How is your newborn sleeping?

[Stargirl]

Hi Gals!

I am concerned about my new little one. She hates to sleep anywhere but on dh or I or snuggled in bed with us. She will fall asleep in her carseat when we drive too. Once she is fast asleep I try to put her in her bassinet beside the bed (or various other locations) to varying degrees of success.I have no problem helping her sleep now but I am concerned about creating a problem down the road. Any thoughts/advice?

Many thanks in advance!

[coloradoalice]

I think her behavior is totally normal. My advice is this...... give up all ideas of how sleep will go with a baby!! (You will find this to become a rule in most things parenting!!! You will find yourself doing things you swore you never would!!!) My first was and actually still is a high maintenance sleeper. She requires help to go to sleep, help to stay asleep, and does not self sooth. I, of course, had ideas of a baby that slept on a perfect little schedule, slept through the night, put her self to bed. I have had to realize that she needs me, and needing someone is not a bad thing. She is better than she was when she was tiny, but she's still a lot more work than I thought she would be when it comes to sleep!! And things change too, you have to just be flexible. Some nights she will sleep great, and go down without much fuss, and then another night she will take an hour to put down and will be up 5 or 6 times. The thing is that they can't tell you what they need, so there could be lots of reasons they need you or wake. Getting rid of preconcieved ideas of sleep, and getting use to not having much of your own it the best way to survive!! Also, tell everyone who asks, yes, she is sleeping through the night. Then they will stop putting pressure on you. I don't know why everyone cares about that so much, but they do!! I swear everyone I meet asks me how Ian sleeps. It's just weird!!!

[Mama2Tristan]

Co-sleeping is actually what helps me get sleep. We pushed ds's twin bed up next to our queen size bed, and dh is sleeping in it now. Then I've got ds sleeping on one side (side closest to dh), and then new dd (3 weeks old now) sleeping on my other side, which has our co-sleeper side bed next to that side of the bed (right now it's got all of our diaper stuff in it). I nurse dd to sleep, and fall asleep this way. Have you learned to do the side lying nursing yet. I highly recommend it. Of course, not everyone feels comfortable doing this...I go to sleep loving being surrounded by my little ones. And we've never had a problem with anyone rolling on anyone...dd loves snuggling against my boob after she's done nursing...ds was the same way.

[because]

DD was like how you're describing. We survived by co-sleeping. There are some safety requirements that you can check on. Try www.askdrsears.com.

DS, however, is an unusually content sleeper. He'll give us fairly long stretches at night and for 2 long naps (and a bunch of cat naps) during the day.

I've treated them almost exactly the same so far and they just are who they are.

[ehsclt]

All of our children have been like yours at the beginning, too. We stopped co-sleeping at four months old with the first two and it was a transition without tears. Both babies transitioned from right next to me in bed to the co-sleeper and then, around 4 months, to the crib. You might find that as your baby gets older, she will fall asleep on her own once in a while, especially if you sometimes give her the opportunity to try to fall asleep on her own (we NEVER let our babies cry at all....just sometimes put them down awake and waited to see if they'd fall asleep.)

This is all so personal. IN saying this, I am not suggesting that your family should or shouldn't co-sleep....just am telling you that this is what worked for us.

Emily

[MAMom]

Yup, that sounds like completely normal newborn behavior. She has been snuggled up inside of you for 9 months, close to your heartbeat, all warm & cuddley. Why would she want to sleep alone now?

Dr. Sears has a saying that really rings true for me & helped with those first few tough months with my DS...."The womb lasts eighteen months: Nine months inside mother, and nine months outside."

We used the sling all the time (DS slept there a lot during day/evening), co-slept at night (with a Snugglenest at first) & also when DS was 6 weeks or so he began to like the swing for sleeping during some naps.

[PancakeGoddess]

My first baby wouldn't sleep in a bassinet to save his life - only in our arms or in his carseat, which we set in the bassinet For the next two we didn't bother with it - they both liked sleeping with us or in their little bucket seats. I guess those little carseats are cozy.

[LoveMyLil'B]

My DD only sleeps when she's laying right next to one of us, so the only way anyone could ever get any sleep around here is by co-sleeping.

Just try to find what works for your family, and by that, I mean, allows eveyone the most amount of sleep.