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newborn not staying asleep in crib
my
baby was born @37-3. we've been home almost a week now (missed making it on the new due date list, doh) and sleep is
going downhill. baby will fall asleep at breast or while being held. at
first we could put him in crib and he'd stay asleep for 1-2hrs but now
he wakes w/in a minute or two. h and i cant get any sleep because
someone has to hold baby or he screams. any suggestions?
Edit: yes, we're swaddling.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: newborn not staying asleep in crib
Are you using a swaddle? I wouldn't have gotten any sleep for months without swaddle-mes and the Miracle Blanket.
My LO only slept in his bouncer for the first month or so, then he started falling asleep in the swing or the newborn napper part of the pack-n-play. Around 2 months or so we moved him to a Rock n Play and it was heavenly--the very first night, he slept 5 hours in a row!
He didn't actually sleep in his crib until about 5 months.
We used the Rock n Play - if you don't have one, i'd consider investing in it because it was a LIFESAVER for us. She slept in it from the minute she got home till about two months of age. We placed her in it swaddled with the A&A blankets and turned on sleep sheep. All that combined usually put her to sleep until it was time to get up to eat or she had a dirty diaper (or both! yay! ;-)
If you haven't read it yet, i'd recommend 'the happiest baby on the block' book or CD (haven't seen the CD but a lot of people say that it's really helpful to actually SEE the techniques). It works fabulously well for those initial periods.
Last but not least, a 'fail-safe' way of getting DD asleep when she was screaming her head off was to place her in the Moby wrap and sit on an exercise ball, bouncing up and down gently. On the worst days, this got us through some tough times.
As Agrippa said, though, do whatever you need to to get him asleep. Don't worry about bad habits at this age - but what i would try to get away from is holding him all the time - lay him down, even for 5 minutes, because YOU are going to be the one who's exhausted.
One last thing - especially if your LO is having a hard time with being put down - see if you can do a lot of 'babywearing', especially initially. It'll help you get a break from holding him in your arms but he'll have the reassurance of being close to you. Especially if he was born a wee bit early, he may really need that contact from you guys. Lots of skin to skin contact for reassurance and lots of closeness next to you. He may need it until he's 3 weeks old and is closer to the 40 weeks gestation age.
The crib is intimidating, i think, for some babies. A HUGE change from the womb - not warm, too spacious, no real snuggling or soothing sounds.
This. I also recommend Happiest Baby on the Block (book or dvd)
Ditto this. Especially since he was a little early, he wants/needs to be close to you. For the first couple of weeks, DH and I would often take turns sleeping on the couch so we could sleep semi-upright while holding him. It does slowly get better.
One trick we did learn was to hold him until he was asleep, and then keep holding him another 5-10 minutes until he was DEEPLY asleep before putting him down. If you try to plop him in the crib right when he falls asleep he's only in a light sleep and will be awoken more easily.
Sorry, this stage sucks! Good luck!
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
Ditto all of this. We used the swaddles, but for the first 2 weeks we did what tomandcourt did and slept with DD on us on the couch (taking turns). At about two weeks, we started putting her in the crib, but would wait until she was really asleep before putting her down.
My kid still isn't in the crib at 3 months (our choice to keep him in our room) - we had him in a cradle for the first couple months, and when he outgrew it we moved him to the PnP. He went through a phase where he wouldn't sleep well in the cradle (maybe 3 weeks old?) and our saving grace was white noise. We put him in the rock and play and blasted a white noise app on the ipad, and he slept a couple hours at a time. After a couple weeks we put him back in the cradle, and a bit after that were able to just use the sleep sheep rather than the ipad app. Now he's a great sleeper and we can put him down drowsy - hope it lasts! We are planning to move him to the crib in his room at 4-5 months - he naps there most days.
Bottom line - try white noise. It works miracles. I think we did getbthe idea from happiest baby on the block. Good luck!
I remember those days! It is sooo exhausting, but it will soon pass. We started missing it when it did! (Not the screaming, but the endless cuddles with a tiny baby.) During your awake times, I'd just hold the baby/wear the baby if that is what you need to do. Your baby is too little to form any "bad" habits. Another trick for naps or night is to move yourself, not the baby (i.e. through cosleeping where you nurse or otherwise parent baby to sleep and then inch away one tiny movement at a time, perhaps placing something that smells like you in your stead as you scoot away). (Research-based safe bedsharing guidelines here.)
More Green For Less Green
This worked wonders for us too! Rocking in the chair was no where near as effective. Watch the DVD or happiest baby on the block from the library - one time we did have to use all 5 S's at once to get DS to sleep (shushing, swaddling, holding him on his side, gently bouncing him on the yoga ball, and sucking on the pacifier). Those were some rough nights, but they do pass!
The crib might be too much space for him. DD was only born 5 days early, but was small, 6lbs, 1oz at birth, 5lbs, 12ozs when we left the hospital. Even her bassinet was too big for her. We took a quilt and rolled it and then created a cradle around her in the bassinet so DD would feel more secure. We only did this when we were awake so we could keep an eye on her, but it really helped.
The other trick that we used for awhile that helped was putting a heating pad on low on the mattress for a few minutes before putting the baby down. We would always feel the mattress before putting her down to make sure it hadn't gotten too hot, but it made the sheets a little warm which I think helped her transition from our warm arms to the warm sheets.
That said, there were still plenty of times where we would go to put her down and she would wake up as soon as she felt us start to lower her into the crib. It gets better, hang in there.