Oh dear....need help

[mrsg5507]

My DS Levi is 5 weeks old. He struggles with naps...unless I am sleeping with him or he is on me. I tried not to do this, but other websites told me it was perfectly ok at this stage. Well, I have to return to work April 28th and I need him to sleep on his own.

His naps last all of 30-45mins. I try to just lay him down awake because I have been warned not to rock him asleep. But he won't sleep that way. I also was warned by ppl not to keep the house quiet etc because he needs to get used to noise. But he won't fall asleep with things going on for very long. He truely fights sleep like a mad man. His eyes roll back and start to close and he snaps himself out of it.

So, today I have used swaddling during the day as well. He does great falling asleep at night swaddled.  I nursed him today at 950am, I started to try to get him to sleep in my arms rocking around 10:10 (he was yawning)and he was startig to drift off all this time, but then wretching his eyes open. He isn't fussy during this, just not sleeping.  My mom showed up around 11:00am with lunch so I placed him into his vibrating chair and gave him his paci. He fell asleep kinda quickly then, but only for 30 minutes. I tried to let him lay there with in that chair hoping he would drift off, because he wasn't fussing. He just had his eyes open. Well, he never did. So I picked him up, passed him off to my mom. She decided he didn't like the swaddle and took him out of it...  He did a lot of passing gas and did burp a bit. But we placed him back into his chair again swaddled around 12:10pm and he seemd glazed over for a tad, but woke crying to eat at 12:30. I fed him, changed him and by then it was 12:55 and he was yawning. I swaddled him, and took him into his room to nap instead. I put on the white noise he likes, and sat with him with my hand on his chest. I did give him the paci..and it did fall out after a bit and he didn't seem to care. He closed his eyes about 1:10 and I sat with him until 1:35. He did jerk awake several times, but closed them again. I left the room, but around 2:00 he woke and was crying a tad and my hand didn't make him settle. So I picked him up and shushed him a tad. He closed his eyes, and stopped fussing so I laid him down and he opened his eyes... But he wasn't fussing so I just kept my hand on him got a few minutes. He had his eyes closed and seemed restless and worked his mouth like he wanted the paci, but I didn't give it to him. He settles after a few minutes and I left the room again. He is still in there (it's 2:20) making fussy noises...I do go sneak peaks and his eyes are closed as far as I can tell. But I am sitting here tense, praying he doesn't wake. AM I DOING SOMETHING WRONG??

[Roseii]

Bumping this for you and I will be back
((hugs)) don't freak out
xxx

[mrsg5507]

Well, he slept til 3, ate..pooped 4Xs w/in a 45 min window. I tried to put him down at 3:40..ha. Right.....he would not fall asleep until 445 and slept all of 20 mins.  I got him to almost fall asleep again in my arms..down he went and open goes his eyes. I gave up and held him then...he slept 10 mins and is now in my arms, awake, not fusing. Just suckin away on the paci..... I feel so lost.

I would really like his bedtime feeding to be around 8pm, then put him down. Because I work nights, Dh works some nights till 7 and he will be at my mom's til then...

[mrsg5507]

UGH! Now he is out cold in my arms, its been 3 hrs since he last nursed...do I wake him!?

[Roseii]

So sorry Hun my own little darling is not sleeping
If he's finally having a nice nap I would let him sleep, maybe let him go to 4 hours for a feed? It's not like you'll be continually doing it
Have you tried a sling?
He is still so young I wouldn't be overly concerned with how you get him to sleep, more actually getting some decent rest out of him. At this young age it's a great idea to AP some naps but aim for say one nap a day where you try and get them down independently.
As for getting him used to noise, this makes me mad when people say that Babies deserve to be respected when they sleep like adults expect-we wouldn't want to attempt to fall asleep in a noisy lounge with people chattering away around us!
You've def got the right idea with the White noise and swaddle-is it tight? I think you're doing a fab job with the patting and keeping your hand on him, it's all steps in the right direction. I would say you need to get your mom on board if she's going to be helping you out, it's no use trying to encourage independent sleep etc if she's going to use different methods yk?
So sorry got to fly

[Roseii]

How are you getting on?
xxx

[mrsg5507]

Well....last night after he had his bottle at 815..I did his bedtime routine of wiping his head and face with a warm cloth, diaper change, story, swaddle..etc. We went to the bedroom and I rocked for a few minutes, and he seemed groggy. I layed him down at about 910... and pop open goes the eyes.....
He didn't actually fuss, but he layed there for a long time grunting and stirring. I am not sure if any sleep was involved..because everytime I checked on him, he was awake. Finally by 10pm, he was pretty much asleep.  I went in at 11pm, and tried the dream feed. He accepted my breast and nursed for 15 mins before I was pretty sure he was just pacifying himself. I unlatched him and placed him in the crib. He had his eyes closed the whole time, so I guess it worked. I was scared to do it bc of how long it took for him to go down.
He woke at 230, 530 (diaper change), and 8 to nurse. He nursed at 8 for 20 minutes, I changed his diaper and we cuddled. At 830, he yawned so I reswaddled him and told him it was nap time. He spit up all over me  It took close to 40 minutes before he would succumb to sleep. He fights the swaddle, squirms, grunts etc. I got him to sleep if I was there laying next to him. I did shush pat. He woke breifly after 30 mins, wanted his paci back, and slept another 30 before waking again. Anywho, he woke a few times, or at least was restless. He woke at 1030 and 1040 crying, but he didnt seem hungry yet. I almost gave in and fed him...just so I could calm him.... it was gas though. He slept til 11. I heard noises, so I went in and he was laying tere content.  I fed him and changed his diaper. I have to buy more diapers...so we havew to go out now...