Baby not sleeping, even during the day

norab2684

My LO is 3 weeks today. In the last 24 hours she has only slept for about 8 hours total. She has been eating a lot, so I was thinking growth spurt, but I thought they only stayed awake for about 2 hours at a time. Yesterday she was up for 4+ hour stretches. Already today she has been awake for 2 hours and is still totally alert. Has anyone else experienced this in a newborn??

spartybride3

In the same boat here. Baby doesn't really nap during the day anymore. Sometimes she's up for 3-4 hour steretches. She just wants to eat and be held. I put her in a sling the other day so I could get stuff done and it knocked her out immediately. Have you tried going on walks? That helped us.

norab2684

I have tried swaddling, rocking, swing, dark room, crib, rock n play. Anytime I get her to fall asleep in my arms or on the boob she wakes shortly after putting her down...

apmom

Try the car in the car seat and then let her sleep in the car seat in the house. Conked my tough sleeper out.

norab2684

She has cried the last three times we were in the car

flcl

Hi, congrats on your LO!  Newborns are tough.  Once you've figured one thing out, there's a new situation to trouble shoot.  Your baby girl is still really young and it may be a few weeks before things start to develop into routines for you.  At 3wks, I was just in survival mode.  I felt all I was doing was BFing, changing his diaper and letting him cat-nap on me (he would not let me put him down for naps)... basically what ever he needed, I tried to do.  Like you, I felt exhausted.  My guy was also awake for hours at a time during the day which is way too long.  He seemed alert to me, but I think I was missing his sleep cues.  At first, I would try to get him down for naps every 2 hours.  That was too long, so I then tried every 90 mins, then every 75.  He still a cat napped (40-45 mins), but he wasn't fighting me to nap (most of the time.)  Now that he's a little older and I know his cues a bit better, I'm able to get him down for naps when he's tired (again, most of the time).  It's a work in progress... good luck!

norab2684

Can I ask what you did to try to get him down? Right now I just let her fall asleep while nursing or rocking her. Do you have anything in particular you do?

flcl

I've tried everything to get my little guy to sleep... it's so tough (sleep and BF are two things I feel I'm always working on)!  Even though we have a routine for bedtime, a mini routine for naps, a dark room, a sound machine going, etc... he ultimately still needs my help actually falling asleep.  Right now, I nurse him to sleep.  When my parents were here helping me, they would bounce him to sleep in his bouncy seat for naps.  I feel he's still too little for sleep training.  I'm know a lot of people would say that I'm building bad sleep habits but I feel like him sleeping is more important than how he falls asleep right now.  Initially, he would only nap on me and I was ok with that.  Then, I would try to put him down for one nap a day, then another nap and so on.  I wasn't sure I could make it happen but he's now taking all of his naps in his crib!  Every few naps, I will nurse him and try to put him down drowsy but awake.  If I'm lucky, he falls asleep.  If you are ok with DH sleeping on you, then let her!  I already miss all those cuddle times with my guy.  Oh- one thing that did help me get some stuff done while he was sleeping on me was wearing him... have you tried that?  It may help.

Hang in there... the beginning 5-6 weeks were so hard for me.  I could have written your post and responses word for word.  GL!

ETA: just in case you were asking what our routine is; bedtime: bath, massage, song or story, milk, sleep.  Naptime: song or story, milk, sleep.

PaoPao820

I'm having similar issues... my little guy is just over 3 weeks and it seems like every time I get it down how he wants to nap, then something else happens and he starts being super alert and awake.  The worst is at night when I try to get him to go down and he'll fall asleep on my, tummy time, and then end up waking up when I put him into his sleep spot (we cosleep).  It's difficult because then I don't have sleep either and I end up being exhausted!  I' take the good days as they come and try to do whatever I can to just get him to go down...  I feel like a bad mother because I don't know what to do to get him to go down for a nap.  I nurse, I put him down, I walk, I sing, but nothing seems to work.  He just never seems tired!  I feel your pain!