Hi all! I'm new here and have posted over in introductions, and a member has very kindly pointed me in the direction of the EASY forum to post my routine. I have a 8 wk (9 wks on Friday) beautiful daughter who is currently pretty hard work! I have been watching the Baby Whisperer on Discovery Channel in the early hours of each morning, which has led me here. I currently dont own any of Tracys book but have ordered them all at Amazon UK this morning, and am looking forward to reading them!
I am having lots of trouble with my baby girl, as she simply will not be put down - at all! I have to carry her around all day or she screams. In the daytime, she will not sleep anywhere but on me. And she only sleeps for 5-10 mins at a time in the daytime. Obviously I have tried common sense methods like swaddling, but for some reason she has always hated being swaddled and struggles like mad and gets herself worked up and very upset. When she was born, she had low blood sugar and the hospital staff said I had to BF her every hour to get her levels up. This meant that for the 3 days I was in hospital after having her, I pretty much didnt put her down as I was constantly breastfeeding as I was instructed by the hospital staff. Im not sure if this is the reason, but she has pretty much never let me put her down since this!
We have recently had some success in putting her in her cot at night, but she refuses to go in it in the daytime, even though we have bought blinds to make it pretty dark in her room. We have also bought lots of stimulating toys for her to lay under (toy bars, arches) recently in an attempt to put her down and play in the lounge, but she just screams when I try. I am currently typing this as she lays in my arms - not very easy lol!!!
At the moment, she is bathed every night at around 7 - 7:30pm ish. Then put into her cot at around 8:30pm. I dreamfeed her at 10:30pm ish. She then sleeps until around 1am when she wakes up and cries for milk. She falls asleep whilst feeding and then goes back into her cot. She then wakes at 4am but strangely does not want to feed - she just wants to be held and cuddled! I have tried everything to get her back into her cot at this time, but each time I put her down, she screams. So the problem is that my day is currently starting at 4am, so Im pretty tired!
So her daily routine would be something like:
4am wake up screaming and be cuddled back to sleep on Mum, wakes immediately if put down
6 - 7am wake for milk.
9:30am - 10am feed, maybe 10 min sleep on Mum
12:30pm - 1pm feed
2:30pm - 3pm feed, maybe 10 min sleep on Mum again
5 - 5:30pm feed then be passed to Dad who has just got home from work, so that Mum can get dinner ready and have a break!
7 - 7:30pm - bath
7:30 - 8pm feed and fall asleep on Mum
8:30pm Go into cot with no problem! (fast asleep when put in cot)
10:30 - 11pm - Dreamfeed and back into cot no problem!
1am - Wake up crying for food, feed then back into cot with no problem!
4am start over!
So she simply will not go into the cot during the day - she seems to know the difference! And she hardly sleeps all day long! And my poor back aches from carrying her around all day and I'm getting nothing done
Apart from all this, and despite the fact that I'm sure she is not having anywhere near enough sleep for her age, she is one smiley happy baby to me and everyone - so long as I am holding her!
If anyone can offer advice, I would SO appreciate it! I cannot wait to read Tracys books - lets hope the post is not delayed in anyway this week!!
