sleep cycles with new born and resettling.....

[minimac]

ok, so this conversation has probably already been had a million times over but i need help! My 10wk old cannot resettle himself at lunch time. His routine is pretty much - morning sleep (can do 2 hours on his own - generally down without a fuss and no dummy). Lunchtime sleep - down sometimes with fuss and sometimes ok (generally ok though) - no dummy. Sleeps 40-45 mins and then up - will NOT resettle at all. Won't take the dummy and generally furious at being kept in bed. I pick him up and carry on with things thinking that he doesn't need a big sleep, especially if he's slept well in the morning but he is grumbling and cross because he is tired and then will go back to sleep as soon as i put him in the pram - pacing up and down the garden or go into the car and drive.

Thing is I have a 3 year old and am generally tired and don't have the energy to be pacing up and down the garden or going on random road trips just to resettle him. If he was up after a sleep cycle without grumbling that would be ok but he is still tired and still wants to sleep. I've tried the 'sleep sheep', patting, cuddling and putting down, pacing his bedroom. All to no avail. He goes down at 7 - sometimes ok and sometimes not - generally with dummy.

Essentially his going to sleep pattern isn't the same for each sleep - don't know if this makes a difference - don't suppose it does. I've tried putting him to sleep earlier at lunch time having read that if they are over tired they don't resettle after a sleep cycle but this hasn't made any difference either.

Anyway, any tips on getting him to self settle would be much appreciated!

[goldilocks]

I don't have an answer to self settling - both my kids have been terrible at this (or I'm very bad at teaching it) but I used to just put my youngest in a wrap sling and carry on with whatever I was doing wtih the toddler. That way she slept as much as she needed (which at that age was loads). Wrap slings are lovely and snuggly and comfy for you to wear (as long as you don't wear too much else in this heat!)

[Pickle]

My 2nd child was like that at lunchtime. She would reliably go to sleep, but always wake up after one sleep cycle. I had a 17 month old too, who always slept for 2-3 hours after lunch so it was a real nuisance!

The approach I used was that when she woke I got her up, but put her straight into my wrap type sling. No interaction to speak of, I put her in and just kept doing whatever I was doing, be if watching tv or cooking dinner. She would usually go back to sleep, and after a month or so stopped waking at all during that nap time.

I always limited the morning sleep (for my kids, at around 9am, based on getting up at 7am) to 1 hour though - that might help?

[BellendenBear]

Have you tried white noise? With my 2nd daughter I used to crank up the white noise after around 40 minutes and after a while this seemed to stop her waking until she started sleeping longer all by herself.

[Polly73]

Is he swaddled? My six month old still needs to be wrapped up (loosely, with one arm out) or he wakes up after 45mins like clockwork!

Agree that you might want to limit morning nap - my first could sleep 9-11 and 1-3 reliably but the second struggles with second nap if first is that long so we wake him. Allows us to get out of the house, too.

[minimac]

BellendeBear - a white noise -is that like a sleep sheep which plays either rain/ whales/ ocean noises? We have one which is set i think at 24 or 46 mins (or similar)so I could certainly try that.

Polly73 - he is swaddled in a blanket under arms for his day naps but in a baby sleeping bag at night. I could try putting him in the bag to see if that makes a difference (as seems ok at night in it). Not sure if it would as he sleeps ok in the morning swaddled under arms.

Think I will try reducing his morning nap though and see if that helps. Oh the joys of babies and their sleep!

[BellendenBear]

Yes, i used simplynoise.com

Swaddling also good. My son was swaddled for daytime naps for a while after we had stopped swaddling at night.

Good luck!

[hellosailor]

Hi minimac,

I would swaddle with arms as well to stop moro reflex waking him at first cycle and use white noise. xx