Trouble sleeping - 2 month old
I'm having the hardest time trying to put my 2month old to sleep especially at night. She only breastfeeds and that seems to be the only time she stays asleep is if the breast is in her mouth. She crys and crys and She doesn't like the pacifer. Is there any good ideas to help me out... I'm ready to pull my hair out
Dec 18, 2017
Parent Replies
poor mama. hang in there, it gets easier after they cross the 3 month milestone and even better after 4 months when they are neurological ready to be sleep trained. i wouldn't try that before 3 months, as they don't have the ability to self soothe yet and it's just really stressful for everyone. swaddling tightly always helped my babies settle, i would swaddle, breastfeed and then gently release my nipple from their mouth. if they woke and cried we'd do some bouncing on an exercise ball till they settled. when babies are this young they really like to be close to mama, so having her sleep right next to you may help as well. i loved thesleeplady blog. check her out, she has lots of good info on stages of baby's sleep.
I feel for you. When I was having trouble with getting my son to sleep without being held, a friend of mine said "it's either cry it out or wait it out". I think the best solution is recruiting support for yourself. Have a close friend or family member or a post partum doula come and care for the baby at night from time to time so you can get some sleep and take care of yourself. Good luck!
Look into the 5 S's from The Happiest Baby on the Block. Swaddling had a magical ability to make my baby stop crying. A white noise machine helped a lot too--it soothed her, and helped drown out her small noises so that *we* weren't always running over to check on her and disturbing her. Also, I feel like getting her outside during the day and making her room dark at night helped her learn that daytime was for playing and nighttime was for sleeping. Good luck!
Have you tried rock 'n play? The movement might help her sleep. It's a phase that will pass, the so-called fourth trimester, when they are first adjusting to being on the "outside". Hang in there!
Swaddle and white noise! After baby is swaddled, try jiggling so that the head moves slightly more than the body (gently, obviously, and sounds weird, but this was like a magic trick with my daughter). Most important is keeping YOU calm... do whatever you need to do and get help! If that means putting down the crying baby to go to the bathroom, take a few deep breaths, and drink a cup of tea, so be it. Hang in there, it will get better! Around 3 months my daughter magically developed a bedtime of her own accord.
Longer term, set yourself up for sleep success by encouraging your daughter to nap frequently (like, awake for only an hour or two before a nap... sounds excessive but newborns really do need to do this). Also give her the chance to learn to self-soothe. There are lots of books about how to do this, I recommend the blog Precious Little Sleep and associated book for readable info. I used to read it when I was awake at night with my daughter, in the hope that someday I'd be sleeping instead of reading!