Sleeping/putting down at 2 months

kaytea1224 · January 2015

We are having trouble with sleeping at night. I'm trying to establish a bedtime routine for my 2 month old: We do a bath, last feeding (baby is EBF) and vitamin D supliments (which baby loves) and then some rocking/lullabies. LO usually falls asleep without much problem-the problem comes when I try to transfer him from my arms to his bassinet. He usually wakes up either right away, if I haven't waited long enough, or within 5 mins or so of being put down. Any suggestions? Commiseration? Will this eventually get better? Is this normal? Have I waited too long to start this routine? I'm exhausted and physically can't keep him in my arms all night! I'm not expecting him to sleep all night, (although that would be wonderful) but I am thinking he should be able to be put down for longer than a few minutes at a time at 2 months. I know a girl who said hers was only waking up once a night at this point in time, and I know each baby is different, but I admit I'm comparing a bit-and very jealous!

Mkitty1983 · January 2015

We have the same issue with my little guy. We started putting a heating pad in the bassinet before we put him down to warm up his spot. We just take it out right before we lay him down. It seems to help

MrsAdventure · January 2015

Sounds pretty normal, it is for me anyway. Pips is 2 months as well and will fall asleep with either DH or I, but when we go to put her in her bed, she wakes and fusses. I turn on the sound machine and she's usually okay. She'll fuss, then sleep, then five or ten minutes later, she'll fuss and doze back off. She does that for maybe an hour. As long as her white noise machine it going, I usually don't have to pick her up, sometimes she needs her paci put back in her mouth, but after an hour she usually goes to sleep.

We did have to scale back her bedtime routine though. She just got so angry about it. It used to be massage with lotion, story time, change, feed then we'd try to put her to sleep and we'd transfer her to her bed, except she would have meltdowns at all different times of the routine. I think it was too much of an ordeal for her. During the day, she just gets fed and changed and then sleeps. So all we do at night at the moment is a diaper change, put jammies on, feed and then sleep. Mind you this is only day three or four of the new routine, but no meltdowns at bedtime since so fingers crossed.

Edit: forgot a sentence

kaytea1224 · January 2015

Thanks for the suggestions! I will keep my fingers crossed for you MrsAdventure!

MrsLillyG · January 2015

Swaddling with arms in works for us.

misterdonut · January 2015

Our baby fusses from 6pm beyond and cluster feeds, but we've been trying to find the sweet spot to put her down for an early bedtime-- shell usually have a really drowsy stretch around 8ish. After all the fussing (feed, falls asleep, mobile in crib, wakes repeats a few times) she'll finally be full enough to knock out until 2am. Wish she would rank up all at once though! That's the furthest she'll go before she needs to feed again every 3 hours.

puppylove556 · January 2015

We had this problem the first month and a half and then we changed our plan. We start our routine at 7. We feed our little one, then we play until 8. At eight she sits with her dad a reads for 20 minutes, then we do the bath and feed again at 8:30. We also use the aveeno bedtime calming lotion. So far it has worked well for us. She usually sleeps from 9 until 5 ish. Good luck! It is a long routine but it has worked for us so far.

Love4Science · January 2015

Our LO gets a fresh diaper, PJs, feed, swaddled, rocked to sleep, and then put in crib. She usually wakes up within five minutes of us putting her down, but she just sort of grunts and groans so we leave her. She usually falls asleep within 30 minutes. If she ever starts really crying we do go in to pick her up because they're too young to cry it out. Our doctor said if she's just a little fussy to let her stay in the bed because they need to learn to fall asleep on their own.

librarygirl123 · January 2015

In the wonder weeks book it talks about this problem! Apparently their little sleep cycles are short so little things can wake them very easily if they aren't in deep sleep. the suggestion is to either put LO down before they fall asleep so that the sleep cycle isn't disturbed or wait until deep sleep sets in before putting LO down.

kstirton · January 2015

We had this same problem. We started routine a little earlier, and swaddling with pacifier helps. Full feeding too. Sometimes she's just wide awake though. Last night she was up from 6:30-11

MmmPopcorn · January 2015

The fleece Halo Sleepsack Swaddle was our solution. DS has finally decided to let us swaddle him with arms in, so that helps him feel all cozy.

thedjinn88 · January 2015

My guy wont go down without a fresh diaper, we lotion, change his tush and feed. I put him in his bed after burping and he usually goes right to sleep. I try to keep him up for at least 2 hours before bed time and it helps a ton. He usually goes down at 9:30.

hidingangel82 · January 2015

We are in the same boat, so all I can do is commiserate, but I'm following for suggestions and to see if anything works for you! Good luck mamma!

BridgetThoams · January 2015

I was having trouble with LO sleeping anywhere but with me. He just kept waking up. I got a fleece sleep sack and I can put him down awake and he now settles himself to sleep, most nights. Turns out he was cold!!! But as long as LO isn't crying they can be left for a bit so they learn to settle themselves.

Dumbgurl04 · January 2015

Around 8 we put her in her PJs. Then we might either play or just sit and rock. Then she will eat and we will rock some more before going up to bed around 9-930. There have been times here lately where she wakes up when I'm going to her room but since she isn't fussy I just lay her in the crib then just step out of her line of sight. I wait a few seconds then walk away but I stay up stairs for a few mintues by going and putting my PJs on and/or wash my face. Then before I go down stairs I'll just peek in at her and she is pretty much asleep. Our Ped told us now is a good time to try and put her to bed around the same time everynight even when she is awake so she can start getting use to the idea of going to sleep on her own so if she wakes up in the middle of the night and she isn't hungry she can soothe herself back to sleep. Now we just have to work on not having to go to sleep with the paci in our mouth or having to be swaddled. Although with our swaddling both her arms are free she seems to just like her legs covered.

kaytea1224 · January 2015

Thank you for all the suggestions! It helps to know I'm not alone (or failing at this parenting thing) too! I feel much more hopeful with all these ideas!

alli65 · January 2015

I'm in the same boat as you. L will only sleep with me. But I am trying to establish a routine. Around 7:30 we do bathtime (I dont use soap every night but the warm water soothes him). After bath we moisturize get into pjs and then he eats. We are usually upstairs in bed around 9:30 and he will sleep until 2 or 3. Then up for the day around 7. I try to lay him down but he will only sleep for 45 min on his back. Then wakes up screaming.

ssstephanie214 · January 2015

There was a thread like this just a few pages back. We wait for the baby to give us what we call "dead arms"... We actually lift her arm to see if it drops right back down to tell if she's in Deep Sleep. If she is, we can put her right down and she'll stay down (most of the time). We keep a hand on her and slowly remove. It takes 20 minutes after her eyes first close.

misterdonut · January 2015

Trying to scented shirt tonight

so happy I'm not alone!!!

bdaugherty10 · January 2015

Following this board bc I'm having the same problem. My dd breaks out of swaddles but her arms keep her awake. We have been on a routine for about a week and it's still a struggle. Perhaps she needs an earlier bedtime- bc she is fussy thought the entire routine

misterdonut · January 2015

bdaugherty10 said:
Following this board bc I'm having the same problem. My dd breaks out of swaddles but her arms keep her awake. We have been on a routine for about a week and it's still a struggle. Perhaps she needs an earlier bedtime- bc she is fussy thought the entire routine

The magicians are pretty cute though when I see LO with a little knuckle broken free

ccegla1 · January 2015

Having this problem! LO is 9 weeks old today. She fell asleep at 4:30am last night (I guess this morning!). She had been up since 8pm! She had fallen asleep twice in my arms from 8-4, but as soon as I put her down...wide awake! At 4:30 I did not risk setting her down...she slept in my arms. We tried bath time, swaddling, white noise, pacifier, having it dark and quite. Yesterday she had slept a lot during the day due to having shots the day before. I know we should not try to keep her awake during the day, but we are running out of options! She needs better sleep as do we... I am EBF, but DH wants to give a bottle of formula hoping it will help her sleep. No idea what else to do...totally exhausted!

kaytea1224 · January 2015

ccegla1 said:
Having this problem! LO is 9 weeks old today. She fell asleep at 4:30am last night (I guess this morning!). She had been up since 8pm! She had fallen asleep twice in my arms from 8-4, but as soon as I put her down...wide awake! At 4:30 I did not risk setting her down...she slept in my arms. We tried bath time, swaddling, white noise, pacifier, having it dark and quite. Yesterday she had slept a lot during the day due to having shots the day before. I know we should not try to keep her awake during the day, but we are running out of options! She needs better sleep as do we... I am EBF, but DH wants to give a bottle of formula hoping it will help her sleep. No idea what else to do...totally exhausted!

I can totally relate! The nurses at the hospital had told us not to swaddle when we got home. I wasn't comfortable with it anyway; I didn't feel like I ever got it secure enough and I was afraid LO would get free and it would be a hazard to him. However, his arms and legs are constantly going and that is what I think wakes him up. When he is in my arms, I guess I keep him from doing that. (Cold probably factors in a little bit too.) We have tried the Velcro type swaddle and it really seems to be helping! Thank you MmmPopcorn! (Although, he does manage to get his little fists out eventually-little Houdini!- but it takes him awhile, so he has slept a couple hours.) We also have starting heating up his bassinet before placing him in it. (Thank you - Mkitty1983 - Cold had never even occurred to me.) However, last night, DH and I had a function that we had to go to and LO had been up pretty much all day, despite me trying to get a couple naps in. I was a little stressed because we've been trying to establish a routine and I felt like we were throwing LO for a loop. LOs grandparents were watching him and they were so excited about hanging out with him, that they kept him pretty awake all evening too. When we got home, we fed him and then he slept for 6 hours straight!!! When he fell asleep while feeding, I was terrified to try and change him into his swaddle/nighttime gear, so I just tried putting him down as he was and he stayed down! So I'm wondering if I should try less nap time during the day at this point until LO gets the idea of nighttime sleeping? So many variables! But thank you all again! I really appreciate the comments and suggestions! It really helps knowing you aren't alone!

alysonmh · January 2015

I find putting my son down when he's really sleepy but BEFORE he falls asleep completely helps, he usually fusses for 5-10 minutes and then passes out. However if I try to lay him down while he's asleep he just wakes up and gets frustrated that his sleep was interrupted. We also purchased a sound/projector for his nursery which has made a huge difference. The music relaxes him and the projecter gives him something to look at as he doses off, it kind of distracts him from the fact that I'm not holding him. I included the link to the one we bought below and it's only $20, it also has a timer and voice activation so that it turns back on if it hears LO crying. Swaddling him in a velcro swaddle or putting him in a sleep sack has also helped us as well as baths before bed time, our baths have lavender in them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006SFUEF2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

kaytea1224 · January 2015

Thank you!

Want a personalized experience?

Sleeping/putting down at 2 months

Re: Sleeping/putting down at 2 months

Choose Another Board

Search Boards