xp from 0-3: i slept 90 min last night- help please?

amahrey · May 2011

i totally thought (dumb, i know) that after having one small, the second would as least be not quite as hard. we have been home two nights from the hospital and i have no idea how to get norah to sleep at night (or during the day really). ds was in the nicu for two months, so i don't really have any newborn take-home-straight-from-the-hospital exeperience.

every time i laid norah down in her crib last night (in my room) she would be fine for 5 min, then start grunting and groaning and then bust out crying. she nursed fine, burped most of the time, has enough wet/dirty diapers. i tried swaddling, not swaddling, more clothes/less clothes (in case she was cold or something) rocking, putting in bed awake vs. asleep, and with and without a pacifier (you can try a lot of stuff if are up every 10 min all night). i'm out of ideas. i slept (and norah slept) a total of 90 min between 11:30 - 7:00.

with ds, i would just let him sleep in the living room until i went to bed and then would nurse/change him and transfer him to his crib. he would wake about every 2 hours to nurse and go right back to sleep. she must be exhausted- i thought newborns were supposed to sleep like 20 hours a day or something...do you think i need to put her in the crib earlier?

any other ideas ladies? is this normal? help?

JessicaG56 · May 2011

sounds like Alayna...just a little more intense. She might have some reflux. Try sleeping her up a bit and not laying her flat. Alayna hasn't slept flat one day or night since we brought her home and she is sleeping better. She actually is sleeping on the couch in the crook of the arm. I know with her too when she didn't want to go down I would just sleep on the couch with her on my chest and she would sleep. I think she just wanted that skin contact.

I totally feel you bc my boys were totally easier then this! Hopefully this helps or you figure something out!

ZTAsunshine · May 2011

I am totally going to get flamed for this. But during the day Emily sleeps on her tummy- either on the play mat or on the couch with the boppy pillow around her body and her head sticking out the cut out. That way there is nothing preventing air from getting to her.

At night, we swaddle her, give her a pacifier- a no no for those breastfeeding but she doesn't seem to have nipple confusion- and put her in the bassinet. I caved on the pacifier after three nights of continuous nursing from 1 am until 5 am- boobies were completely bruised. She'll sleep about two to three hours like this. Then she is up with me holding her- she will fall asleep like this but refuses to be put back into the bassinet.

I do remember with DD#1 that this phase of not sleeping will pass- just hope it is sooner rather than later.

MommyHarrison · May 2011

JessicaG56:
sounds like Alayna...just a little more intense. She might have some reflux. Try sleeping her up a bit and not laying her flat. Alayna hasn't slept flat one day or night since we brought her home and she is sleeping better. She actually is sleeping on the couch in the crook of the arm. I know with her too when she didn't want to go down I would just sleep on the couch with her on my chest and she would sleep. I think she just wanted that skin contact.
I totally feel you bc my boys were totally easier then this! Hopefully this helps or you figure something out!

Ditto to all of this AND ditto your original post! Claire is having the same trouble. She sleeps like a rockstar during the day - in her swing, on the couch, anywhere...in fact, we TRY to wake her up so she'll sleep at night but she just won't, at least not in her bassinet. We lay her in there and within seconds she's screaming, no matter how warm or cool it is, with or without being swaddled - the whole deal. We feel like we've tried it all. The second I pick her up and move to the recliner to let her sleep on my chest, she's perfect. Last night she slept from 10:30p to 2a, woke up to nurse, then went back to sleep until 6a. I love that she's sleeping, but I'd love to sleep in my own bed... I was thinking of getting the rock 'n play sleeper for her to try so she can sleep on more of an incline and be cuddled a bit more than the bassinet allows, but I'm nervous about the flat head issue.

Good luck to you! If you find any tricks that work, pass them along!!!

NJMom050911 · May 2011

The only thing that has been working for us at night is to put him in his bouncy in the crib. I know I need to get him to sleep in the crib but he screams and is so tiny in that big thing. During the day he's either in his swing or the safe assured sleeper (so he does get some time on his back)

MrsD1 · May 2011

This sounds a lot like my night last night.

Gabriella will not sleep in her co-sleeper bassinet at night. We've tried everything: swaddling, rocking, "shh'ing," breastfeeding her to sleep, leaving a radio on, letting her fall asleep by my side then moving her to the bassinet, having her fall asleep in my arms then moving her to the bassinet, singing her to sleep and other things. Not even five minutes into being in her bassinet she will start fussing, then thrashing around and screaming at the top of her lungs. DH and I haven't slept more than an hour each night the last couple of nights.

During the day, Gabriella has no problem sleeping in her bassinet downstairs. Usually the TV is on downstairs so we are going to buy a white noise machine today in hopes that it will help at night.

I would also appreciate any advice people have.

pinkflipflops44 · May 2011

Well try to get her and you outside today to get some vitamin d and perhaps help her body learn that daylight is awake time and night time is sleep time. She may need to sleep on your chest (with you in a recliner or a chair) she might not want to lay flat and she might just need the skin to skin contact.

Neukim · May 2011

For the first 6 weeks with my ds I slept in a chair. He would only sleep on my chest. Do you know anyone with a nap nanny? If she does have reflux issues I heard these things are wonderful.

Lisa Frank · May 2011

Baby needs to be close to you. You are that familiar source of comfort. My DS slept on me for the first few weeks and DD is co-sleeping right now too. It will help you all get some rest if you keep her close at night.

MrsPLW71 · May 2011

Abigail liked to cluster feed between midnight and 5 am. I wish I knew a solution, but I just try to sleep during her longer stretches during the day. I just can't imagine how those with toddlers at home manage to survive!

robbie3982 · May 2011

Simon sleeps much better if he's next to me so we're bed sharing at least part of the night. It took us a while to get comfortable with the idea the first time around, but we know how important sleep is for my mental health now and since we did it with ds1 we didn't hesitate to try it out this time.

Temp38995750004016 · May 2011

I was also going to suggest just letting her sleep on your chest so you can get some sleep. I'm wary about co-sleeping in a bed, but I would feel somewhat safer about sleeping with her on me on the couch.

Temp38995750004016 · May 2011

ZTAsunshine:

At night, we swaddle her, give her a pacifier- a no no for those breastfeeding but she doesn't seem to have nipple confusion- and put her in the bassinet. I caved on the pacifier after three nights of continuous nursing from 1 am until 5 am- boobies were completely bruised. She'll sleep about two to three hours like this. Then she is up with me holding her- she will fall asleep like this but refuses to be put back into the bassinet.

I do remember with DD#1 that this phase of not sleeping will pass- just hope it is sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I asked my lactation consultant and she said nipple confusion is actually very, very rare. The only thing to worry about is LO getting all her sucking reflex from the paci and not wanting to nurse; but if she's nursing, then it's ok. = )

robbie3982 · May 2011

pook:
I was also going to suggest just letting her sleep on your chest so you can get some sleep. I'm wary about co-sleeping in a bed, but I would feel somewhat safer about sleeping with her on me on the couch.

Cosleeping on a couch is actually really unsafe. It's much safer to cosleep in bed.

amahrey · May 2011

wow- thanks for all of the responses ladies. it helps a bunch to at least know that i'm not the only one- i was so beyond frustrated and tired last night. today of course, she has slept ALL DAY so i know at least that she won't be overtired tonight. one challenge for us is that although she sleeps on me great, i don't feel comfortable having her in bed because dh is a crazy snorer/thrasher and we only have a full size bed. she does sleep fine on me in one of our living room chairs though, so that is an ok back-up. she is also sleeping in her car seat right now (clipped onto the jogging stroller so i can roll her around the house with me, and we borrowed a swing from a friend today, so i at least have two more options tonight. i am also going to have dh pick up some mylicon drops for gas (i totally forgot that we used those for the first bit with ds) and we'll see how it goes.

i will update with hopefully great successful news tomorrow.

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xp from 0-3: i slept 90 min last night- help please?

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