Night sleep advice on newborn please

myturnin09?

so my Lilly is only a week old and we are still learning...but she doesn't like to have her arms swaddled (breaks out of her blankets and the Swaddle Me's).  She does NOT like to sleep in her pack and play at night ( we have an infant positioner we have tried in there too)...she can be sleeping just after her last feeding of the night, put her down and two seconds later yelling inconsolably.  She will sleep if we hold her though--but as soon as we put her down forget it.  We have "Happiest Baby" and are still having issues.  I'm just trying to get he from her final feeding of the night to her next feeding.  What am I doing wrong or what should I do...everyone of my friends who have had infants are telling me that i can't start holding her throughout the night b/c she will never learn to sleep on her own.  But I honestly don't know what i should be doing instead.  She gets so worked up that we can't calm her down.  I feel like such a failure when that happens and feel badly that she is crying and i can't get her to stop.  Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.  TIA ladies.

cjsbdl

I'm certainly not one to be giving you advice, because we are having the same sleep issues with our LO...but I will tell you that you cannot create bad sleeping habits at this age. If you find something that works, DO IT. Don't worry about creating problems for later...babies don't learn bad habits at this age. 

The other thing I can tell you is that I'm learning that you are not doing anything "wrong" and neither am I--some newborns just have a harder time learning to sleep on their own than others. 

Good luck! I feel your pain.

LVBlvd

You can't spoil your baby at this age. ?Heck - I think you can't spoil a baby at 6 months, but that is just me. ?You have to do whatever encourages the most sleep for everyone in the house right now. ?I know how stressful it can be. ?For us - Paige slept swaddled and in her swing for the first few months. ?We changed the batteries in that swing all.the.time. ?But that helped everyone in the house get more sleep. ?Good luck finding what works for you guys!

desabean

Usually if g cries like that when we lay her down it is gas. Try burping or gas drops. We swaddle from the chest down and it works for g. She hates sleeping in her pnp but will sleep in her crib and swing and on us of course. At this point you just need to do what works while you keep trying the rest from time to time. Good luck.

JosiPeaches

How long do you burp her after you feed?  DS was like that and we figured out very quickly that he had burps sitting there hurting him.  He was a HORRIBLE burper to begin with.  I would stand and bounce while alternating patting and rubbing his back for about a half hour or more to make sure they were all out.  If he cried when I put him down I tried again and invariably that was it. 

Ditto pp.  Try swaddling her from under her arms down.

Do whatever you need to to get some sleep. 

Good luck.

 

LucyPevensie

Haven't read the other responses - but can tell you - it is utter bulllshiit that if you hold her while sleeping she'll never sleep through the night on her own.  BEYOND  BULLSHIIT..  She needs to be close to you - she's used to being INSIDE you!  Do what is right for your baby and hold her and soothe her and love her.  Wear her in a Moby or other wrap during the day so she can be close to you and hold her at night to help her sleep when she needs you to.  A baby who is held a lot and soothed and loved is a SECURE baby - who is LESS likely to be clingy in the long run.  So whoever is giving you that shiitty advice is an idiot(s).  Feel free to tell them I said so. 

GypsyEsq

LucyPevensie:

Haven't read the other responses - but can tell you - it is utter bulllshiit that if you hold her while sleeping she'll never sleep through the night on her own.  BEYOND  BULLSHIIT..  She needs to be close to you - she's used to being INSIDE you!  Do what is right for your baby and hold her and soothe her and love her.  Wear her in a Moby or other wrap during the day so she can be close to you and hold her at night to help her sleep when she needs you to.  A baby who is held a lot and soothed and loved is a SECURE baby - who is LESS likely to be clingy in the long run.  So whoever is giving you that shiitty advice is an idiot(s).  Feel free to tell them I said so. 

Heh.  I totally agree with all of this.  I think you mentioned the Happiest Baby on the Block?  Well then you know you're right in the thick of the fourth trimester.  Your baby needs to feel close to you and if putting her down to sleep isn't working for her, well you already know it isn't working for you.  We spent a lot of that first week sleeping with DD on our chests.  And we've "graduated" to now having her sleep with us in our bed most of the night.  I hadn't planned on bed-sharing but it means we get a ton more sleep than I hear most new parents describe.  DD naps in her crib and will even now go down for the night in her crib but she still always ends up in bed with us.  Hang in there and do what instinctively feels right to you -- it will get better.

PhillySue

I say don't listen to your family. She will learn to sleep on her own!  DD was the same way. We took turns holding her on the couch (while we also tried to sleep).  We made sure she was safely positioned on the bobby if we feel asleep.  It let her sleep and actually let us sleep.   Without doing this we would have lost our minds.  At around 2 weeks we started letting her sleep in the car seat because that was the only place other than our arms she would sleep.  Pediatrician said in the begining let them sleep where ever!  We transitioned her to her crib around 4-5 weeks.  DD now sleeps through the night from 8:00-6:30 so holding her when she was a week old did not "spoil" her.  You are not a failure!!!! One week olds are HARD!!!!