He doesn't sleep at night. Help!

[tykys]

My son is almost 8 weeks old. He got here early at 34 weeks. He was in the NICU for 3 weeks and is on an apnea monitor at home (that the neonatalogist expects him to be off very soon). We got on of those cosleeper things with the elevated wedge. He hates it. Won't sleep in it for more than 5 minutes (day or night). Our next try was the Bright Starts Infant Seat. He naps pretty good in it during the day, but at night he doesn't seem to like it at all? I don't get it, cause he slept great in the NICU - the nurses always commented on it. It's making me sad cause I feel like THEY could get him to sleep well, and I can't. I finally gave in and brought him to bed with me and he seems to be more content there(which I always planned on doing just not so soon as he's just now coming up on 8 lbs. at 8 weeks old). I just feel like he's too small at this point to have in bed. Is he? I coslept with my daughter but didn't bring her into bed with me until she was about 12 lbs. Also, most of the time he nurses to sleep - but then when I burp him (which he needs, he is SUPER gassy) he wakes up again. He seems to sleep the best in the morning from 6ish am to about noon. How can I adjust this to have him sleep at night? I am most likely (and unfortunately) going back to work in mid-January so I'm getting anxious. Sorry if this post doesn't make sense, I'm extremely sleep deprived. Thanks, ladies.

[Just1More]

Well...I think I'd try to dress him in the morning in "day clothes" and be sure your environment projects "daytime" to him all day. Plenty of sunshine. Open curtains, etc. I would also try to wake him up just a little earlier each day and nurse him. Like, instead of letting him sleep until noon, I would start messing with him at a quarter til. Then after a day or two, bump it back more.

And, no, he's not too little to be in your bed. I sleep with mine right away after they are born. It's SO much easier.

[confustication]

My underbaked (38 weeks was the best guess, reality was closer to about 36 weeks developmentally- and my babies like to go postdate) baby slept wonderfully for the first weeks... not because of anything anyone did, but because h wasn't alert enough to do anything else. My guess is that you're running into your child beginning to become more alert- not anything you have or haven't done. My two month old would not sleep from midnight to 6 am at all if we didn't cosleep- which we've done from his seven pound start.

During the day he's beginning to doze in the basinette- but only on his tummy/side- back to sleep in a crib etc just doesn't work for him.

[tykys]

Thanks guys! He slept pretty good last night, but I was anticipating him waking so I still slept horribly lol.

I may need to make this a separate thread.. but it has been awhile since I've coslept (my daughter is 5). What are techniques you use? The past few nights I've been sleeping in our queen size bed with DS. A lot of the times he sleeps in the crook of my arm, swaddled - but this morning I woke and his face was buried in my armpit and it worried me cause there was very little room for air. He doesn't sleep as well if he's just laying next to me (not touching me at all. DH has been been sleeping in our daughter's room in her full-size bed with her while we are getting adjusted. Ultimately I would like to have DH AND DS in bed with me, but it just seems like it will be smushed. I suggested maybe getting rid of the headboard/box spring for awhile and having the mattress on the floor - but DH wasn't too keen on the idea. Any suggestions?? And thanks again guys!

[eshallow]

my dd (now 11 mo) has always slept smashed against me. constantly nursing or smashed into my armpit. from day one she slept in the bed with us and would follow me around the bed to get smashed into my armpit (didn't know newborns could move so much). at first it worried me but my ped (and dr sears) said that their faces are shaped in such a way that they can breathe even when it seems like they are smashed to you or nursing. they are designed to do that. for what it's worth

[Louisep]

Not too small to cosleep. Also he has yet to develop a circadian rhythm so he doesn't know night is for sleeping. We had luck putting DS down around 9pm at that age, using white noise and keeping it dark. We also used Happiest Baby on the Block techniques.

Sleeping arrangements - I rolled up receiving blankets and tucked them on either side of his body and that worked some. He liked to sleep on his side. I think the research shows mothers who cosleep protect their babies from suffocation when cosleeping safely through a combination of instinct and their own nightly movements jostling the baby.

I would have recommended an Amby hammock but see the thread re recall.

[tykys]

Thanks ladies.

Well, he slept great last night again. I think he just needs to be cuddled up next to me. Right now I'm not going to worry about it, since he's on the apnea monitor anyway. He will probably be off soon, and we'll see if I can deal with it then. My next challenge is getting DH back into bed with us.

[OGirlieMama]

He slept great in the NICU because he was still preterm and that's what babies who are supposed to still be inside the womb do. Don't beat yourself up over that, in addition to all the rest of the trauma resulting from his early arrival.

[Lilygoose]

How much do you move at night? I did not intend originally to cosleep with my daughter, but for the first 6 months of her life the ONLY time she would really sleep was laying on me-chest to chest. I never moved an inch. And I used to be a restless sleeper. Not sure about the safety stats of this, but its what we did, because otherwise nobody slept. It also felt safer to me than having her next to me in hte bed. We have a soft mattress and she liked to sleep on her tummy. I worried that she'd suffocate. Now (at 13 months) she sleeps next to me in the bed.