Sleep - swaddling, side sleeping

cjra wrote:

And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.


Nope, mine (also at 6 wks) only sleeps 2.5 to 3 hours with an occasional
(surprising) 4 hour stretch. He will want to eat every time he wakes
too. I thought that they were supposed to eat no longer than every 4
hours max though. last night he did a surprising 4.5 hours so I woke
him up to change & feed him. He was starving.

Andrea Phillips wrote:
cjra wrote:
DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until she
kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like being
swaddled?

Can't comment on the side-sleeping, but I can tell you my daughter only
liked to be swaddled provided you left her arms loose. Once we learned
to bundle her up only from the armpits down, she became much happier.
Still, not every baby is the same


Hmmm, I might try that. Thanks for the tip.

As for not sleeping through the night at six weeks... nah, you're not
alone at all. At six weeks, you can realistically expect 3 or 4 hours
at a stretch. And at around that age, my daughter just up and switched
to 6 hours at a stretch one night, with no warning, so you never know
when it might be your lucky night!

If we can be so lucky....

Anne Rogers wrote:

I think swaddling is something that _can_ help, I never tried it with either
of mine, my first in particular was very wriggly, so I suspect he would have
disliked being restrained, he slept 3hr stretches at that age, which I
didn't see as anything out of the ordinary, so felt no need to try anything
like swaddling. I think there is a lot of difference between 8-17 days and 6
weeks, something that helped then may be horrible now, it's possible that it
also gives unhappy memories for her.


My midwife just said the same thing when I also commented she didn't
like the pacifier, tho she was happy with it at the hospital. She's
also really sensitive to loud sounds - beeps and such, which I find odd
because she had alarms going off around her constantly for 17 days.
Seems anything *I* associate with the hospital she doesn'tlike...


Have you looked at "the happiest baby on the block", I've heard it's good
for tips on comforting and soothing babies, I've not seen it myself, but at
the recommendation of people on misc.kids.breastfeeding I bought it for a
friend (and had it mailed direct to her, so no chance to get a peek), who
thanked me immensly and claimed it was a lifesaver/godsend.

I just saw it at Babies R Us but didn't pick it up. I did get the
Sears' sleep book though.

KD wrote:

Feed frequently in the daytime; if baby gets most of his calories in
the day, he won't be as likely to wake up in the night hungry. I always
nurse him just before putting him to bed, even if he just ate an hour
before.

Doing that. She feeds every 1.5-2hrs with the occassional 3 hr stretch.


Don't let baby nap for more than four hours at a time in the daytime.
They get one good stretch of sleep in 24 hours and ideally you want it
to be in the night.

hahaha. More than 4 hours?! I'm lucky to get 3 hrs once/day. The most
is usually 2. when we first brought her home at 17 days old she slept
more. Not now!


But after reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and taking their
advice to wrap him tightly, the first night we did that (at about six
weeks) was the first night he slept for six hours straight. My
receiving blankets were not big enough, so I took two of them and
overlapped the edges to make one big blanket.

Did my boy like it? Nope, at first he yelled and squirmed when I'd wrap
him up tight in his baby straightjacket, pinning his arms to his sides.
But that didn't last long, because he'd quickly fall asleep.

Now he's four and a half months old and generally sleeps from 8:30 p.m.
till 6 or 7 a.m. He is exclusively breastfed, but he's a very large boy
which might have something to do with our success in the sleep
department. He was 10 pounds 8 ounces at birth, and at four months
weighed in at 21 pounds. I still swaddle him, although I'll probably
have to break him of it soon since he really doesn't sleep without it
(haven't tried much). He doesn't mind it at all now, seems to know that
when he gets wrapped up it's time for sleep. Doesn't ALWAYS work, but
95% of the time it does.


Ok, I'm thinking swaddling is like crying it out. Might be more
paiinful for the parents!

with both my kids I could not swaddle them for the reasons you are talking
about. What I did was I got one of the "wedges" and laid them on their side
in it. then took the recieving blanket and layed over top of them and tucked
it into the sides of the matteress, or in your case you can tuck it in over
the sides of the co-sleepers matteress or however you may have to secure it
to the co-sleeper. I found that both of my kids slept a good 3 to 4 hours
at a chunk at 6 weeks old. My DS slept maybe 5 hours at the most up until
we moved him from our bedroom a few months ago to the same room as his
sister.

Jennifer
Ariana 8/17/03
Alex 6/4/05

"cjra" wrote in message
ups.com...
DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until she
kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like being
swaddled? We tried again last night and I held her til she calmed down,
then as soon as I laid her down again she kicked (but didn't scream)
til she loosened it enough to get her arms and feet out. I confess that
being slightly claustrophobic myself, as well as DH, we have a hard
time forcing it. Anyoen else have a baby who refuses to be swaddled?
She was almost always swaddled when in hospital (once she was stable
enough to be moved, about day 8-17), and she seemed to do ok, but not
now.

So, after that I fed her laying down and she fell asleep on her side
and I moved her to her sleeper (she sleeps in a co-sleeper in the
middle of our bed) in that position. Normally I put her on her back.
But on her side she slept so peacefully for 3 hrs - no twitching, no
wheezing (often a problem on her back even tho her head is slightly
elevated), no kicking. I know tummy sleeping is a SIDS no-no, I thought
side sleeping was also off limits for the same reason, is that true? I
don't want to take risks with that, but clearly lying on her back just
makes her uncomfortable!


And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

"cjra" wrote in message
ups.com...
DD is 6 weeks now, and though she does sleep at night in 3 hr
stretches, her sleep is very agitated, much more so than in the
daytime. She twitches and kicks. I've tried swaddling her, but she's
*hates* it with a passion. She shrieks blood curdling screams until she
kicks herself out of it. I thought babies were supposed to like being
swaddled? We tried again last night and I held her til she calmed down,
then as soon as I laid her down again she kicked (but didn't scream)
til she loosened it enough to get her arms and feet out. I confess that
being slightly claustrophobic myself, as well as DH, we have a hard
time forcing it. Anyoen else have a baby who refuses to be swaddled?
She was almost always swaddled when in hospital (once she was stable
enough to be moved, about day 8-17), and she seemed to do ok, but not
now.

So, after that I fed her laying down and she fell asleep on her side
and I moved her to her sleeper (she sleeps in a co-sleeper in the
middle of our bed) in that position. Normally I put her on her back.
But on her side she slept so peacefully for 3 hrs - no twitching, no
wheezing (often a problem on her back even tho her head is slightly
elevated), no kicking. I know tummy sleeping is a SIDS no-no, I thought
side sleeping was also off limits for the same reason, is that true? I
don't want to take risks with that, but clearly lying on her back just
makes her uncomfortable!


And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.


Um, I've NEVER heard of a newborn sleeping through the night at 6 weeks.

Some kids love being swaddled, some hate it. Just like anything. My son
hated it, would kick like a madman to get out of it and my daughter slept
swaddled until she was 9 months old.

Are you breastfeeding? If so, it's NORMAL and NATURAL to only sleep for 2-4
hour stretches for the first few months. Exhausting yes, but normal.

Lastly, my kids are 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 and it was always ok for them to sleep
on their backs OR on their sides, but not on their bellies. Not sure if the
recommendations have changed since then, but I'll find out soon enough when
number 3 comes in January.

- Jen

cjra wrote:

And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

The other mothers are lying or they forgot.

Pillbug slept through around 2.5 years and
Rocky is now 14 months, cosleeping, and still
waking up to nurse. I don't know how many
times because I sleep through it, but I know
he still nurses at night.

-- Anita --

Ds started off being swaddled but later on would struggle out of it. We
ended up making sure his blankets were tucked under his armpits and
well wrapped under his legs We put him feet to foot in his basket so he
couldn't wriggle under them. His sleeping improved at 3 months when we
put him in a sleeping bag and moved him to a cot. Unfortunately it all
went to pot at 4 months when he starting rolling and gettting colds.

When he was born ds would always sleep in his side, despite us putting
him on his back. He would just roll himself over so his nose was
touching the side of his cot. We would try and roll him back
(espeically as we got told off by the midwife) but he would just roll
over again. As his sleep was rubbish anyway we decided to leave him
there. He slept in his basket in the living room for the first 3 months
so we checked him constantly. He did do back laying for a few months
between 2 -4 months I think, but when he started rolling he would
switch between the two all night! He still does that now but usually
only wakes once a night when he gets wedged at 90degrees.

Never once did he roll on his belly and because his arm was wedged
under his side we couldn't see how he could get there. He only ever did
it properly once when he was awake and by that time it was well past
the 6 months when they say a baby can get itself out of a position if
he is in trouble. We didn't wedge a towel under him because I was
worried about him burrying his head in it, but then I guess if you put
it low enough it wouldn't happen. You can get foam wedges that are
supposed to keep baby in place but we never used one.

As for sleeping through, well!!! I only knew 2 breastfed babies who
parents said they slept through in the early weeks, and one of them
started waking again at 3 months and the other later on. The other one
I knew of was formula fed from day 1 and he still had appalling sleep
in the day and cried a lot.

Ds still doesn't sleep through because he wakes when he gets wedged and
he also gets up fairly early for the day. He dropped his last middle of
the night feed around 8 months He was still waking but couldn't be
soothed or nursed back to sleep - but then he had constant colds and
bronciolitis so it all got a bit messy. We did a few nights of 2 minute
crying stuff when he was well and now, unless he's wedged, he can get
himself back off to sleep no problems.

I found Tracey Hogg and Elizabeth Pantleys books useful. Hogg is not a
favourite here and I do disagree with some of her views, but some of
her methods were very useful (pick up/ put down). I know a friend who
didn't attempt to address her babies sleep issues till she was around 8
months when she couldn't take anymore and she was still rocking her to
sleep. Ok in principal but very hard on the back!

Sorry I've waffled on, I could write a book about ds's sleep problems!!

Jeni

"Irrational Number" wrote in message
ink.net...
cjra wrote:

And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

The other mothers are lying or they forgot.

Pillbug slept through around 2.5 years and
Rocky is now 14 months, cosleeping, and still
waking up to nurse. I don't know how many
times because I sleep through it, but I know
he still nurses at night.

-- Anita --

They might not be lying -- my DD was sleeping 8 - 10 hours from about one or
two weeks until four months. Now she sleeps less and less. Wakes up at least
once in the night, sometimes every 2½ hours. I keep hoping when we introduce
solids (she'll be 6 months in 10 days) she'll go back to sleeping better,
but apparently that's a myth :-(

Liz

Liz wrote:
"Irrational Number" wrote in message
ink.net...
cjra wrote:

And please tell me I'm not the only mom whose kid doesn't sleep through
the night by 6 weeks! On another board it seems every kid is sleeping
10-12 hrs in a stretch by then. I'm lucky to get 3 hrs from her.

The other mothers are lying or they forgot.

Pillbug slept through around 2.5 years and
Rocky is now 14 months, cosleeping, and still
waking up to nurse. I don't know how many
times because I sleep through it, but I know
he still nurses at night.

-- Anita --

They might not be lying -- my DD was sleeping 8 - 10 hours from about one or
two weeks until four months. Now she sleeps less and less. Wakes up at least
once in the night, sometimes every 2½ hours. I keep hoping when we introduce
solids (she'll be 6 months in 10 days) she'll go back to sleeping better,
but apparently that's a myth :-(

Liz

I'm not lying, honest! And it wasn't so long ago that I forgot either.
I should point out though, that at six weeks, 'through the night'
was about 10 p.m. till 4 a.m. Still was wonderful compared to getting
up to nurse him every two or three hours.

Maybe we're just lucky.

KD & G