baby awake and wont settle - any ideas?

rkto · November 2011

baby is only 2 weeks old so I know there isnt much training, but I am up for ideas.

She sleeps for a 4 hour stretch from 1am - 5am and then usually another 3 hours right after til 8-9am. However, before that - from 11pm - 1am,she is inconsolable. We have to sing to her and rock her and she will not sleep. She isnt hungry, she is clean, no gas ... but she just wont settle. you can tell she is overtired but wont sleep.

Last night, this period of inconsolable -ness lasted over 3 hours.

any ideas?

We are thinking that we should put her in the dark bedroom from 7pm-ish to get her into "night" mode. She is awake in the day for an hour here and there but just hangs out - no crying.

blu-eyedwife · November 2011

Are you putting her in bed for the night at 11pm? Around 2 weeks we were trying to put LBB down for bed at 10 and it was a nightmare. He would scream/fuss/and cry for at least 2 hours.

Around that time we started a bedtime routine around 5. Whatever time between 5 and 6 he woke up from his last nap he gets fed. Then it's bathtime. Then we do storytime. Then it's bedtime. It still takes about 2 hours, but it's 2 hours of pleasant smiley/bondie/friendly time and not screaming/crying.

Waiting till we wanted to go to bed was putting him at peak fussy time. Now we bypass that because he's already asleep by then!

colliebabe · November 2011

Have you tried putting her in a carrier? Our LO was super fussy in the evenings, all the way from about 7 pm - midnight. Now I put her in the carrier* and bounce her around for a bit, and she falls asleep. After about 15-20 minutes of sleeping in the carrier, I take her out gently and lay her down. Most of the time she stays asleep (occasionally she wakes back up and then I try to feed her again, and then start the whole thing over again.)

*She fights the carrier at first but eventually settles in and falls asleep.

This is random but I turn the oven fan on and stand next to that while I bounce her - she loves it and it usually puts her out.

Junebug060609 · November 2011

When my DS gets like that its generally because he's overtired and/or overstimulated.

At two weeks old swaddling him tight helped.

Now, getting the room dark and standing up and gently swaying side-to-side with him on my shoulder seems to help.

alexa08 · November 2011

I agree, sounds overstimulated/overtired to me too. When DD is overstimulated or tired we swaddle and go to a quiet part of the house - we had to do this yesterday when we had guests - just too much for her.

At 6 weeks we're still swaddling to sleep at night. Our last feeding is at 9 or so, then she's normally tucked into bed. We keep the lights dim and the house quiet after her second to last feeding of the day so she understands it's night time.

aliciaroset · November 2011

You all are inspiring me to put her to bed bed earlier...

My DD loves to nap in the moby. When nothing else will settle her I know I can count on that to put her out for a while, so long as I can calm her enough to get her in it in the first place.

nic326 · November 2011

What time is bedtime? If its 11 that may be too late. I would start bedtime around 7 or 8 in a dark room in her bed. I am jealous of the sleep stretches you are getting!