Sleep!

[Urchin]

Hiya

I was just wondering how your babies get to sleep at night?
Because Brody has a bit of trouble getting his wind up in the evening, he normally falls asleep on us, and when we go to lie him flat he usually wakes up as he's not used to it!

In the day he'll fall asleep in his chair or the car seat if I'm out, but I'm trying not to get him napping lying on his back more to get him used to it.

I do feel like we're digging ourselves a bit of a hole by holding him/rocking him to sleep... but if he's crying because of wind what else can you do? I'm not going to leave him lying flat in pain just to get him used to it!

Anyone else haveing these kind of problems?
Any tips?

 

[lulu]

Hi,

Yes I have been having a nightmare with Jack.

He sleeps fine during the day but come the evening he hasn't been settling.
At first we thought it was just because I wasn't producing enough milk so we have been topping him up with formula.

When visiting the baby clinic yesterday I mentioned this to the H/V. She suggested after feeding, even if he falls asleep on me, to wind him and keep him upright for half an hour, although Im sure it doesn't need to be that long.

See, I was feeding him and because he had fallen asleep on me I put him straight down. Apparently its better to wake them and wind them so they settle better and for longer.

She suggested putting Jack in a bouncer chair, car seat or walk around the house with our carrier to get the wind up.

We have also been using 'Infacol', that really helped. The only thing was he hadn't had a dirty nappy for a while, used the infacol........wow!!! lots of wind and 'oh my god' a lovely nappy!!!

Good Luck

Oh, another thing she said was to hold him in your arms, like cradling, but with his tummy and face down......good for tummy ache apparently.

 

[stephlw25]

Oh, another thing she said was to hold him in your arms, like cradling, but with his tummy and face down......good for tummy ache apparently.

I do this with jamie and it does work!! sends him to sleep to quite quickley!
like you said thou can sometimes have the problem then of getting him into his cot, sometimes he is fine butother times can wake up when i put him down but as long as he is settled i leave him go and he falls asleep on his own. Playing his cot mobile music works aswell to send him off to sleep!

sorry not much help really am i!

 

[Urchin]

Oh, another thing she said was to hold him in your arms, like cradling, but with his tummy and face down......good for tummy ache apparently.

I do this with jamie and it does work!! sends him to sleep to quite quickley!
like you said thou can sometimes have the problem then of getting him into his cot,

this is exactly my problem, we don't have that much trouble getting him to sleep, but I sometimes think we're digging ourselves a hole and he'll never be able to get to sleep flat on his back in his cot on his own! I don't want to be rocking him to sleep forever!

 

[emilia]

Hi there
I might just be lucky, but Oscar has been a little trooper. He is my 3rd baby and perhaps I've learned a couple of things down the line. However, some time ago all of us on this forum, discussed "The little contented baby book". With lots of mixed responses, it has been my saviour. I don't follow the routine during the mornings - only from 2pm onwards. It works for me and might be worth a try for you. I bath him at 6 and give him a quick massage, booby from 6.15 - 7pm. He goes down half awake. I wake him at 10, booby until 11, he wakes again at 3.30 and then again at 7. So far so good.
Deffinitely worth a try for everyone struggling to get into a routine. You can also use it as a guideline and alter it to your daily schedule.
Good luck.
Emilia xx
ps. It does cover loads of other issues, including winding, etc.

 

[Kim]

He sleeps fine during the day but come the evening he hasn't been settling.

I have this problem. Rubie feeds every 3.5 hours in the daytime ans sleeps well in between. However, on a night she just seems to want to eat and eat and will not settle in the moses basket. It usually takes me 3 hours to settle her then she wakes 3.5 hours later and wont go off again in her basket so I end up letting her fall asleep on me (which I don't want because it means I have to stay awake lol). So I am only getting 3.5 hours sleep each night!!

Anyone any tips??

Why is it only on a night they get like this?

 

[lulu]

this is exactly my problem, we don't have that much trouble getting him to sleep, but I sometimes think we're digging ourselves a hole and he'll never be able to get to sleep flat on his back in his cot on his own! I don't want to be rocking him to sleep forever!

Even after winding Jack and doing everything the H/V says he sometimes still wakes when I put him down and doesnt settle. I try him with more food as its usually because he is still hungry, (top up with formula) other times I just leave him and he eventually goes off. He does cry sometimes and I feel awful but I dont want him to think everytime he cries Im going to pick him up.

 

[Kim]

I think I might have a solution to the not settling on a night business. Yesterday we had a lot of visitors and Rubie was being passed around and coo'd over for 3 hours. She was awake for the whole time and she slept brilliantly last night. She still woke every 3 hours for a feed but settled straight away each time I put her down. It was such a nice peaceful night. I hope she spends more time awake today then I might just get another lol!

 

[BubbleOne]

Phoebe is the complete opposite to Rubie then Kim!!
If we have lots of visitors she is an absolute nightmare that night!! Think she gets over tired with all the attention.
Phoebe is one of those babies that when she is tired she wants to be left alone. Rocking her sometimes keeps her awake. It's reading the 'tired signs' that is difficult. If I put her down too soon she'll cry and if I let her get over tired I end up in deep doo doo's with a screaming baby!!
With regards to night time. I have to confess that Phoebe sleeps on her belly. She will not sleep for more than 20mins at a time on her back and gets herself so upset trying to roll over (obviously she can't do it yet!!) She can lift and turn her head and to be honest I can't really see how it's dangerous if they can lift their heads up?
She normally has a feed at about 12.30am and then will sleep until about 5am. Then has another feed and it's after this feed I sometimes have problems getting her down again. But if she does go back to sleep she often doesn't wake up until about 10am. She is hard work between about 9pm and her 12.30am feed though so maybe she tires herself out so much!!

 

[Kim]

Isn't it funny how they all have their own little personalities at such a young age, and how quickly we as mothers get to know them!!

 

Phoebe is the complete opposite to Rubie then Kim!!
If we have lots of visitors she is an absolute nightmare that night!! Think she gets over tired with all the attention.

We have the same problem, with Damien - my midwife even told me not to let him be passed around too much as most babies will not sleep at night because it unsettles them so much...probably an individual thing though between babies.

Damien doesn't sleep well at night either, but sleeps perfectly fine during the day. He has a wind problem like Brody, and I have fallen asleep before whilst still holding him upright to help him bring up his wind. We were advised to hold him up for 20minutes post feed too and that seems to get him to settle better.

Can't give you much more advice than that though except Dr Brown bottles are fab if you bottle feed. Damien has been sick less since using them. We still struggle at night with him and only get about 2 hours sleep inbetween feeds