[Rainbowkitty]

I have an almost nine week old and feel like I am being pushed to the end of my rope.
she sleeps anywhere between 1.5 to 4 and occasionally five hour blocks once I get her down at night (Usyaly not until at least nine) but daytime is a different story. She refuses to settle without being rocked to sleep and then wakes every half an hour. Some days she's awake for hours before I can get her down. I know she's getting overtired and I start the whole back to bed routine after she's been up for 45 minutes but it seems to make no difference and is still a battle to get her down.
I spend so much of my day holding the baby so she sleeps that my three year old is missing out.

[libbylu]

I think this is pretty normal as she is still really a newborn.
I know it would be nicer to put her down for her sleeps, but if it really doesn't work, can you wear her in a sling so you can move around and have your hands free?

[*Finn*]

Honestly at 9 weeks old I would just be going with whatever soothes her. She's such a tiny little baby that needs to feed frequently, all she wants is her mummy.

I however got myself in such a state when my first was this age. Getting him to sleep during the day consumed me. Nothing worked, he just eventually got it. Honestly and I know its just another random person on the Internet telling you this but they are such tiny little babys for a small amount of time, enjoy it.

[Goggie]

Aahhhh, newborns....so cute yet so frustrating!

The waking every 30-45 minutes is pretty normal for a newborn. My DS still at 5.5 months will only sleep for that period if time, occasionally he will go over an hour but not regularly.

The settling is hard work. We also had to rock or hold to sleep most times but started transferring earlier so he was almost asleep and then did the settling in the cot. The shushing, patting etc we worked on solidly from about 8 weeks to 16 weeks and then he started to get it.
Have you got a swing? Or a carrier? Mine hated the carrier and still does but loved the swing and would sleep in the pram too which may be an option for you to take your 3 y.o. out to the park.

We still have bad day sleeps here maybe a couple of times a week but the hard work we put in at that time was worth it as he now self settles with aid of a dummy most of the time.

Hope it gets better for you soon, this age sucks:(

[kay11]

Same. Nothing I did fixed the cat napping except letting her sleep on my lap while I read a book or browsed the net. My second baby was different, but still needed movement to get to sleep in the daytime (I started even wondering if there's some evolutionary thing going on there with babies worried about being left behind during the day...).

Nothing got done. Dinner got put in the slow cooker when I got five minutes. It was tiring and the house was messy. I just hung on until she dropped her day sleep completely at around 18 months. All that stuff about resettling didn't work for me and was depressing how it just kept failing.

Good luck, someone might have better options for you, but one of them is always to just roll with it.

[Rainbowkitty]

Thanks it's nice at the very least to know I'm not alone and that this is normal.

[Escapin]

Mine was like that too. Took AGES to get her to sleep and then you'd be lucky to get 25 minutes sleep! 45 minutes was a big win

Now though, she sleeps 12/13 hours overnight. (She's 21 months) and has a 1-1.5h nap in the day. Perfect

[80'sKnickerb...]

My 11 week old has been like this recently since our air con died ( long story). We have had to retrain her to take her naps in her cot rather than in my arms, especially since her sleeping on my chest was compressing my breasts and causing sore blocked milk ducts!
One thing that has made it work is waiting until she falls asleep and then gently transferring to the cot. The first two days she screamed and woke up as soon as she realised we had put her in the cot, but we persisted in simply taking her out to calm her down, waiting for her to fall asleep in our arms and then replacing her in the cot. Admittedly, she is only sleeping 25 or 30 mins per nap during the day in her cot, but it is progress from only taking day naps while cuddling! Nights she is a dream and sleeps through, so we figure the day naps are short because she is making her sleep quota largely at night.
I guess persistence is the key. Trick (with our DD at least) is to not let her view the cot as a negative place during the day, say by letting her cry it out and get frantic. Oh and we wear our little girl out thoroughly when she is awake - stories, music, massage and singing, play gym with toys, tummy time....she is so knackered that sleep comes easier. I read that at this age they need to nap every 1hr, 15 mins or else they run the risk of getting overtired. After that point they hit a wall and getting them to sleep independently is extra difficult.

Wow, what a ramble!

One more thing (hehe) is we don't view every single day nap as needing to be in the cot at this extra young age. We let her take some in the cot and a few in our arms. It surprisingly doesn't confuse her or make her resist her cot.

If all else fails, just sling her perhaps. P.S. the ergo is so comfy on the back. I have tried so many different slings and this one can be worn all day.

[divineM]

That was mine too. Wish someone had told me then it was normal as all I ever heard was 'newborns sleep all the time'.

[Lokum]

This has been our little guy as well, but at 11 weeks old things are really looking up!

He still takes around 10 minutes to settle, and falls asleep with rocking in my arms, but can now be transferred to the cot. Will often wake after 5-10 minutes, but I repeat the process and then he will sleep between 45 mins and 2.5 hours.

This works if we are at home, don't go out, and don't interrupt his bio-rhythm for the day. If we do, all bets are off. He's a nightmare in the car. Of course, some days we just HAVE to go out, and then it's hugabub all the way.

Excellent night sleeper. I'm counting my blessings, and riding out the days.

DS1 was cuddled to sleep until 20 months old, and is an excellent day and night sleeper, and has been since he was 8 months old... cuddling is actually quite nice when the pressure's off!