Author Topic: 8w baby falling asleep and staying asleep issues  (Read 1532 times)

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Offline whattoexpect

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8w baby falling asleep and staying asleep issues
« on: May 24, 2016, 23:56:51 pm »
Here are the Schedule
E time:
7 AM wake up and Feed
between 10 and 10:30
between 2 and 2:30
between 5 and 5:30
7:30 pm (Bottle) and go to bed around 8:15
Night time feeding twice. sometimes 11 pm+3 am, sometimes 2 am+5 am

A time:
She's breast fed most of the time, which takes a good 45 min including diaper change and burping in between.
She would do tummy about 15 min, play bouncer, mobile, gym etc for 15-30 min.

S time:
She's typically tired 1 - 1:15 after she wakes up. Then we take her to sleep, which takes 15 min or so.

Here are the issues:
1. falling asleep:
Need to hold her up right and shush-pat. Otherwise her eyes would be wide open and she's wiggling and kicking for very long time. Many times I tried to settle her in bed with s/p and it took 45 min if I was lucky, while in the same state I know I could hold and pat her to sleep in 10-15 min, because she's confined with limited movement and her eyes are nestled near my neck.

2. staying asleep
Here is the bigger issue. She would wake up every 20 min or so. I mean WAKE UP. not just slightly aroused. her eyes would be wide open again and wiggling and kicking. If she's in the arms, she would be put back in 5-10 min. Otherwise she would not settle for 30 min or even longer.

I tried to hold and pat her in the crib but right on the dot of 20 min she would start kicking and opening eyes, even i am still patting her.

I tried holding her to sleep the entire time, she would still wake up but take shorter time to settle.
Some worse time, even when I am holding her, she would stir up every 5 or 10 min, not a full blown wake up but stir up so if she's not held she would for sure be wide awake.

I tried extending A time but she gets cranky and hard to settle, seemingly OT. And it doesn't help the light sleep issue.

It seems it takes 2 to 3 20 min cycle then she might (or might not) get a longer cycle like 40 50 min. Totally it makes up of a 1.5-2 hr nap

She's not a baby who takes a catnap and be happy. She needs the sleep but couldn't fall into deep sleep, even being held (not rocking, just holding and a bit patting). If she cannot go back to sleep again soon,  she would get upset and very sleepy too and get into mad cries.
Because of all these light sleeps, she still seems sleepy when it's time for next feed. and she would get sleepy again very soon. To get her better rested it doesn't seem worth it to put her down so she's being held to nap all the time.

Night time she sleeps much deeper and she settle back after feed better too, except the first cycle where she has similar falling asleep and staying asleep issue but slightly less.

During the first month, she slept very deep and long. She seems to need a lot of sleep in general. This light sleep pattern started after 4w or so.

It seems accidental parenting through out. But I did try hard to settle her in bed to fall asleep and I did try to shush pat to stay with the jolt and cycle transition. Just not working :(

What can I do to improve the situation? how can she sleep deeper?
« Last Edit: May 25, 2016, 20:26:13 pm by whattoexpect »

Offline Scottishmummy

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Re: 8w baby falling asleep and staying asleep issues
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2016, 19:24:56 pm »
Hi and thank you for posting!

Short naps and trouble falling asleep are really common at this age. You are doing lots of things right, babies just wake up a bit more after the first few very sleepy weeks. I would keep the same A times, that sounds right for her age & it sounds like you are really tuned in to her and her needs.

My DD was similar...I could hold her upright to sleep but she would wake very soon after I put her in the cot. What worked for us (following advice from here) was having a really dark room (black out blind) swaddling closely and holding her in the cot while playing white noise (& shh-ing) . I found patting was too stimulating for her but you could also pat in the cot if that works.  I also stayed in the room held her in the cot until after the 20 minute jerks.

At this age we still only got 40 minute naps in the cot (but better than 20 mins!)  so I also did some naps in the sling so she took some long naps in the day. Is that an option for you?
"Touchy/Spirited" DS


"Textbook" DD



Offline whattoexpect

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Re: 8w baby falling asleep and staying asleep issues
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2016, 20:28:50 pm »
thanks Scottishmummy.
Her room is dark and she's already swaddled. It's frustrating she's even waking up in the arms, let alone being put in the crib.
If not holding her, she would be in crappy mood the whole day and her schedule is off. Can't do anything if she needs to be held all the time...

I see your LO is 7 months? Gosh, this is frustrating. Do you have link to your post where people provided suggestions? I am trying to read relevant threads to get some idea but it gets more scary that such issues could persist even for 8m old babies :(
« Last Edit: May 25, 2016, 20:35:41 pm by whattoexpect »

Offline Scottishmummy

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Re: 8w baby falling asleep and staying asleep issues
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2016, 20:39:46 pm »
Sorry- You misunderstand me, my baby is a good independant sleeper & does much better naps now(1.5hrs) she was like yours when she was 8wks but was much better from 3months onwards.   I'll try to find my thread but it was a while ago.

She's still very little, lots of people choose not to sleep train until later. Would she sleep in a sling or baby carrier so you could get some stuff done?

I think I just tried for first nap in cot at first then did others in sling to get some longer ones.

ETA:  here's my thread from when DD was 8wks:
Trying to get 8wk old to start napping in cot- update & more questions!
« Last Edit: May 25, 2016, 20:47:37 pm by Scottishmummy »
"Touchy/Spirited" DS


"Textbook" DD