Sleep help

[first time mom]

My baby girl is 7 weeks old now. So far I've been on survival mode since she is colicky/has acid reflux so I haven't really even thought about putting her on some sort of schedule like everyone suggests. I'm starting to get  through the day a little better, but am having a really hard time at night. She won't go to sleep until about 11-12am. And then naps on and off until noon recently (which I am not complaining about since she used to cry during these morning hours as well). I really would like to move that "bedtime" up, since maybe she's so cranky because she goes to bed so late I'm guessing? I mean, it won't fix the crying but maybe help a little. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get them to sleep earlier? The only way she falls asleep at night is right after breastfeeding. If I do get her to sleep by bouncing  (my only other way to get her to sleep) then she wakes up right after I put her down. Any suggestions?

[fbsurvivor]

You might try reading the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution".  There are a lot of suggestions in there.  But, 7 weeks is very early on for a fussy baby to have any kind of schedule. At 7 weeks their days and nights are pretty mixed up.  We always thought our daughter was not on a 24 hour schedule, but something more like a 36 hour cycle.

[Mbrown602]

My daughter is about 7 weeks too and we have the hardest time getting her to sleep. She will not go to sleep any earlier than 11:30 or midnight. We've tried everything to soothe her and put her in the crib earlier in the evening but she'll only stay alseep for 10 min then wake up if you put her in at say 8 p.m. or 7 p.m. I'm hoping that she will change her schedule in the next month???

White noise does help though -- we play vacuum and hairdryer videos on youtube to help her nap during the day. And she loves it if you leave the Oreck running while she's in the swing -- but this only works in the afternoon for a nap. She will not go to sleep in the swing at night.

[Maureen]

I had a fussy baby until we followed Dr. Weissbluth's book and started putting her to bed at 5 p.m. and letting her cry it out for a few nights. Now she naps better, sleeps till 6 or 6:30 a.m. with one or two nighttime feedings (after which she puts herself right back to sleep) and is a totally different baby. She smiles the moment she wakes up, laughs, plays by herself for up to 10 minutes and generally makes me love her more! I HIGHLY recommend his book and crying it out. While it's hard initially, she doesn't hold it against us and really gets the sleep she needs. I am happy to correspond more specifically with anyone about this. I know not everyone is a fan of either his book or the CIO, butI am!

[Hollyadmin]

The best advice I got (which was from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, was that sleep begets sleep. I was always so scared of letting my daughter sleep a lot during the day, because I thought she might not sleep at night then. We definitely found the opposite was true though (with the exception being that if the last nap was too close to bedtime, it would push the bedtime later). I would say focus on getting a good morning nap and an afternoon nap, but allow about 2 hours between the last nap and bedtime.

Also, at 7 weeks old, your baby's window for being alert and awake is very small - I can't remember exactly, but I believe it's no more than 1.5-2 hours, and you should be trying to soothe them to sleep again. Maybe someone who has the book handy can confirm?

[Mbrown602]

Yes, I read that book a while ago and you are not suppose to let the baby stay awake any longer than 1.5 to 2 hours during the day. I completely agree w/ sleep begets sleep. My 11 week old was terrible at napping the first 5 or 6 weeks -- until I put together her swing. Now, she takes a long nap in the morning in the swing and may take a shorter nap in the afternoon in the swing. but now that I've gone back to work and my mom watches her late afternoons/evenings she does nothing but scream and cry over there and by the time I get off work I have a very cranky baby to take home