My seven week old daughter hasn't been sleeping. Since about four o'clock in the morning until 1 the next morning...now...she hasn't slept more than six hours...so you can guess how much sleep I'm running off of...NONE. She took a nice three hour nap in the after noon, but all throughout the day, she'd only fallen asleep on my breast, and once I put her down, she was awake less than five minutes later! And she would just sit there looking at me, smiling and talking like she wants to play...so I played with her...and the next thing I know, it's time to feed her again.
Now it doesn't help that I'm battling with my own mental and emotional problems, but not sleeping for what's going on twenty four hours?...I got more sleep when she first came home!!!!!! What is going on with her? And it's not like this popped up out of the blue, she's been working up to not sleeping at all by waking up and staying up more often during the days...for the past week or so. I've tried to let her cry it out. I took her for a car ride, and she woke up once we were back home. I don't even have time to use the freaking bathroom unless she is in my arms, I mean come on! And yes, there are other people in my house...my mom, father, and brother, who can take her for a few minutes, but like I said, I'm dealing with some mental and emotional stuff and I prefer not to involve them in all of this.
What is up with my daughter? What can I do? I've changed her pamper a thousand times, burped her a million, and gave her gas medicine just in case...please help me.
__________________
Charisma
1st Time Mommy
Baby Girl born June 4th @ 9:41pm
You may not agree with this, but have you tried sleeping with her? lay her down in the bed with you? The only problem with that is if it's not a habit you want to get into than it's not a good idea, babies get used to sleeping with mommy incredibly quick (my now almost 2 year old slept in a crib till 5 months when she got a cold, it took all of a week to have her sleeping in her bed with no stress to not sleeping in her bed at all). I tried doing a search for you to see what i could find and i didn't find much. None of my kids went through that so i don't know what to tell you. Have you tried keeping her awake durring the day? Also, can a family member take her for a few hours so you can get some sleep? you don't need to involve them in anything other than saying the baby isn't sleeping and your exhausted. if it continues maybe taking her to the doctor may help, he/she may have some ideas on how to get her back into a normal sleep pattern. Hopefully this is just a phase and she'll be back to sleeping normaly in no time.
I feel for you- my son went through this, it took a lot of trial and error to figure him out- with him it was motion- do you have a swing or a vibrating infant seat? The swing was a lifesaver for me. Also- try putting her skin to skin- sit in a recliner take her shirt off and lay her directly on your chest- bare skin, this provides them comfort as well. I used to wrap him very tightly as well when I laid him down, it seemed to comfort him.
It will get better eventually- but it will wear you out in the meantime.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Platinum33
My seven week old daughter hasn't been sleeping. Since about four o'clock in the morning until 1 the next morning...now...she hasn't slept more than six hours...so you can guess how much sleep I'm running off of...NONE. She took a nice three hour nap in the after noon, but all throughout the day, she'd only fallen asleep on my breast, and once I put her down, she was awake less than five minutes later! And she would just sit there looking at me, smiling and talking like she wants to play...so I played with her...and the next thing I know, it's time to feed her again.
Now it doesn't help that I'm battling with my own mental and emotional problems, but not sleeping for what's going on twenty four hours?...I got more sleep when she first came home!!!!!! What is going on with her? And it's not like this popped up out of the blue, she's been working up to not sleeping at all by waking up and staying up more often during the days...for the past week or so. I've tried to let her cry it out. I took her for a car ride, and she woke up once we were back home. I don't even have time to use the freaking bathroom unless she is in my arms, I mean come on! And yes, there are other people in my house...my mom, father, and brother, who can take her for a few minutes, but like I said, I'm dealing with some mental and emotional stuff and I prefer not to involve them in all of this.
What is up with my daughter? What can I do? I've changed her pamper a thousand times, burped her a million, and gave her gas medicine just in case...please help me.
so just to clarify... She sleeps at night from 1-4 am. And she takes a 3 hour nap during the day. So in a 24 hour period she sleeps only 6 hours total? Thats so hard! I think that babies are supposed to sleep a lot more than that at 7 weeks old. My son used to take frequent naps during the day and at night he slept from 11pm to 8am but woke up every 3 hours to eat. The nice thing was that once I fed him he went right back to sleep. Now he sleeps through the night without needing his bottle. Anyways maybe thats why she is fussing more. She is sleep deprived. Is she getting formula and breastmilk? If shes getting formula maybe it is an intolerance. Or maybe you just have a difficult baby. My mother in law says her kids wouldn't sleep at night and were always waking up. By the time my son was 2 months old he was sleeping 6 hours at night and the nurse said that is normal. Do you have your daughter on a schedule? Get her ready for bed the same time every night then turn off the lights and let it be quiet and that might help her know it is bedtime. We did that with our baby and it really worked.
Thanks MandyAnne, I have no problem letting her sleep with me. In fact, I've done it quite a few times because I was too tired to get up and nurse her in the middle of the night...but it didn't work. She just turned to me and started laughing and squealing in delight and wanted me to intertain her more. As for keeping her awake during the day, she is not even two months old yet, and doctors say that she needs to sleep for about 15 hours, yet she only had five. But it wasn't only during the day when she wanted to stay up, it carried on into the next morning. I had to take her for a long car ride just so that ONE of us could get some sleep out of the deal. And the family thing, first of all, I'm the only one home during the day, so I HAVE to be there for her. When everyone else is home, I still do not ask them for help. Like I said, I have issues surrounding that, and I don't want to ask them to take her for me.
Maak, I don't think she likes swings too much. Although I did put her in her bouncer and she looked at the mobile for a while, and once she got bored...five minutes into my midnight snack of pizza...she started crying. And the skin to skin thing I have not tried, but I did try holding her close to me, but she still laughed and squealed and wanted me to interact with her. I don't know, it seems like a twisted form of colic...instead of crying, she plays.
Well, she did end up going to sleep after the car ride and another feeding, and she slept for about four hours. I tried to wake her up to feed, but she only took about half of her meal, and went back to sleep...like a rock. Her sleeping still isn't as it should be, but if it continues to get worse, or flare up, I'm going to see her doctor.
Since I'm breastfeeding, could it have been something I ate? I stayed away from caffeene, or large doses of it, so that can't be the case.
__________________
Charisma
1st Time Mommy
Baby Girl born June 4th @ 9:41pm
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