is almost four weeks old now, and he hasn't been a very good sleeper for the past two weeks. He maybe takes one or two 1-hour naps during the day. He'll have one 2-3 hour stretch at night. And then maybe another one or two 1-hour stretches at night. During the day, I'll attempt to put him down for a nap, but he usually wakes up after 20-30 minutes. So in total he gets about 8ish hours of sleep total per day. Isn't that really low? I thought newborns were supposed to sleep like 14-16 hours a day. Am I doing something wrong?? I thought maybe it was just a phase or a growth spurt but it's not getting any better. Any advice or similar experiences you can share??

Chichigo

My son still refuses to nap if left alone. When that young he slept every time we put him in the wrap. I would feed him, then my husband would play video games while wearing him as I napped. We repeated this cycle frequently.

When my husband was at work, I'd walk around the house or watch TV while wearing sleeping baby.

TeacherVicky

Have you tried swaddling him?

Maryng10

I have the same worry; try to pay attention to your lo to find out why ? Over stimulation ? Stomach issues ? Scare ?
Doesnot like the crib ? Have you try swing ? I use white noise which helps

jasi704

TeacherVicky said:

Have you tried swaddling him?

Yup. It seemed like it helped in the beginning, but now I notice when he wakes up he's usually struggling very aggressively to get his arms out of the swaddle.

jasi704

Maryng10 said:

I have the same worry; try to pay attention to your lo to find out why ? Over stimulation ? Stomach issues ? Scare ?
Doesnot like the crib ? Have you try swing ? I use white noise which helps

I do feel like he may have tummy issues. He seems gassy a lot, his face turns red and he struggles to push. I also notice sometimes when he nurses, he gets very agitated. He grunts and kicks. Not sure if all this is related?

Maryng10

This is exact issues with my lo!! I have changed 3 different formulars! With one formula I think it cause gas pain and other 2 reflux as he keep spitting up even after burp and kept up straight for 30min. Our ped thinks as long as lo eating pooping peeing gaining weight he is fine ; but he is not sleeping!! They can put him in med to help but I declined; for now I tried " colic calm gripe water" warm the blanket and hat before naps ; tummy time doing leg bicycle to help with stomach issue ; try this pattern wake eat play and sleep ; and swing ; when he is very fuzzy crying wont sleep even when he is so so sleepy I turned on shower seat in the steam and that put him to sleep ..it is a learning process ; u will eventually find out what work for your lo. My little one is little better he is 6 weeks old now ; I just keep trying and be patient!!! Also if you breast feed then think if it could be the food! Hope this help. And if you find anyway work do share

Tracymunoz8

Hang in there... I remember thinking "how in the world do people have more than one kid?!" But it does get better. 

Is the baby cranky while awake? Maybe gasy? Colic? Remember your little one is new at this whole "being outside the womb" and it's a learning process for you both. Unless you've had little ones before. They have their days and nights mixed up sometimes and it will take a little time to get things right. People used to tell me, "try and keep the baby up during the day so he sleeps at night" YA  ok, how in the heck do you keep an infant awake?! 

I would say as long as the baby isn't fussing and crying place him/her in a safe place, like the swing and let them hang out while you get some sleep. Just make sure you are close by so you can hear when they start to cry. I did this lots! 

Good luck! hang in there! 

haven0610

Hang in there momma it gets better i promise!!!  It took ds like 4 weeks before he figured out his days and nights and actually started sleeping good at night.  Just keep doing what your doing.  could mabye you go over to your moms or have a sister or mother come over to watch LO all night so you can get some uniterrupeted sleep.  I stayed at my moms a lot while I was on maternity leave on the weekends.  she helped with LO so much so I could relax and get some sleep;  I would pump bottles so she would feed ds all night.  I usually had to wake up once in the night to pump.  She did this for me a couple nights and it was amazing how much better I felt.  Trust me your LO will figure it out and will start sleeping better.  I remember the day I finally quit dreading bedtime because i knew ds would actually sleep lol.   good luck momma!