I'm having such a hard time with Jack napping and sleeping (he's 6 weeks old), he never falls asleep while drinking his bottle so then after he's done I burp him and try to rock him to sleep, well he'll fall alsleep after fighting it for awhile and then I will try and lay him down (in either his crib, cradle, bouncy seat or swing) well he'll lay there alseep for like 5-10 minutes and then wake up screaming and I'll have to pick him up and start all over again, usually by the time he finally goes to sleep for good is so close to his feeding time he only gets to sleep for maybe a half hour and he's up wanting to eat and the process starts all over again, he eats every 3 hours so this all makes for me getting nothing done almost all day!! I know he fights me trying to get him to sleep because he's over tired and I'm at a loss as to how to get him down, its usually the worst during the day for naps and not as bad overnight, he'll sleep but just grunts, groans and is restless but he will sleep.
I swaddle him at night and I've tried to do this a few times for his naps to see if it helps but it really makes no difference.
Any advice or suggestions??

Some babies are just like that, my oldest was... drove me nuts!

could be he isnt feel well either. I dont have advice, except this, and you have probably tried this, what I would do with Sabin is I wouldnt try to put him to sleep. For a week I would wake up early, get up with him, rub him, move him to different spots, keep them up for as long as possible, changing diaper when fussy or standing when fussy that young, giving a bath, and would make sure he was starving by the end of it. Then I would feed him after all that while he was starving and do whatever it is that worked to get him to sleep. If he would wake up soon after he slept I would start the process over again even if he was fussy. I would continue to keep him up and wait to feed him. This was recommended to me by his doc. And, usually after about a week you might/maybe can get them on a bit of a schedule and try to get them sleepier each time. Some kids just dont like to sleep!

Now if he is in pain from reflux thats a totally different story.

Evan was like that, too! We now think that it was probably from the undiagnosed and therefore unmedicated GERD.

We swaddled Daniel for a very long time. It gave him comfort, I think, because he still felt all cuddly, like he was in our arms.

It is so hard when they don't sleep well...we are still going through it now with the twins. It's driving me nuts!! What I found worked well for the boys during the day was swaddling them and putting in their pacifier...they soon learnt this meant sleeptime. Also, it took me a while to realise they were overtired. I would feed, burp and then keep them up for no more that 1/2 an hour and put them to bed- whether they wanted to or not. Soon, we were in a good pattern of sleeping for 2 hours after a feed. But now they are 15 weeks and that has all gone out the window!! :roll: Also, the boys liked to be where they could see me as they were going off to sleep..so I always had them out in the living room. Good luck... it really is hard to do a schedule at such a young age. As Erin points out, is that if the reflux is causing pain, then that's a different thing altogether.

it really is hard to do a schedule at such a young age.
Especially when reflux is involved!

Oh, gosh, we are going through the napping nightmare right now too. I'm about to pull my hair out with it. It takes me about 30 min to get Nathan to sleep, even if he is exhausted. He lays in his crib and grunts, moans, and cries (medicated, so I don't think it is pain). I guess it is just a reflux thing - they never learn to nap early on because of the pain. I know how frustrating it is! Some things that helped for me are swaddling and playing soft music. I also heard that there is a great white noise CD from Happiest Baby on the Block. Good luck! Let me know if you have any tricks! :smt119

OMG you just described my exact dilemma with my daughter, except she eats every 2 HOURS (she is breastfed) so I have no time for a nap during the day since she doesn't nap. She will be 6 weeks old on Tuesday. At night she does sleep, although she does the grunting and groaning thing too. I thought it was a reflux thing (the grunting/groaning), but I talked to 2 of my friends that have babies without reflux, and their babies grunt and groan in their sleep too. It's impossible for me to sleep through the grunting and groaning and I'm filled with a lot of anxiety when I hear her do that. Also, she will cough/choke in her sleep at night and that scares the daylights out of me. Is your baby on any meds for reflux? Mine is on Zantac and Reglan. I'm thinking of stopping the Reglan, as it does not seem to be helping w/ the spitting up, but I think the Zantac is helping her with the pain.

I wish I had some advice, but I don't! We even try getting her into her stroller for a nice walk outside, and she still doesn't sleep. Car rides used to work but now they are not working much either. She'll sleep a few minutes in the car then as soon as we are home, she wakes up. She'll sleep a few minutes in her swing also, but that's about it. Just wanted to let you know there is someone else out there going through the same thing. She is not really crying or fussy while she is up, (until it's time to eat of course) she's just wakeful! On the plus side, I read that more wakeful/alert babies tend to develop faster and are aware of their surroudings at a much earlier age. So I keep trying to tell myself that when I get down about her being up so much.

How long does your baby sleep at night?? Last night was a first for us- she didn't eat from 7:30 pm til 2am! But she didn't fall asleep til 8:30. I couldn't believe it.

guess it is just a reflux thing - they never learn to nap early on because of the pain :smt119

I completly agree, Aidan is 11 months now and still has a hard time sleeping. I hate when people tell me I should sleep when he sleeps, oh yea come over to my house at 3 am and tell him that..lol.

Jennifer
mom of Aidan 5-21-04
prilosec & neocate