Exhausted FTM - help

Have you thought about co sleeping it's alot safer then you being so tired she falls asleep on your accidentally and you can get the sleep you need

@Charlotte I only do contact napping when I’m awake enough :) I’m too nervous to co sleep at the moment.. possibly in the future!

@Charlee okay look up happy co sleepers on FB for the future lots of great tips in the group and safe sleeping advice

Mine is only 6 weeks old, so I don't have much more experience than you with this, but ours went through a stage around that time when he wanted to feed every 20 minutes to 1 hour. It's called cluster feeding. As far as I know, contact napping during the day doesn't "ruin" their sleep behaviour at night. We've just come out the other end, and he now sleeps 1.5 to 3 hours between feeds at night and in his cot.

I believe there’s a sleep regression at around the 4 week mark. Doesn’t last long but still a nightmare!! Contact napping definitely won’t have been a part of this, if anything, think of contacting napping as ‘stocking up on cuddles’ - meaning if they’re content before bedtime, they’re happy going down in the crib ☺️

Hey.. first of all- you’re doing a fantastic job :) well done - I remember how exhausting this was at the beginning (now it’s exhausting for different reasons 😂). Your baby doesn’t know what day and night is for now - they can’t tell the difference. This comes around 3 months. It’s common for them to feed all the time - their stomachs are tiny and if they are rapidly growing they might want to eat all the time. Sometimes they will cluster feed for hours. You can’t sleep train baby this small to sleep here or there. Enjoy the contact naps. I used to put my baby down all the time and now at 8 months she only contact naps, or naps in pram. Hate to say it but - sleep when the baby sleeps - for now it’s 24 h circle and don’t expect day and night. Babies go through multiple big phases sleeps wise as they’re developing so quick - nothing lasts forever :)

More likely is a growth spurt. They wake up constantly for feedings and it could last a week. But here are some advices that could help. 1. Make sure baby is comfortable ( no pain or gas, temperature-most parents overdress their babies) 2. You could try swaddling baby. 3. Introduce routines for naps/sleep. Make obvious cues that can signal baby it's time to sleep. 4. Use the Eat,, Play, Sleep method and keep an eye in awake windows. At this age is about 45 min to an hour 5. You can start using white noise, although pink noise seems more effective and soothing. 6. Pay attention to baby feeding cues ( keep journal) and feed on demand. 7. If baby skips a nap, do whatever you need to get him to sleep at least an hour ( contact nap) so baby is not overtired and next nap is easier 8. Give plenty of opportunities for baby for selfsoothing. When he is happy but close to his nap, lay him down in his cot and give him the chance to fall asleep on his own. @thedoulathatcould @thesleepconsultantthatcould

I had this until 2 months n now we get 4-6 hour stretches from her naturally, have you been tracking her feeds? She may be cluster feeding which is very common, if you are bfing dont think switching to formula is the cure as i did 🤣 she still woke n fed 1/2-hourly so back to bf i went! The key to longer sleep is in them consuming most of their feeds in the day, which happens naturally as obviously you cant force it. Contact napping probably wont be the cause unless its become a habit for her and when we had sleep issues as she had got a cold and wed taken turns holding her upright so she could sleep for a week n she woke at max within 15 mins of being put down so it sounds more like cluster feeding/growth spurt than it does that shes formed that habit. Like Charlotte said look into co sleeping but only so you can follow guidelines if you’re exhausted just in case you do fall asleep, i was so glad i was following them as i accidentally fell asleep in bed w her one night!

Our growth spurt lasted till 8 weeks but literally overnight at 6 she went from tiny baby-0-3 and slept in 3 hour stretches and then had a few nights of hourly wake ups n calmed down till now when teething has her up constantly again 🤣 theres light at the end of the tunnel!