Hi there! I'm back here seeking help with my 3rd child. I've followed baby whisperer techniques as closely as I can with all 3 of my children. DD3 is now 6 weeks. Since birth she has been a bad sleeper...not settling well in her bed and not sleeping for long. I am following all the techniques in terms of the 4 'S's' etc but don't seem to be making any progress. I am finding this disheartening (1) because it makes me feeling lacking and (2) as it is very very hard on my other 2 children (5 years and 2 years) who hardly see me as I spend all my time tending to the baby.
During her first weeks, DD3 just wanted to feed all the time...I mean every hour. It was very difficult to get her to do anything other than feed...she spent her whole time rooting around looking for the breast. I did my best to keep to feed,play,sleep but it wasn't easy. Her weight gain has been great, a good 300 to 400gms per week so she is well and truely chubby now.
No 2 days are the same as she is simply so inconsistent. Here is an approx:
Night time - may do a stretch of about 3 or 4 hours at the start of the night. That can start anywhere from 7pm on a good night, to 10pm on a bad night if she won't settle in the evening. After that stretch she feeds every 2 to 3 hours up until 4 or 5am. After feeding at 5 she will then wake for the day around 6 or 6.30.
E 6.30am
S I start the wind down at about 7.15 as she seems tired quickly. WhenI put her down and she cries, I will leave her for 5mins before I start to help her with the 4 's' techniques. She usually won't settle. I have to get on and get my daughter ready for school so I pop back and forth, calming dd3 when she cries...either by putting the paci in (which she often won't take) or with a quick jiggle and shhh. She usually calms and drops off but wakes every 5 mins. I am very careful with the jiggling etc not to get her right off to sleep...I use them only to calm. Generally when I leave for the school run at 8.30 she is still awake so I pop her in the pram and go to school. She will usually stay awake all the way to school and back or may drop off and have a 20min sleep or so.
E 9am
S Wind-down starts by 10am. Again, she will fuss, drop off and wake every 5 mins. I have tried staying in the room (out of site) to help her through all the bumps but after 4 days of staying with her for 1.5 hours every nap we made no progress but I got very upset as my 2 year old was getting no time from me and it was just too hard. Now I pop in and out as with the first nap. If she does go off, 40mins will be her max.
The rest of the day goes the same. Feeds are every 2 to 3 hours. Occassionally she will settle for a 2 hour nap after a good 30 to 60mins of bumps and help from me. However, I can never predict when those long naps will happen. Generally, every nap involves her waking every 5 mins for most of the nap.
Bedtime varies as it depends on when she finally settles! We do a nice routine with a feed, bath, top-up feed, wrap, sit and into bed around 7pm.
She does not nap in the pram, even if it is constant motion.
She does not sleep in the car very often, usually just stays awake.
I have tried various A times, ranging from 30mins to 1 hour 15mins. Obviously however, as she doesn't sleep much she ends up being awake for hours at a time.
I've had days where she has only had 3 hours of broken naps in 15 hours!
When home our wind down includes wrapping, sitting, and popping into bed. I play a CD entitled dreaming for babies which is supposidly scientifically proven to be good for babies sleep in her room on repeat during her sleep times.
She is a relaxed and happy baby and isn't at all colicky or anything. I don't see any signs of pain or discomfort...she just doesn't seem to be able to stay asleep. She isn't content to just sit and be awake so I'm exhausted from working on her naps + being Mum to my 2 others +running the household.
Any ideas what is going on? Do I just need to let time solve this one? I know I have no choice but to cope but I don't know how to keep up with day after day of this battle of trying to get her to sleep. I don't have it in me to just leave her to cry but with my other 2 to attend to I'm starting to feel like I'll have no choice. I have tried to wear her in a wrap but that only works if I am out walking, she won't sleep in it around the house.
