Is Anyone Else's Baby NOT Sleeping Like A Dream?

[Awaken]

I know, I know- this is SO typical!! Everyone is saying how their babies are sleeping so great, and I was just in tears this morning b/c I got about 1 hr of sleep last night. My little guy is such a total love- but we are just not sleeping at ALL. If you all remember, I have terrible sleep problems- the pregnancy insomnia.

While he isn't up crying at night, I'm not walking the floors or anything- he is just so restless and noisy at night that I can't sleep. I've had him swaddled, then with his arms out. I've tried the carseat beside me in the bed b/c I sense he doesn't like to lay flat. A lot of times he sleeps in my arms. But I don't feel that is very safe b/c I need a lot of blankets and pillows with me in the bed.

By the time I feed him, change him, settle him down, he is just so noisy that I haven't even fallen asleep yet before it's time for the next feeding! Last night I didn't even fall asleep for the first time until after 4am!

We do nurse laying down when I am too exhausted to sit up, but he really doesn't like it and gets frustrated and doesn't get a good feeding, so he's up again soon after if I try that- so I've resigned myself to getting all the way up in the rocking chair each time so he eats well and hopefully will sleep longer in between.

What gets me is that during the day he sleeps like the dead beside me on the boppy pillow!!

Anyway, I know he's only a week and half old and it will get better- but I am wondering if anyone wants to commiserate with me or if I'm the only one having trouble!

I am just worried b/c dh goes back to work part time next week, and ds will soon be going to school and i"ll have to be up at 7am!! I'm going to be a crying, psycho mess if I'm getting an hour of sleep a night.

[BensMom]

Sorry! I have a sleepy baby but I am in constant fear that she will wake up and commence making us miserably sleep deprived like her brother did.

What works for us is that I nurse her on the boppy in the recliner (so we are sort of sitting, but leaned back) and I fall asleep pretty shortly after she starts nursing. At some point, she finishes us and just ends up sleeping on the boppy in my arms. When she sleeps in her papasan chair, she does grunt and squirm and fuss a bit in her sleep, but when she is near me, she sleeps much more soundly.

I feel for you mama! I was like the walking dead the week after DS was born. DH and I keep asking ourselves...did Ben sleep this much at 1 week? Surely not!

[MrsMoe]

Originally Posted by itsybitsy25

While he isn't up crying at night, I'm not walking the floors or anything- he is just so restless and noisy at night that I can't sleep. I've had him swaddled, then with his arms out. I've tried the carseat beside me in the bed b/c I sense he doesn't like to lay flat. A lot of times he sleeps in my arms. But I don't feel that is very safe b/c I need a lot of blankets and pillows with me in the bed.

You sound just like me. Hannah makes all sorts of noises, even when she sleeps... and she thinks nighttime is wakey-fun time. Plus she poops constantly! There for a while my husband and I were watching her in shifts... but today was my husband’s first day back to work, so he couldn't help me with her last night. Oh dear... what a challenge. I got like 20-30 minutes of rest here and there. But this afternoon, when Hannah finally slept quietly for her 2/3 hour stretches, I was able to nap.

Hannah sleeps the very best in the carseat... swaddled tightly in blankets. She doesn't sleep well at all laying flat.

[MamaFern]

ngaio didnt sleep a wink last night and neither did i..she wanted to nurse and play all night! but it was her first night really, since we stayed up till after 4am the night she was born then slept most of the day.. she was pretty nocturnal in the womb so i think it might take some reajusting for us both. but when she does sleep she sleeps soundly and long and i try to rest with her. hopefully tonight ill get some sleep. i feel "wobbly" as elwynn calls it drom not enuff moontime sleep.

[cjbeach]

I've yet to have a child that sleeps I'm sad to say..LOL. I have 3 kids now waking up all night... tell me all about sleep deprivation (and no naps here for me, my 4 yo or 2 yo). Blake is up every 2 hours to nurse, sometimes every 1.5 hours. Sometimes we get a 3 hour spurt. He's a bit spitty (some reflux) and gassy so when he's in his crib (side-car to our bed so we can co-sleep) even with the top elevated -- he still is gaggy. I always put a pillow in a laundry basket when our kids are babies, a cheap Moses basket I suppose, and for now that is where he likes to sleep which I place in the crib.

[samsmamma]

i have grumpy boy. he is grumpy pretty much all the time. i think it is what spock refers to in his book as a fretful baby. he is not happy on his back at all and wants to be held all the time. some nights are better than others, but if he is awake (or asleep!) he is making grumpy sounds and it is driving us crazy. so todayt i am sleep deprived because he was up from 4-6 and i couldn't get him back to sleep.

dh wants to call the ped about it. he seems to have no patience for anything right now.

i'm not in a good mood.

[MrsMoe]

Originally Posted by samsmamma

i have grumpy boy. he is grumpy pretty much all the time. i think it is what spock refers to in his book as a fretful baby. he is not happy on his back at all and wants to be held all the time. some nights are better than others, but if he is awake (or asleep!) he is making grumpy sounds and it is driving us crazy. so todayt i am sleep deprived because he was up from 4-6 and i couldn't get him back to sleep.

dh wants to call the ped about it. he seems to have no patience for anything right now.

i'm not in a good mood.

I wonder if he has tummy troubles?

[snugglebutter]

Eden has had sleep troubles too. For the first few days home she was cluster feeding for 4-5 hrs starting around 2am and then sleeping for 5-6 hours after the sun came up. Usually by around the 4th nursing session I was having a breakdown. What helps us (though I know this isn't for every family) is to have an ounce or two of pumped milk that Dh can give her somewhere in the middle of the cluster. Even if that lets me sleep for just 30 minutes, it is enough to somewhat restore my sanity. LOL

We've had a bit of a breakthrough in the last couple of days though, largely due to two factors IMO. #1....finally figuring out the side-lying position for nighttime. We're all sleeping a lot more now. #2.... using the pouch sling for part of the day. I think it has really increased her sense of security. Plus it gives me better breaks/rest. We haven't had to give her pumped milk for a few days now. Since my milk came in I also started having her nurse on one breast for a longer period of time.

But long-term I am a bit worried too. I currently still have a little anxiety about her sleeping with us. Plus it is torturing my back and hips. Any suggestions on how to help that? I am normally a side-sleeper anyway, so I'm starting to think that there is more tension in my body while night nursing. Plus I don't move around/roll over like I normally would alone.

[samsmamma]

karl may have tummy troubles . i'm not sure. i just cut out dairy - how long would it take to see an impact?

[RainCoastMama]

I totally commiserate. We're still waiting for #1 to sleep like a dream and she's 2

Also try cutting out acid fruit juices (eg. orange juice), chocolate (hard I know ) and caffeine. That helped our little gassy one. Hylands Colic tabs are an option - I use the teething ones and love them. Good luck!

[cynotgirl]

Originally Posted by samsmamma

i have grumpy boy. he is grumpy pretty much all the time. i think it is what spock refers to in his book as a fretful baby. he is not happy on his back at all and wants to be held all the time. some nights are better than others, but if he is awake (or asleep!) he is making grumpy sounds and it is driving us crazy. so todayt i am sleep deprived because he was up from 4-6 and i couldn't get him back to sleep.

dh wants to call the ped about it. he seems to have no patience for anything right now.

i'm not in a good mood.

DD is much the same, even has a furrowed brow most of the time! i feel sad, i feel like she's unhappy, and I'm failing her somehow.

but let's both remember, these babies are BRAND NEW and working things out! DD does have some tummy troubles, Gripe Water helps, and just holding her. She also is comforted by sucking, so she's always sucking on our fingers. She's not crazy about a pacifier...

Good luck to you, and if it will help keep peace at home, call the ped, see if he/she has any good advice. Mine just said, "she's just fussy. she's a healthy baby"!

[cynotgirl]

Originally Posted by samsmamma

karl may have tummy troubles . i'm not sure. i just cut out dairy - how long would it take to see an impact?

it takes 6 weeks i was told... parenting is a practice in patience, right??!!

[flapjack]

With Isaac's allergies, they got better within a week, really bad around day 10 and then improved again from 2 weeks until he was almost clear at around 6 weeks.
Sympathising- Skye is a changeling , we're just waiting for the faeries to come and reclaim her, but the boys were both little sods about sleeping.

[kel]

Gretel sleeps well once I finally get her to sleep, but she is colicky at night and sometimes doesn't fall asleep until around 1am, and then I have to get up at 6! We are showing up late for kindergarten way too often!

She is just getting to the point now (at 3 wks.) where I can nurse her laying down at night and not have to wake up completely, but for the first two weeks I had to sit up in bed to nurse her each time she woke up. I second sleeping on their side - Gretel sleeps really well at night on her side with a couple blankets on top - I think it makes her more secure and less likely to startle or to have tummy pains.

Oh, and yeah, she sleeps all day.

[samsmamma]

I think we are going to need a sleep issues thread on our yahoo board!

[Awaken]

omg...after sleeping like a log all day long yest., to the point where i had to pump b/c he was barely eating- starting at 10:30pm last night he's been nursing and fussing continually all night and day. literally every 20 min. all night he cried, i hadn't even gotten to sleep yet by 3am then had to get up at 7 for ds's therapy. then i went to take a nap today and the nursing and fussing started right up and hasn't stopped since.

i have my postpartum herbal bath brewing and i am so dying to take a soak! i've gotten absolutely nothing done today!

still wondering how on earth i'm going to do this with 2 kids!!

[flyingspaghettimama]

Just an idea - my doula is a big fan of the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" that has a ton of AP ideas for dealing with the not-sleeping baby. I wish I'd had it for my first, she was an extremely "colicky" baby who would scream at us from 9-2 am every night without fail. We aren't having the same issue yet here, but if so, I'd definitely take a look at that book. Also, the chapter in Sears about the High Need Baby was somewhat helpful...but this guy (Happiest Baby...) has a real theory and strategy.

[MrsMoe]

Originally Posted by cynotgirl

it takes 6 weeks i was told... parenting is a practice in patience, right??!!

6 weeks!!!!!!!!!! gosh!

[samsmamma]

karl is a frequent nurser as sam was. about every 1.5 hrs overnbight. so that is what it is. last night i had him sleep on his side propped up on a pillow and we did not have any of the fussing i'd been having. so that was a plus...