Baby sleep/ nursing/ bottle HELP

jarob747 · April 2016

My 9 week old still sleeps most of the day. He stays awake for anywhere from 30 min to 2 hours then wants to nurse and sleep. If he does fall asleep when I go to lay him down he will wake up within 20 minutes. Anyone else have a baby not on a nap/feeding schedule? He sleeps about a 3-5 hour stretch at night most nights. Oh and he always nurses to sleep, refuses a bottle and will only sometimes take a pacifier if he is already 90% asleep... Any help or advice?

ashton2190 · April 2016

Mine is 9 weeks tomorrow and she is not a long napper. I can get an hour out of her maybe every couple of days but it's usually 30 minutes. We're currently working on getting her to nap in her crib or bassinet, but she really naps better on us or in her bouncer. She just prefers catnaps. She eats usually every 2 hours until she starts cluster feeding in the evening, because she sleeps through the night (about 9-5 and then 5-8)

i dont have any much advice for you, other than reassurance that not all babies are great nappers. Some need a couple long naps and others need a lot of short ones. The one thing I've seen is doing an abbreviated version of your bedtime routine to let them know it's nap time

jarob747 · April 2016

Thank you, that helps just to know that your baby girl is a cat napper too. Mine sleeps great on us too, which I've been letting him do. However with me returning to work and now he'll be going to my niece's I was gonna try to get him to sleep in his bassinet for some naps. Thanks for the reply. I'll try to read a book then lay him down.

ashton2190 · April 2016

jarob747 said:

Thank you, that helps just to know that your baby girl is a cat napper too. Mine sleeps great on us too, which I've been letting him do. However with me returning to work and now he'll be going to my niece's I was gonna try to get him to sleep in his bassinet for some naps. Thanks for the reply. I'll try to read a book then lay him down.

At least your niece might be able to help her transition from napping on someone to sleeping in a bassinet. Take it one day at a time and try to be consistent. Babies crave consistency. Mine has been a little tough because she has a cold and has a hard time sleeping flat on her back. We took a break from the sleep training in the crib so she could just get the sleep she needs to get over her cold. Best of luck to you!

SarahChristine12 · April 2016

My little guy (10 weeks) sleeps pretty consistently at night, sleeping 9-3 then 3-7:30. Lately during the day we are struggling to get on much of a schedule. We did go a few weeks of consistency during the day then he caught another cold which threw him off and now he fights sleep all day. I will get him to sleep and lay him down and then he will wake 15 minutes later. This is making it really hard to get much done between taking care of him and his 3 brothers. Hopefully we will get things back on track soon.

willkc · April 2016

My son is 7 weeks and he is a horrible napper! He will go to sleep at night and sleep 915-2 and 3-730 no problem, but for some reason during the day he refuses to sleep without his paci, and even when he does sleep its 30 minutes at a time. I realized I was putting him in different places for his naps each time and decided last week to start swaddling and rocking him when I notice he's tired just like we do at night, and always setting him in his crib like we do at night as well. He still will typically only nap for 30 minutes at a time, but today he napped for 2 hrs by himself in his bed finally! I am hoping keeping up With the routine will eventually get him to nap longer, or at least take a few consistent cat naps during the day.

VitaLuna · April 2016

With my DD, you have to time it just right for her to stay asleep once laid down. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out what that timing is, it's just been the luck of the draw. Her naps are usually about an hour with a longer one in the morning if she falls asleep in the car seat. She nurses to sleep about 50% of the time during the day, and always nurses back to sleep at night. Both of my kids have adamantly refused the paci.

As for bottles, just keep trying and don't force it. Make sure someone other than you is trying to give it and baby is calm when it's offered. They don't have to take a full feed the first few times, just a little snack to get used to it. My routine in the morning is nurse, pump, then top her off nursing before her nap. To get her used to the bottle, H has been giving about an ounce to her on the weekend after I pump in the morning instead of me nursing her again. The magic bottle combo for us has been a Lansinoh Momma nipple on a Dr. Brown's wide neck bottle.

In the end, most babies will "get it" when they need to. DD1 was a struggle to trial with the bottle and only took 1 full feed before I went back to work (same schedule as you, except full time), and she did just fine once I actually went back.

ETA: from about 4pm to bedtime, she nurses about every hour, naps 15 minute increments, if at all, and fusses a bunch.

srecupido · April 2016

No advice but in a very similar situation. I just keep telling myself we got over his bfing hurdle, we'll get over this and then it will be something else so why stress? I know that's wayyy easier said than done but it gives me a little sanity back sometimes:)

sarame500 · April 2016

I discovered today that my LO naps best when swaddled. He's 9 weeks, and afternoon napping wasn't happening...I didn't want to swaddle him because I thought he would get AM and PM confused. LO naps in the morning in his swing for about 2 hours. Then we play and go for a walk. By then he's tired. Yesterday, he was soooo fussy I scoured the Internet for advice and swaddling was the one I tried. He slept for 1.5 hours this afternoon. Evening naps are sporadic...if he's fussy close to bedtime, we start the bed routine earlier. I really want to get sort of a consistent nap routine, because MIL starts babysitting next Thursday when I go back to work. She wants to constantly hold and play with LO and doesn't like to put him down. If I have something that works, she'll need to be on board, lol!!

sarame500 · April 2016

Edit: I don't swaddle him in the swing...he just enjoys the movement and it helps lull him to sleep.

jarob747 · April 2016

BTW I have been able to get him to take a pacifier now after almost 3 weeks of trying, but now I'm worried that since I'm not letting him fall asleep while nursing for 30 minutes that it will negatively affect my milk. What do you think? I do let him finish nursing of course, but once he's asleep I put the paci in.

ashton2190 · April 2016

jarob747 said:

BTW I have been able to get him to take a pacifier now after almost 3 weeks of trying, but now I'm worried that since I'm not letting him fall asleep while nursing for 30 minutes that it will negatively affect my milk. What do you think? I do let him finish nursing of course, but once he's asleep I put the paci in.

I don't see why that should hurt. They're not really eating once they're asleep like that

jarob747 · April 2016

Great thanks!

Miss Lilac · April 2016

My baby really doesn't nap on any real schedule. Getting a morning nap in seems to be really helpful for his overall mood though. Otherwise I just wear him in a wrap. He'll nap on and off in there and it gets my hands free to get stuff done. He's a total clingy baby though and loves being wrapped. I honestly don't know how I'd get anything done without wearing him. Highly recommend it.

SmallyMcSmall · April 2016

I had similar issues and my son will be 7 weeks on Saturday. He refuses pacifiers, and hated the bottle. Yesterday though, we had a breakthrough with bottle feeding. Instead of the recommended slow flow nipples for the bottle, I caved and tried a medium flow one and my LO took to the bottle with no issues and finished the almost 2 oz that was in it. I guess I just have a more vigorous flow to my bm and my guy just felt the slow flow nipples were too muck work. Good luck finding out what works for you!

middy411 · April 2016

DD tends to stir and sometimes cry 15-20 minutes into her nap. I let her soothe herself back to sleep and often she will eventually get herself back to sleep to where I have to wake her for her next feeding. I don't let it go more than 15 minutes without checking her and make sure she's not crying bc she's hungry or needs a diaper change. Sometimes it feels like there's no way she'll fall back asleep and then BAM! Lights out lol

ETA: I am just starting the BabyWise sleep training which really emphasizes the eat-wake-sleep pattern for the daytime so LO doesn't need to nurse to sleep. Not sure how you feel about that. My DD has always kind of naturally been awake during the day (getting her to nap every cycle is the hard part) so I can't speak to how difficult it is to get a baby who nurses to sleep to learn how to self-soothe

BabySeaTurtles · April 2016

middy411 said:

DD tends to stir and sometimes cry 15-20 minutes into her nap. I let her soothe herself back to sleep and often she will eventually get herself back to sleep to where I have to wake her for her next feeding. I don't let it go more than 15 minutes without checking her and make sure she's not crying bc she's hungry or needs a diaper change. Sometimes it feels like there's no way she'll fall back asleep and then BAM! Lights out lol

ETA: I am just starting the BabyWise sleep training which really emphasizes the eat-wake-sleep pattern for the daytime so LO doesn't need to nurse to sleep. Not sure how you feel about that. My DD has always kind of naturally been awake during the day (getting her to nap every cycle is the hard part) so I can't speak to how difficult it is to get a baby who nurses to sleep to learn how to self-soothe

Yay for Babywise mamas! Highly recommend this book to you OP for teaching LO to sleep. (Slightly controversial due to its use of CIO methods but you don't have to implement every part of it.) It really saved my sanity.

4N6s · April 2016

Wake. Eat. Play. Sleep. (Swaddle)

Baby sleep/ nursing/ bottle HELP

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