I try to cluster-feed Lucas in the evening, often nursing him every hour from 7pm and on. This way I know his tummy is nice and full before bedtime. I try to do a feeding around 9pm, with Lucas swaddled. Usually he will fall asleep while nursing and I can lay him in his bassinet asleep. So far he will sleep for about 2-3 hours, until the next feeding around midnight. I get up, change him, and rock him while nursing him in his room. Then I bring him back to our room to lay him in his bassinet. This is when it gets tricky....he always wakes up when I lay him down. Sometimes I nurse him again, or try patting him or rocking him. He will fall back asleep eventually, but only in my arms. And every attempt to lay him in his bassinet wakes him up. I am so groggy at this point that I end up holding him in bed or sleeping with him right next to me. (This makes me nervous....especially if Ryan climbs in our bed at night without me knowing). I find myself thinking "OK he's asleep, I'm going to lay him in his bassinet now. And then suddenly I look at the clock and 45 minutes have passed. I just can't keep myself awake! I generally nurse him again between 3 and 4am, and then again before getting up for the day around 7am.
Ryan is also having sleeping issues at night. (What's new?) He's been sleeping in our bed for a long time now because it's the only thing that works. But that is no longer working with Lucas here. So Adam has been sleeping in Ryan's room, trying to get him to stay in his "big boy bed" at night. Let's just say they're up at night as often as Lucas and I am.
Even though Lucas is only 10 days old, I am very aware of the importance of teaching him good sleeping habits. I don't want him to end up with the same sleeping issues that Ryan has! Any advice for getting Lucas to sleep in his bassinet at night? Or am I expecting too much from a baby this young?
Is a side sleeper an option? We coslept till 5 months so I have no real advice there.
ReplyDeleteOur bassinet is actually a side sleeper, so it's right up next to our bed. Is that what you mean?
ReplyDeleteMy sister was always awake at night and asleep during the day. My mom had my aunt come over for 2 days and they did everything to keep her awake during the day and then she was able to sleep at night and get her days and nights back on track. Hopefully you can figure something out! HUGS!
ReplyDeleteI still vote for "Eat, wake time, Sleep" In that order. (Except at night when it's "Eat, Sleep". This is sort of the Baby Wise book method and it seemed to be the key to getting a baby to realize that day is for being awake and night is for sleeping.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I can't sleep at all with a baby in the room so our kids slept in their cribs away from my room when they were 2 weeks old. I got up to nurse in their rooms when they made hungry sounds on the monitor. I also let them cry a little... I guess I'm a strict mama!
Adina
I found that my baby didn't like the transition for warm arms to cold bassinet on his head. I would swaddled him, then use a warm blanket to wrap him in, being sure that the blanket was around the back and top of his head, to rock him. Then I would lay him down on that blanket, spreading it flat under his head. He usually didn't wake up that way.
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