he wont sleep.... full stop!

[tinkerbell*]

basically Theo will not sleep. he used to be soooo good, he'd only sleep in his cot and he'd often lay there untill he fell asleep for have a qucik cry and of he went.
but this last week or two,. have been hell. he is waking up so miuch in the night and staying wide awake for 1.5hrs-2hrs at a time. then he goes down and wakes up 45mins later, thats the most he is sleeping for.
come morning i am sooooo shattered i find myself upset and tearful where i am just gagging for some sleep. but he wakes up at 6am every morning and wont sleep untill 10'ish. if i put him down and leave him to cry... thats exactly what he'll do. he just cries and cries and cries and does not go to sleep. i feel so awful, i have no time to myself, the house is a mess, i am a mess i hardly have time to bath and do my hair it seems.

i am making sure he is in a darkened room at least 20mins before nap time (or when he starts looking slightly sleep) but nothing seems to work anymore

why wont he sleep? he is awake more then he is asleep. whihc i would mind in the day if he was contented but is is always awake! day or night!

can anyone help? i feel like i am cracking up!
any suggestions to get him to sleep Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!

p.s when did your Lo starts sleeping through the night and how did u get it to happen... or did it just happen one night?

 

[loz]

He's still really little, so I wouldnt expect too much too soon - Emms was 3 1/2 months before she slept through and that was after we moved her into her nursery at night. It will get better as he gets older - try and get some kip when he is asleep and get friends and family to help with making meals and housework!

 

[tinkerbell*]

i just dont know why he is not sleeping. he probably has about 9hrs sleep in 24hrs! and babies his age are meant to have 16hrs???? so exhausting

 

[Lis32]

I don't really have any advice but just wanted to send some ...

You really have my sympathy. The first few weeks are tough. Unfortunately I was not blessed with a sleepy baby. I remember despairing in the early days too, as James was a complete nightmare in terms of sleeping. Whilst he is still not great, things are LOADS better. Give your boy some time and I'm sure he will get there too. Try and get some rest when you can, and don't stress about the house. It WILL get better...

 

[jennifer1981]

Dylan was exactly like this.... advice is 'to sleep when they sleep'?!?!? He NEVER seemed to sleep!!! I found it really difficult to keep him occupied in the early weeks as well so it was exhausting.

Now though he has fell into his own routine. He only cat naps throughout the day (10 mins or so every 3 hours) but sleeps really well in the night time (only waking for feeds). He usually goes to bed about 8ish and wants to play about 9am.

Hopefully your LO will establish his own little routine soon and gain more sleep time!

 

[Sherlock]

i just dont know why he is not sleeping. he probably has about 9hrs sleep in 24hrs! and babies his age are meant to have 16hrs???? so exhausting

Are they? All babies are different. There is no hard and fast rule to how much they can sleep. Since he was 10 days old my LO went pretty much all day with only short power naps. And woke about 4-5 times a night for feeding. I averaged often only 2 hours sleep in 24 in the early weeks. I kid you not.

Your LO is still very young. Babies have no perception of time. Sleeping through the night is something that happens over time. They don't recognise night and day at birth, it grows on them and their bodyclock develops slowly My LO was 16 weeks before he finally went all night without waking (from 9pm to 7am).

I'd go with the flow atm. Sleep when he sleeps, even during the day. Do the housework in short bursts. Pop him under a mobile and see if he is happy with that while you wash up. Or plug the hoover on and leave it running for a bit. You may find white noise helps him settle in the day. It did my LO. Even if he didn't sleep it soothed him.

I'd also stop with darkening a room for daytime sleeps. Otherwise it could confuse him. Let him fall asleep in daylight and if there is background noise thats also fine. Save the quiet darkened room and so on for bedtime and night. He will gradually learn to tell the difference then.

How well is he feeding? Are you breast or bottle feeding? When he wakes at night is he feeding each time? Are you offering him a feed or trying just to settle him back down? Look at all those things and maybe try a few changes and see.

Also around now is growth spurt time. So more food, more crying, more everything is possible.