[kim0111]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 14 week old son and we have been trying to self settle him day and night since he was 9 weeks old. He has learnt to settle to sleep with minimal assistance from parents during the day and he will generally have 2 sleeps and one nap in the afternoon.
Some days his first sleep will only be one sleep cycle but can be confident his next will be at least one hour.

When it comes to getting him off to sleep at night time however is a completely different story. I try not to let him stay up for more than 2 hours before putting him down, always looking for tired cues after an hour of being awake after his nap to put to bed.

We do have a flexible routine of once he wakes to have a bath, play (quiet play) feed then check nappy, put in sleeping suit cuddles and put to bed. He must know exactly what is going on because some nights even just entering his room he starts to protest and will scream when his dad or I put him down in his cot. We do try to make sure he is relaxed before putting him down, however come that time of night (and yes have tried to delay time +/- hour to see if any difference) he will have his head up wide eyed and alert waiting to be put down..

We pat him, stroke him in his cot trying to console him for a few minutes to settle him however it doesnt work. Even after a few minutes we leave for a couple of minutes to see if he will actually calm down, but he persists. Its not just crying or grizzling to start, its screaming and red in face and yes tears do eventually come. We don't let him cry like this for long even with us in there. We pick him up after say 5-10 minutes and try to calm him down, check his nappy, clothing, burp, cuddles and kisses and ALL soothing techniques. He usually has a good feed at night however do not offer a feed until say half hr to an hr later if nothing else works. When I do offer he usually takes it and falls asleep feeding and probably out of exhaustion from crying and being overtired (at this point hes usually been awake for 3 hours). I am concerned he may have silent reflux as he has regular hiccups, what seems to be a dry cough, fussy, retches after a burp sometimes, seems to have many wet burps after all his feeds, bad sleeping, arches his back during feeding at night and cries on occasions.

The nights he has gone down without too much of a fuss, I try to repeat the next day but doesnt work!

Any help...?

thanks in advance...

[Pooks*potters]

That sounds like my baby, and he has silent reflux. Check with your gp because the only thing to help us was getting him medicated. Good luck, it's really hard watching them in pain, but if it is reflux its very treatable.

[mommiestella]

i cradle and rock my LO in my arms and sing him a song. even humming can soothe him and put him to sleep..

[avjg]

The Dyson - vacuum.

I hold my 5 week old in one arm and vacuum with the other.

Sends her off to sleep or at the very least calms her down.

[Akatara]

If you want to try noise... There is an app called sleep pillow.

It has noises like rain,waves, vacuum cleaner. I was skeptical but bub seems to like it!

[Sassy Girl]

At that age I just kept offering the breast as they get hungry very quickly.

[sarihod]

Regarding best technique
http://www.comic-ish.com/2012/11/behind-family-photo.html

[gusbus]

During the night my 5 month old is sometimes a pain to get to sleep he looks around behind me and trys to look behind himself like theres something hovering around him... kinda weird and kreepy at times, and he just crys and crys till I cover his eyes with a blanket and have to slowly rock him while walking.. very frustrating at times especially when my arthritis nin my hips is playing up. But it works. Blanket over the eyes till there I in bed. Try putting something near the cot with your scent on it. That can work for comfort at night cos they cant see you.

The other thing that works for during the day is music. But it has to be what ever his mum (me) or his dad is listening to at the time as our music tastes vary. He also loves it when his dad plays drums it puts him to sleep which is amazing given the fact of how loud they are!

This post has been edited by gusbus: 29/03/2013, 04:47 PM

[dueFeb13]

My bub is 6 and a half weeks and settles herself well already. I will snuggle and rock her with a shh shh quietly in her ear until her eyes are nearly closed then put her down to do the last bit herself.

She tends to get a lot of wind in the last hour or so before bed that seems to be painful, I will bicycle her legs and lay her accross my arm face down to get things moving. Once the wind passes she settles pretty easily.

I found that differing day and night for her from the beggining has helped. Day time naps are in a swing in the lounge with the tv on and the blinds open - sun streaming in and night time is pitch black - shutters down, silent and she tends to sleep through as of the last week (around 7-9 hours straight). Prior to sleeping through she would wake at 5 hours for a dream feed - I would catch her at the lip smacking stage so she doesnt get stressed over it - and go back down within the hour for another 3-4 hours as long as the light was dim and we were silent with her - as soon as noise is made and a light is on she thinks it is up time!!!

I have been told I have been lucky with her though so I don't know if this will help anyone else... I just know a happy chubby baby sleeps well, so make sure bub is full and don't let him/her get stressed, learn to read the signs for what s/he wants or needs, much easier to get bubs to sleep if the stress doesn't kick in first

[belinda1976]

White Noise CD worked a treat for me.

I also had an electronic swing with DD2 - fantastic invention!!!