Mr. Liam does not nap.

[50ftQueenie]

Someone tell me again how newborns are supposed to sleep all the time. Young Liam wakes now consistantly between 6 and 7 am. And he is a delight then. Smiles, coos, wiggles, flirts. And it progressively goes downhill from there...until he goes to sleep at about 10:30.
The boy is tired. He yawns. He gets more and more crabby, but he will not nap. He fights it- like toddlers do.
We have tried: swaddling (which works well to put him to bed at night), sleeping with him, not sleeping with him, soft music, silence, cuddling, the swing, nursing to sleep, reading, all of the "Happiest Baby" stuff, medicine for gas. All of these work great for getting him to fall asleep, but he doesn't stay asleep. I know some people just don't require that much sleep, and I'd say that was the case with him, except that he gets so grumpy.
Gotta go! He just finished sleeping for a whole 10 minutes! Any suggestions? Want to co-miserate?

I should add that he doesn't not sleep through the night. He will wake up to nurse anywhere from every 2-4 hours.

[Mel L]

Have you yried wearing him? That worked for both of mine when nothing else did.

[50ftQueenie]

We are trying to acclimate him to a sling. Dh and I want to use the sling. Mr. Liam does not, at the moment, like the sling because it rubbed against his cheek once and then failed to nurse him. We have the sling though, and I've put him in it a couple of times, only until he starts to get antsy. Hopefully!!!

Dh just got him to take a half hour nap. Liam fusses a lot in his sleep. Dh has a very sensitive stomach, and he's worried that Liam does, too. So, today, when baby started to fuss in his sleep, Dh would immediately go in and hold his hand until he settled. It requires constant vigilence, but it did allow the kid to get a little sleep.

[dandilion44]

My son did the same thing. The only thing we found to work was to have him sleep on my or my husband's chest. This wasn't always easy but it was worth it to prevent him from becoming overtired. We also always put him to sleep before he showed signs of tiredness (usually 1.5 hours from the time he woke up). This phase didn't last long for him -- good luck!!

[sleet76]

My first was a alot like that. By 3 months old, she was a mess--extremely overtired. I started putting her down on her stomach, and things started improving.

[Shelsi]

Try tummy sleeping. Also, since you're worried about a sensitive stomach, perhaps try an elimination diet and see if that helps.

Another thing to try is the car. Ds was older but I used to have to drive him around to make him take his naps (prob about 3-4 mos old) and then I'd have to sit in the car with him the entire time he napped because he couldn't be moved without waking him. I got a lot of reading done and wasted a lot of gas but it was worth it!

[jee'smom]

maybe try holding him. as primates, humans are meant to be held (when have you ever seen a gorilla lay its baby down and walk away?) i hold dd all day. she sleeps whenever/wherever in my arms. I do lay her down in her cradle a couple of times a day, so she can get use to sleeping in it alone. i also put her in her bouncy seat or swing a couple of times/day, so i can get stuff done. i know that when i do lay her down, she doesn't sleep nearly as long as when held. btw, my dd is starting to wake up more and more now, and she's getting pissy about it too (happens about twice a day now). she can't get back to sleep, no matter what we do, so i understand your frustration. oh, and when i do lay her down, i put her in a sleep positioner, so there's pressure on both sides of her body, so she thinks she's being held. and her head against the top of the cradle, touching the bumper. she'll sleep for 1 -2 hours this way, whereas when i just lay her down on a bed or something, she will not stay asleep.
also, as soon as you put him in the sling, start walking immediately. or nurse immediately, so he associates the sling with good feelings. good luck!

[hellen]

My first was a horrible sleeper. 2-4 hours at night was something I couldn't even imagine. We eventually did a schedule where I would put him to sleep every 1.5 hours. Even though he didn't sleep long (usually 45 minutes) sometimes he would have a longer nap. He did better when he was held and if that wasn't an option then it had to be stomach. Going outside also calmed him down. We eventually were able to get him to sleep in a sling and he did that until he was 13 months. He was too distracted by every thing around him so having him bundled in the sling with his head covered was about the only way. Most of the time he slept in the sling because he would wake up if somebody wasn't next to him. I just remembered that when he was just a newborn he would only sleep on my arm near my nipple. If he wasn't close enough to my nipple he would wake up. I really feel for you. Difficult sleepers are a lot of work.

[Shelsi]

I just remembered another trick. Have you tried the vacuum cleaner? That almost always puts babies to sleep. I guess the noises in the uterus are louder than a vacuum so it's the perfect white noise.

[tripmom+]

Is tummy sleeping a SIDS risk or is that just a hypothesis? I know Hayleigh would sleep much better on her stomach, but I'm just too afraid to do it.

[Shelsi]

Originally Posted by tripmom+

Is tummy sleeping a SIDS risk or is that just a hypothesis? I know Hayleigh would sleep much better on her stomach, but I'm just too afraid to do it.

I think there is a lot of opinion on both sides of this issue and unfortunately no clear cut answer.

Last night I discovered Alexia sleeps AWESOME when on her side. Instead of 1.5-2 hours she went 4.5 hours and then 3 hours! I'm like a brand new woman because of the extra sleep. We're co-sleeping and she was on her side right up against me so it didn't make me nervous. I feel in that situation I would wake up if something were wrong. However I told dh that if she goes into her own crib or bed of some sort before she starts rolling over then I want to get one of those angel care monitors that do an alarm if they stop breathing. Personally I am not comfortable with tummy or side sleeping if I can't see them or be next to them the whole time without one of those monitors.

[bdavis337]

Jeffrey LOVES to be swaddled, and he slept 3.5 hours last night in a row! I do have to catch him before he gets upset about being tired though, or it's not easy to settle him down. They're still too young to really have "routines" yet, but in another few weeks/month or so you'll start to notice a pattern to when they start getting grumpy and tired. Work backward from that, and start your sleepy-time process BEFORE they get to the overtired, cranky state.

[party_of_seven]

My little one naps in the sling and cosleeps at night. I am just way to busy with the rest of the kids to be a slave to a nap schedule. I think its wonderful to be able to go anywhere and do anything and all I have to do is put the baby in the sling if she needs a nap.