Sleeping arrangements with a newborn

CathyMoran

Our son was in his moses basket in our room until he was just over 6 months old and has now moved into a cot in our room. We hope to move him into his own room when he is a year old as we will be hopefully having a brother or sister for him when he is 14 months old. We wish that we had got a white noise machine sooner but we both like having him in our room - he does let us have time together some time (thus his sibling in training).

Edit: He would fall asleep on his daddy in our bed for the first few months but his daddy was able to lift him into his moses basket.

ClareVisitor

We have two boys, one is just over 2 1/2 and the other is 14 weeks. They both went into their own room when they came home from hospital in a moses basket in the cot. The youngest is now out of the moses basket a few weeks and is in the cot with a divider in there so he can't jig his way too far up the bed and the older is in a bed with a bed-guard.

We don't ever leave any lights on when putting them to bed and don't put on the lullaby unless they're particularly upset about something. I think this gets them used to going to sleep without any other help and unless you want to spend time getting them to sleep this is a good thing. They both slept through the night from 7 weeks, I currently wake up the youngest at 10pm for a bottle and he sleeps until 6:30 - 7am, the older one sleep 7 'til 7.

I think the most important thing is to have a routine, as strict as you're happy with, if the kids know what's happening and when then they get used to it very quickly and you'll have a happy household (everyone has their moments though!).

knipex

Our little fella (just shy of 3) came home and straight into a cot in the nursery.

He went into a bed pretty early (cot converted to a bed) as he went through a stage of climbing and it was just safer.

He is now in a bigger room with his book shelves and toys, Ne never slept in our room until he was two, one night he was very sick and restless so we brought him in to see if it would help him sleep. He is an early riser so most mornings he comes into the room and climbs into the bed beside us. Sometimes you just wake up and he is there but mostly he sleeps in his own bed.

Nursery has been done up for the new baby (due any day) who will go straight into a cot in there same as her brother.

littlemissfixit

Maybe some of you will have some advices; my little girl is nearly 8 weeks, she was a great sleeper from start, I had to wake her up for feeds during the night (not easy!) and she was good sleeping during the day too. But for the last two weeks, there is no putting her in the cot, she will only sleep if we co-sleep, which I realised is great for breastfeeding so it suits me quite fine. But during the day, she will not sleep any longer than 20-25 min. at a time if I am lucky. She feeds every 2 hours during the day and 4 hours during the night.
I get nothing done obviously. How much a bebe this young should sleep during the day, I am not quite sure, but it must be more than 20 min nap at a time? I know its not that she is not tired because if I cuddle her, she does fall asleep.

bulmersgal

littlemissfixit wrote: »

Maybe some of you will have some advices; my little girl is nearly 8 weeks, she was a great sleeper from start, I had to wake her up for feeds during the night (not easy!) and she was good sleeping during the day too. But for the last two weeks, there is no putting her in the cot, she will only sleep if we co-sleep, which I realised is great for breastfeeding so it suits me quite fine. But during the day, she will not sleep any longer than 20-25 min. at a time if I am lucky. She feeds every 2 hours during the day and 4 hours during the night.
I get nothing done obviously. How much a bebe this young should sleep during the day, I am not quite sure, but it must be more than 20 min nap at a time? I know its not that she is not tired because if I cuddle her, she does fall asleep.

Are you still waking her for feeds, you shouldn't unless she's not gaining weight or was a premmie.

I was blessed with my little one when it came to naps but when she was younger and couldn't get to sleep i used to bring her for walk. I do find that as she's getting older she needs less sleep and now cries when she is bored.

Thinking back my back was bottled feed but at start we had 3 hour feeds. She wake usually screaming for a bottled, used to take up to a hour to feed, change nappy, play for little while, have little cuddle etc then go back for a hour or so sleep. Now at 8 months she only has 2 naps a day these can range for up to hour to 2. Sometimes the dog wakes her up barking which is very annoying as she is so noisy now its hard to get her back to sleep when she goes for even a little nap

implausible

littlemissfixit wrote: »

I get nothing done obviously. How much a bebe this young should sleep during the day, I am not quite sure, but it must be more than 20 min nap at a time?

I never woke my wee man for a feed as I figured he'd wake if he was hungry. Is this necessary? He's 6 months now and sleeps twelve hours at night, but like your little one, his idea of a nap is only 20 minutes! He will sleep longer if out and about in his buggy or in the car though. He's breastfed too and the frequent feeding comes with the territory.

I think maybe you have to accept that that's the way your daughter is, but you could get someone to take her for a walk to give you an hour or two break or help you with the housework.

And it could be worse - if you were bottle-feeding, you'd be using the time she is napping to prepare bottles. You mightn't be getting much housework done, but you're burning calories sitting on your ass:D

wmpdd3

littlemissfixit wrote: »

Maybe some of you will have some advices; my little girl is nearly 8 weeks, she was a great sleeper from start, I had to wake her up for feeds during the night (not easy!) and she was good sleeping during the day too. But for the last two weeks, there is no putting her in the cot, she will only sleep if we co-sleep, which I realised is great for breastfeeding so it suits me quite fine. But during the day, she will not sleep any longer than 20-25 min. at a time if I am lucky. She feeds every 2 hours during the day and 4 hours during the night.
I get nothing done obviously. How much a bebe this young should sleep during the day, I am not quite sure, but it must be more than 20 min nap at a time? I know its not that she is not tired because if I cuddle her, she does fall asleep.

My little one was like that too (10weeks now), but bottle fed from 3 weeks. I stated a thread here about her, I ended up getting a book, The no cry sleep solution, and am in the process of putting it into place.

There are basic amounts of sleep for each age in it and ways of getting out of your baby only sleeping in your arms etc. It seems to be working for me, the main thing I am trying to do is get her into proper naps in the daytime, about 3 x 1.5 hr naps could suit her, then down to bed for about 10 hrs in the night. She went from waking every 2.5 hrs to sleeping 5 hrs straight (but the 5r hrs are 2 am to 7am!!).

At the moment I have her co-sleeping, but the next thing is to get her back in her cradle.

Were getting there. But I do think I let her develop all these habits when I was breast feeding her because it was the most natural way to do things.

bulmersgal

she'll soon drop that 2am feed and you won't know yourself. I let my baby fall into her own rountine, just try not to leave her sleep to late or go to bed to late.

How Strange

I haven't had my little babs yet but I'm planning to breastfeeding and have done some research on it and spoken to other mums who breastfed. It seems for first 10 weeks it can be pretty intensive with babs feeding regularly. She may be going through a growth spurt so is more hungry.

I think it's at this point that a lot of mums give up breastfeeding because it's so intense and they assume the baby isn't getting enough milk and they want a little time to themselves.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you as I don't have first hand experience yet but from speaking to other mums it seems it does improve between 10-12 weeks and they tend to sleep more/feed less during the day.

Dodge

We kinda lucked into a nice routine. The little one was in a moses basket beside us for first 3 months or so. Then we had a probelm with the rads that destroyed our bedroom floor.

We moved the little one into her cot in her room while we slept in a bed besdie her. Obviously don't know for sure but I think it helped that we were in the room at the beginning. When the room was ready we moved back ina dn she was fine on her own

She was sleeping through the night from about 4 months on

lynski

was so totally strict with first one, in his room at 10 wks, no talking or other interaction from 7 to 7, he slept fine upto to 8 mths then woke pretty much every night for 2hrs from 8 mths to 3.5yrs, sometimes it might be a week or so when he slept through, but mostly not.

Second one in our room until 9mths, most nights at least 2 hrs in our bed from early morning feed on, often from when she woke during the night to 'uptime'
Moved her in with her brother at 9mths and she has mostly slept through since then, even through his nightime fun. We have our nights, but mostly fine.
Cant put it down to sleep routine or not , or boy girl thing. but that is our experience.
I think the next one will be mostly a co-sleeper, due to breastfeeding and convienence.

keano_afc

We're having a pretty hard time with our month old. She just refuses to be put down. Will sleep for hours in our arms or on our chest, but will wake from the deepest sleep within minutes if put in the moses basket. Its got to the stage where my wife has her on her chest pretty much all day. At night she sleeps in the crook of our arm, its the only way she'll settle. I tried her in the moses basket last Friday night and she woke every half hour. I gave up after 5 hours through sheer exhaustion and took her into the bed, where she slept for hours.

I know every child is different and she'll eventually change, but has anyone ever come across this before with their own?

January

Have you tried swaddling keano_afc?

keano_afc

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Have you tried swaddling keano_afc?

Yep, pretty much since day 1. Has worked for us when she's in the bed, but makes no real difference when we try the Moses basket.

XxXciaraxXx

keano_afc wrote: »

We're having a pretty hard time with our month old. She just refuses to be put down. Will sleep for hours in our arms or on our chest, but will wake from the deepest sleep within minutes if put in the moses basket. Its got to the stage where my wife has her on her chest pretty much all day. At night she sleeps in the crook of our arm, its the only way she'll settle. I tried her in the moses basket last Friday night and she woke every half hour. I gave up after 5 hours through sheer exhaustion and took her into the bed, where she slept for hours.

I know every child is different and she'll eventually change, but has anyone ever come across this before with their own?

We went through the exact same thing with our now 13 week old! She just would not settle in her crib. We would leave her fall asleep in our arms then put her down, but like you she would be awake within a half an hour! For the first 6 weeks we were exhausted from it and I was just crying constantly at night!

First we thought it was the crib and that she might not be comfy in it so we brought her big cot into our room and no such luck! The exact same thing again! She was just sleeping on my chest at night and myself and himself would take it in turns to sleep!

Then I thought, if she's sleeping on our chest, maybe she will sleep on her belly more comfortably! I know you are not meant to do it but I slept on my belly as a baby and so did my OH! I did not do it until she could control her head and could hold herself up well, which was when she was 7 weeks! Even the PHN commented on how strong her neck was and she was well able to control her head! I think she's ahead of her time though cos now at 13 weeks she has 2 teeth up already!

The first 5 nights of her sleeping on her belly, I didnt sleep, but she did! She just woke every 4 hours for her bottle! We do have the angel care monitor and it is set at the highest sensitivity so that is a bit of peace of mind for us! Putting her to sleep on her belly made the world of difference for us! She is now sleeping 10-7 every night!

It might not work for your little girl, but it worked for us! If you are not comfortable with it, dont try it!

liamo

Hi,

We've been having exactly the same problem with our 7-week-old daughter. She was like that in the hospital and ever since. The local health nurse said that because it was a traumatic birth - suction cap and foreceps - she's very unhappy to be left on her own.

We've tried her in a crib and a moses baskes, with a white-noise generator, a sleep positioner, music, etc. Nothing works. We tried swaddling but she *hates* it and struggles and cries until we un-swaddle her.

We got a battery-powered swing-chair recently and she loves it and will sleep in it during the day which is a life-saver! Still got the night-time problem though.

The nurse suggested to my wife that she move her away from her chest gradually over a few weeks to the point that she's lying in the bed beside her (the sleep-positioner will come in handy for this) and then further away and then into a cot beside the bed. Apparently you can get a cot with one side missing (or removable) so that you keep moving her from the bed and on into the cot. That's our current plan. Fingers crossed!

keano_afc wrote: »

We're having a pretty hard time with our month old. She just refuses to be put down. Will sleep for hours in our arms or on our chest, but will wake from the deepest sleep within minutes if put in the moses basket. Its got to the stage where my wife has her on her chest pretty much all day. At night she sleeps in the crook of our arm, its the only way she'll settle. I tried her in the moses basket last Friday night and she woke every half hour. I gave up after 5 hours through sheer exhaustion and took her into the bed, where she slept for hours.

I know every child is different and she'll eventually change, but has anyone ever come across this before with their own?

Squiggler

liamo wrote: »

Apparently you can get a cot with one side missing (or removable) so that you keep moving her from the bed and on into the cot. That's our current plan. Fingers crossed!

There are a few different companies that make co-sleeper cots that are designed to attach to the side of the parents bed. You could also use a normal drop side cot and attach it yourself... or just remove one side of a normal cot, as friends of mine did.

Best of luck to you and your wife.

NextSteps

Thought I'd update this with my experiences now that baby is 7 weeks old. We got a co-sleeper cot which is currently a very expensive magazine rack as baby has slept beside me every night. The reasons:
It works - he seems happy out and falls straight back to sleep after I (breast)feed him. Also I get to him when he's only beginning to look for a feed. He rarely if ever cries at night.
I like having him close to me. I think he'd actually be fine in the cot, but I'd miss him! This may change as he gets more wriggly though.
If I need him to take a proper nap during the day (that is, if I need a nap) I can lay him down beside me and he always falls asleep.

So: so far, so good. I'll begin to move him to the cot once he starts going to bed earlier and we have different bedtimes. Currently we all go upstairs at nine or ten and watch a film, and he's asleep by eleven.

How Strange

NextSteps, we're kind of in the same situation as yourselves. Our little fella will be 3 months this weekend and I put him in the moses basket to sleep but inevitably he ends up in the bed in the early hours as we both fall asleep while breastfeeding. If I move him back to the moses basket he half wakes up and then we're both half awake. If/when we go for naps during the day we both snuggle up together for a couple of hours.

We have a cosleeper and as soon as he outgrows the moses basket we're going to start using it so I can move him back into it after feeding simply because I wake up every morning with one foot on the floor as the little lad has moved himself into a horizontal position on my side of the bed.

Also as much as I love cuddling him and snuggling up together I want him to get used to sleeping without me as he gets older otherwise we'll find it difficult to leave him with grandparents overnight if we need to.

His pattern has changed in the last week or so; he goes for naps during the day and we put him to bed earlier in the evening so he's spending more time in his moses basket and he's fine. We've taken our cues from him as he's letting me know during the day that he's tired (rubbing his eyes, being cranky) and by 8pm his eyes are rolling in his head from tiredness. I've put a little snuggle blanket in with him so he can use that as a comforter.

Moonbeam

My little baby is 3 months this weekend too.
For the 1st few weeks she slept mostly beside me and now I put her in the basket when I am going to bed and she stays there until morning.
If I put her down straight after a bottle feed she would scream but if she was upset I could nurse her to sleep.

CathyMoran

Our son who is over a year old is still in our room in his cot - will be hard when we have to move him and we will have to move him sooner rather than later as he is hopefully getting a little sister soon. I love hearing him breathing at night and still watch him sleeping.

kayevajo

we have 3 , daughter -6 ds 5 son 6 weeks, the older 2 were breastfed and co slept until 6 months and then into their own rooms and slept 7-7 from then until now.

def recommend co sleeping , as in my experience it has helped and seperation anxieties. i can say hand on heart i have never been up during the night bar one time when my son had the vomiting bug and i slept downstairs with him. and just 2 times with my daughter since she was 6 months , again she had the vomiting bug.

Our son comes into our room a lot of the time , but dosen't bother us as we know its just a phase.

we used a co sleeper cot fro the 3 of them , it was a brilliant investment that we made.

*mod warning*
Please use full words and not dd and ds

Truley

Interesting little article on co-sleeping

http://eolife.org/articles/Cycles_Of_Life/Best_Bed_For_Babies.aspx

keano_afc

Can I just say we found pick up put down excellent. I look back to the post I submitted at the top of the page and am so thankful for how we have it now. Sadhbh had been taking her naps no probelm, she'll go down for 1.5 to 2 hours at 9am and the same in the afternoon. We out her down at 7-7:30pm and she takes a dream feed at 11 and goes untilo 6:45 the next morning.

We've come a long way!

DublinWriter

Ours is just coming up to one year old and we finally got him back in his own bed & room after sleeping with us since the cold snap.

One problem - he'll be up about 3am - 4am. His last bottle is at 7.30pm - 8pm...should we try waking him for another bottle around 11pm?