Lots of Questions...

[sabbyk]

I'm a first-time mom and so have tons of questions to ask. Sometimes the books just don't answer everything.. I've asked many before, here's another one...

My son is now reaching 3 months and he doesn't sleep at all. I think in the entire day, he probably only sleeps about 10 hours.. broken down as such:

after bath, he will sleep about 3 hours, but will wake up for a power-feed after 1.5 hours. then he'll be up the entire day until i finally put him to bed at night, around 11.30pm.

He feeds every 2 hourly and his cycle is feed, play, pass motion, sleep. For every cycle, the sleep should be for about 30 minutes before it's feed time again. But instead of sleeping for the entire 30 minutes, he'll only sleep for 10 and then wake up, fuss about, cry until it's feed time again. What happens then is that he'll feed but he'll be sleepy, so he'll end up sleeping on the breast and won't take his feed properly and then his entire cycle is messed up. This continues the entire day, until finally at 11ish i put him to bed once and for all.

I've noticed he sleeps better when swaddled. So after his bath and at night I wrap him up. But if i were to do that during the day, he'd fuss about and get cranky.

I don't know what to do?!!? And i get so tired during the day that I'm totally fagged out by the end of it. And sometimes i can't get 5 hours constant sleep at night because he'll wake up for a late night feed.

[destiny]

If I understand you correctly, at the end you mentioned something about 5 hrs. straight sleep at night? That is great, if I understand you right. My 4 mo. old is just starting to do one 4 or 5 hr. stretch per night regularly...I know how exhausting it can be. My baby isn't a big sleeper. Thankfully, we found a routine (finally) that works for my baby:

sleep 7:30 PM
awake between 6:30-7:30 AM - currently up every 3-5 hrs. give or take
...Naps every approx. 2 hrs. awake during the day. Ends up being approx 1 AM nap, 1-2 afternoon naps. (In a perfect world!!! - but this is the goal and this meets her sleep needs) I have sidecarred a crib to my side of the bed. Have to nurse sitting up with boppy. Keep a nightlight on in room and make getting up as short, simple, quiet as possible. thinking of you...

[kohlby]

My son didn't have a formal nap until he was 7 months old. I don't know how much sleep he got total since there were lots of 10 minute cat-naps. Half the time I wasn't sure if he was sleeping or awake for those 5-10 minute naps. He went to bed at 10pm and was awake by 6am, so that's 8 hours during the night not counting the time he woke at night to breastfeed. (But we coslept so it didn't mess up his sleep much).

Is your son acting tired? Is it possible that he's actually getting enough sleep but taking tiny naps that recharge him but don't allow you to recharge? I still remember the first time my son slept for 30 minutes straight. It was in my lap since he couldn't sleep not on me until 11 months old - so you could also try seeing if he'll sleep in your lap.

There are blankets made especially for swaddling, perhaps someone here will know of a brand. Both my kids absolutely hated swaddling from day one! My son also never fell asleep in his car seat - though I could drive around to trick DD into a nap when she was a baby.

*One thing that helped me with DS was for me to go to bed at the same time as he did. So, we both went to bed at 10pm. DS couldn't make 2 hours without eating at that age which I think contributed to his very frequent waking.

[jorobaker]

Welcome to motherhood! I just had my second baby 3 months ago. Yours sounds like my first child. He was up all day long and would sleep when I would feed him. What worked for us was we just let him do things on his own time. I would try to feed when I knew he was most awake, and I would play with him right after. He would sleep for about 15 minutes and we would do this over and over again. I would feed every 2 hours. I was told by my doctor that some children just don't do schedules. After that we gave up on trying to schedule and he ate when I thought he needed to we played A LOT, and slept very little. He is now a VERY happy and healthy 2 year old who still does not nap, but sleeps for 12 hours at night.
I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but some babies just make thier own schedules.

[Bumpy]

I alway made sure that i went to bed right after my dd ate and I put her to bed. That way i would get the most out of my sleeping, that was always the longest stretch she would do.

[Bumpy]

Also, my dd would take longer naps in her swing when she was that age, and I had to be quiet while she was napping, and the TV on would wake her up, even if it was on mute. Just an idea, I throw them all out there, you can take the breadcrumbs that work best for you

[madelsmama]

Try to not to overthink his "cycle". I obsessed over the order of things way too much with my first baby, which is just welcoming stress into your day. Try to go with the flow. He is who he is, ya know?

My second baby sounds a lot like yours and bumpy's. We also utilized the swing for probably eight months for naps and occasionally night time as well. She had to be swaddled, tighly, with arms down and put in the swing on fast speed to stay asleep for any significant period of time, which was usually just 45 minutes (then I would usually go nurse her back to sleep for another 45 min. stretch).

In addition, I played a CD in her room of the vacuum or the dryer, over and over again, to provide white noise. She's 14 months now, and I still use white noise in her room; she wakes very easily.

My daughter started doing better at 9 months. I know that's six months from now for you, but just know that it WILL get better.