Screaming before sleep

[Lara's Mum]

hi there. my 6.5 week dd has a very hard time getting to sleep. she may scream up to 2-3 hours when she is tired and refuses to sleep. she will close her eyes and then jerk them awake all of a sudden and pretend like she wants to play, then gets tired again and starts screaming. she's also very fussy, if the sheets are crinkled beneath her, she wakes up screaming, if she drools and it reaches her face, she wakes up screaming and i won't even mention what happens when she spits-up. once she's asleep, her sleep isn't that bad, but its the to get her to sleep bit that i really don't know what about. she doesn't like being swaddled, sometimes, but not very often, i can put her in her crib semi-asleep. i never was able to stand to hear a baby crying, so sometimes her cries really get on my nerves, and i have to leave her for a short while till i can focus again... :oops: i've tried to block visual stimulation as she loves to stare at the ceiling or anything else, but she gets really fussy, if anything blocks her vision. :roll: does anybody have a similar experience to share... she's more of a textbook baby, except for her sleep, she's spirited (with flailing arms and legs that go all over the place :shock:  :shock:  :? )

[KellyC]

Hi

This sounds like my LO.  I would say persist with swaddling - you're in charge here!  Have you tried a miracle blanket?  We're just stopping using ours but it worked really well as my DS feels very secure in his and after a few nights he started to calm down just being put in it.  Even at nearly 3 months old his arms flail around and wake him if he's not swaddled - we tried it last night and I was up for 2 hours with him which is very unusual!  Do you use a paci?  Again, we've just stopped using one with our DS but I'd use it again in a baby under 3 months old to teach them good eating and sleeping habits and they don't have any other way to self soothe until they're a little older.  The paci enabled us to get used to being parents and to have our evenings to ourselves, now a couple of months later I feel more ready to cope without it!

Must go - DS is waking from his 45 minute nap.  Blast!

Kelly x

[rebecca-isabella mum]

Hi there

Could you post what your LO's daliy routine usually looks like it will help to try to find out whta the problem is. Its sounds as though she may overtired but if you post your rountine it would help 


Thanx

[Lara's Mum]

first... no we don't use a paci. dd won't take it, she gets frustrated. and she cries as if she can't stand that she'll suck and nothing will come down.
our daily routine goes something like this.
E 7/7:30 for 30 to 40min. then a change of diaper, may or may not continue to sleep after that. if she does sleep, then it's feeing at 10/10:30, if not she'll sit and play and coo, then start crying from overtiredness after an hour. this happens throughout the day.
i give her her bath at 8:00 with a feed after that and hope she'll sleep, but she sometimes has different thoughts.
i know it sounds as if she's the one ruling, but everytime i try to take things into my own hands, she lets us know she has other thoughts :shock: . and once she starts on the screaming....believe me there is no stopping it.
she averagely takes 2-3, 1.5-2 hour naps throughout the day with a 5-6 hour nighttime sleep.
she usually goes to sleep at night around 2am. i try to winddown starting 10 with a feed and a quiet room but she still stays up till 2
i'm not complaining about the duration of sleep, its the getting to sleep thats hard.
she takes a feed at 11pm and can stay up to 2am screaming to sleep.
i have tried putting her in her crib at the first/second and third yawns or when she stares off into space, but she always starts bawling 5 min later, i'd go in pat/sh, but that doesn't work either........i'm at the point where i'm clueless..............