I have a hard time getting my baby to sleep during the day. Sometimes i take her in the car just to get her to fall asleep. I have tried many different things like the swing, a binky, even rocking her, dimming light. She will fall asleep but not stay asleep. What's wrong?
As far as night feedings - sounds totally normal, especially since that is a major growing time. For the day...does she have any cues that it might be time to lay her down or sing to her or rock her? Rubbing her face? When you say not stay asleep - do you mean by herself or while being held or both?
dim lights, soft music or white noise like a fan.....really helps set the stage.
when she awakens or stirs, gently rock/vibrate the bed & make a "whooshing" sound....very different from a "shhh".
now for the part which will bother a lot of moms....just because she's stirring &/or fussing, she doesn't necessarily need to be picked up or soothed. Quite often, if you just let her find herself...& begin that self-soothing process....she may learn to sleep longer. As long as she's not stressing, try not rescuing her!
All this said, it never....ever....worked on my older son. But it's worked on almost every other child I've cared for since his infanthood.....& that's 24 years!
That can be so exhausting! My son was a lot like that. He usually fell asleep nursing, but so often he woke up when I put him down. I didn't think I was ever going to get anything done or any time to myself.
There were a couple of things that helped. During the day when he nursed to sleep, I would continue rocking him or holding him until he showed sings of being in a deep sleep (very quiet breathing, limp arms, that's all I remember). Sometimes I would place him in the very center of our bed, lie down next to him, nurse him to sleep and slowly roll away.
At night I usually just brought him in to bed with me, latched him on and went back to sleep myself.
It's tough, but it's also very normal to babies to continue waking to eat. Hang in there!!! Because it really does get better. Good luck :-)
My son woke for night feedings until he was a year...(he nursed) so it was also a comfort thing for that long. Does she sleep swaddled still? He had to be swaddled until 6 months to sleep.
my dd only slept for 20 mins at a time, but when she was going through a growth spurt she would do an hour or so. at night i was luck to get 2 hrs of sleep at a time. she nursed till she was 10 mo (her choice not mine). it took till about 6 mo for the 4hr straight then 6hrs. she did love to be swaddled (sp). that helped a bit. hands out though. also we played soft classical music, and had a fan or air purifier going for white noise. gl it will get better.
Are you 'playing' with her when she awake in the day some and 'talking' to her, etc. Maybe she needs to be stimulated a bit like that and then she'll be more tired for naps in the daytime. I had a couple of kids that really didn't sleep as much as the others during the daytime. I do think only 2 hours is not enough though. Try to bathe her in the daytime at a time when she is more awake and see if she gets more tired that way. Does she cry or just not sleep? If she's crying maybe just singing and rocking would help but you said you'd tried rocking. She may just need to fall back asleep too and if she wakes don't go get her right away and see if she'll go back to sleep. Sometimes they will cry a bit and fall asleep again.
Have you tried swaddling? Neither of my babies would sleep more than a few minutes without being swaddled.
There is a book that has helped many parents. I can't recall the name - but it teaches babies how to self sooth.. Doies anyone know the book?
Good luck
J.
