Never sleeps/constantly needs to be held

pictic5

Hello ladies! I'm usually a lurker on here learning from all your great questions but I need to ask my own because I'm going crazy!! This is going to be a long one so I'm sorry in advance! My LO is 1 month old and needs to constantly be held or be near me or my SO. I love cuddling with her and love that she wants to be with us all the time and I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can but it's getting to be too much. We try and put her in her RnP or in her PnP and she's fine for maybe a couple minutes but once she realizes no one is touching her she completely freaks out! I don't even have time to put her down to brush my teeth in the morning. She also can't sleep at night unless she's in our bed with us and I really didn't want to bed share because it makes me nervous. She also ends up nursing almost every hour when she's in the bed with us and I get no sleep whatsoever. During the day isn't much better. She'll only sleep if I have her strapped to me in her Baby Bjorn and once she's put down she'll wake up and cry. I've tried quieting down at night, turning off the lights an hour or so before bed, swaddling her, turning on the sound machine etc. and nothing works. Please help!!

pictic5

Same thing happens with the swing. She likes it for a few minutes and then starts to cry. She loves white noise and it'll work for a but but it's really hit or miss and the most I can get her to sleep if it does work is 20 to 30 minutes. I tried warming up a blanket for her and it didn't seem to do anything. She seems to like the body heat so I'm not sure why that doesn't work.

ssstephanie214

When you put her down, do you keep your hands on her for a minute or two? We do this with ours once she's asleep, keeping our hands in the exact same position and then slowly phasing them out. We have to go VERY SLOW but it has been working for naps.

lovingaddi

I know with my lo if I set her down too soon she will wake back up almost immediately. Have you tried to hold her for an extra 10-15 min before attempting to transfer that way she's in a deeper sleep? Also as pp suggested, keep your hands on her for a little after setting her down as well.

pictic5

I will try all of this and I'll try warming up a swaddle again too. She does seem to do better when I wait until she's in a deeper sleep. Thank you for the help!

AnnieRoo13

Are you putting LO down when she's fully asleep? I feed LO and he usually falls asleep then I'll swaddle him and rock him and give him the pacifier if he wants it. He then falls into a pretty deep sleep and I can put him in his crib. I also use white noise and leave my hands on him for 30-60 seconds before leaving the room as previously suggested.

I'm sorry you're having a hard time!

staugustinewedding

kegcrc said:

One thing I will add, is if you're breastfeeding, make sure you're feeding thoroughly and not letting your LO "snack", fall asleep on the breast, then wake up hungry again in an hour. It's tempting to let them sleep during/after a short feed but then you're at square one in less than an hour when they wake up. Keep LO awake and get a good, solid feed. Burp and put on second breast, and if they don't want it, at least you know they are full. This will help them sleep longer as they're not waking up hungry sooner. If you have a comfort feeder like I do, a pacifier will be your new breast friend. (Lame joke haha)

(I only posted this because you wrote you're feeding every hour. During a growth spurt, obviously this changes things...) hope this helps...

I was going to say this too!