Another sleep question

MrsRiceARoni

So last week there was a thread about how you get your lo ones to go to sleep at night, but I need some ideas/advice specifically for a newborn. Annabelle will be a month old on Sunday and she's still sleeping in bed with us. We're not people who chose to co-sleep not that there is anything wrong with it if that's what you do but I am very nervous about her being in bed with all of the covers and such and I really just want to get her sleeping in some bed of her own. During the day she'll sleep a fair amount in the pnp or swing no problem but at night I can't get her to sleep more than maybe half an hour to an hour max in her co-sleeper or swing and when she wakes up in one of those at night it's followed by hours of her screaming and it is so hard to get her to go back to sleep. We've spent many nights trying to put her down in one of these then after the hours of trying to get her back down I just give in and bring her into bed, some nights when I'm more tired I don't bother trying to put her down anywhere and just bring her straight to bed with us.

We've tried so many different things to try to get her to be content sleeping without us, we got a little heater to warm that part of the room, I've tried putting a heat pad in the co-sleeper or swing or whatever to warm it up before putting her in it, we've tried a light and sound machine since she sleeps better during the day with the noise and sound. I've tried putting a blanket that smells like me and we've tried variations of swaddled and not. Yesterday we finally got a Rock n' Play that seems to be the answer that everyone gives on here and that didn't go over well last night either. I am exhausted and just need to know what I am doing wrong. So how do/did you get your newborn to sleep? She'll sleep up to 3-4 hour stretches at night in bed with us but we can't even get an hour out of her when she's not in bed so I need help!

MrsRiceARoni

theresat858:

My LO slept best in the RnP swaddled (even though she'd always fight the swaddle at first). white noise helped as well.  I wonder if maybe an earlier bedtime would help? From all the screaming it sounds like maybe she is overtired when you are putting her down. (Or a later nap).

Even if she goes straight to sleep no problem most nights if she comes to bed with us?

Added: Also how do you go about putting your lo down? Do you put her down sleepy or completely asleep. Do you rock her in it when you first put her down, if so for how long? If she starts to stir/cry do you pick her up right away? Any ideas would be great.

Petunia844

Hopefully you find something that works...but if not, I just wanted to chime in that we were in your exact shoes and we had to ride it out.  When he was in our bed we put him in the boppy, kind of propped up and swaddled... that gave us some comfort that we couldn't roll on him or cover him and not realize it because in the boppy he took up so much space.  Then he just kind of outgrew it and now he goes down in the PnP no problem. 

Junebug060609

My short answer to your question: Any way I could.

We never had a RNP.  At that age he was in the 'cuddle cove' thing of the PNP.  He was still swaddled, but was busting out of them half the time (we quit them at 6w when he Houdini'd himself out of a swaddleme several nights in a row).  Most nights what I'd do is nurse him to sleep.  Wait it out in the glider until he had spaghetti arms, and then very carefully set him down in the cuddle cove.  The spaghetti arms deepness of sleep was key for DS.  At 3w he was going anywhere from 2-4 hours at a time, if memory serves.  I know I was getting 4-6 hours total (not in a row) of sleep per night and was napping with him (either on or next to me) whenever I could by day. 

melly918

My DD is 4w old too. She is a great sleeper but when she can't settle down to sleep, I nurse her until she falls asleep and I swaddle her. If she did not seem fully asleep I would either hold her or put her in the bassinet and then wait to see if she fell asleep.

4legsRbest

I don't have any advice, but I hope you find something that works soon. My LO is 3 weeks old also and every night brings a new experience. We do what ever it takes to get him to sleep whenever we can.

spincat9

Ah, I remember the days well.  We swaddled tight, and held her/rocked her until she fell asleep + 20 mins.  We found 20 mins to be the magic number to get DD in a deep enough sleep that we could put her in the pack n play in our room and not have her wake up.  At that age she was good for about 2-3 hours then she would wake up hungry.  After awhile (I can't recall how long; a few weeks maybe?) we could put her down as soon as she fell asleep, and we would lay on our bed for 10 minutes or so to make sure she stayed asleep before we dared leave the room for fear of waking her.  Then after a few more weeks we could put her down dopey and she'd go to sleep on her own.  We never did the RnP or swing (she hated the swing actually, day or night).  She slept in her crib in her room for naps during the day from day 1, which made the transition to the crib at night (at about 7 months I think) easy as pie.  Good luck mama.  Hang in there; this will pass.

chloebeth930

I wish I could help more but LO slept in her RNP tucked in with a blanket next to my bed for the first 3 months. I finally just let it go because it was better than having to hold her all night long and not sleeping at all.

MrsRiceARoni

I'm hoping it wasn't just a fluke but last night she slept pretty well in the RnP. She had one stretch just under 3 hours, one that was just over 2 hours and one that was only 1.5 hours but thats because mhs alarm went off but she still stayed in there with few complaints for another 45 minutes or so before demanding to be picked up. I really hope that we have another decent night tonight.

Added: Mh was quite skeptical about buying the RnP but now I think we're both wishing we had ordered it weeks ago.