My 8wk old daughter has recently (over the past 2 weeks) has difficulty sleeping through naps. By "through," I mean 1 hr of solid sleeping. She will go down for a nap (and be "out"), but then wake-up 30min to 1 hr later. In order to get her back to sleep, I need to hold her and sometimes burp her. She has acid reflux, so I do a lot of burping at every feeding and then hold her upright for 20-30min before putting her down for her nap. She is also on Prevacid, and we use Gripe Water every now and again. I know she needs more solid napping, as she is clearly getting over-tired by the evening.
Have you tried sleeping her upright in a swing or boucy seat? My cousin slept her baby in the car seat because she had this same problem.
always remember that it is VERY VERY COMMON AND NORMAL for babies to not sleep. and not sleep long periods. and not want to sleep alone. after all, they spent 9 months warm and safe inside your womb, its all they know and it was the most loving comfortable place they knew. its ok to recreate this for them outside the womb, they wont get spoiled, they wont need it forever, they wont manipulate you to get their way. babies under a year dont understand the difference between a need and a want, and its not our job to necessarily teach them that - but fulfill their needs and they will be able to grow confidentally and they will naturally develop the independence that we want them to have. kids who arent responded to or who dont have their needs fulfilled will becomes the kids who are insecure and very dependent -
i know this wasnt your question, but the point is - you might have to hold your baby - a sling would be a great way to help you out - moby wraps are the most comfortable ones ive tried.
as they grow - babies sleep habits change over and over. sometimes they need more sleep, sometimes they need less. any time they learn something new such as rolling over and standing and sitting up and walking, they will have interruptions in sleep. dont know for sure why, but such with rolling over, it will wake them up. maybe its like practice or something LOL.
also teething will wake them up. but she shouldnt be teething yet i would hope.
good luck - www.askdrsears.com has more information on how to get kids to sleep 'better' though there really is no such thing. white noise is a really good idea - my son (as well as my husband) is addicted to white noise. :D mimics the loudness of the womb! :D
my kids were never big sleepers...despite what the books all say, some kids actually DO just cat nap. For my second baby I wised up a little. I sat in her room for a week during naps, and the SECOND i heard her stir, I jumped up, grabbed her into my arms and nursed her back to sleep and just held her until she awoke. After a while, she learned to sleep for the longer chunk of time without waking in the middle. If you don't nurse, you could be prepared with a pacifier or bottle. I got a lot of reading done during that week! Don't worry, every baby has different sleep patterns. As a mommy of no-napping infants, I'm happy to tell you that as older babies and toddlers, they've become super nappers! Best wishes.
My daughter is 5 months now and has acid reflux too. She's not a great sleeper either. But when she was your daughter's age, I could put her in the swing and she would sleep (sometimes for 3 hours at a time). I turned in on "high" - that's what rocked her to sleep the most. I know it helps to be in a sitting up position to keep the acid reflux down. When they lay down flat, it makes it worse. So anything that will keep her more upright will help. Good luck!
You've gotten a bunch of good advice already, but I just wanted to add that the Moro Reflex that ALL babies have can cause this problem too and it is something that they just need to grow out of. With my first, I would just sit in front of the TV and hold her for an hour and a half so she would sleep a big chunk of time. She was happier and then I was happier, although I didn't get much done :). I haven't had that luxury with my second and third though. The swing worked great for naps for awhile as well. In addition, having white noise in the room helps. We always have a fan on in the room with all of our kids while they are sleeping. We have a CD player that has nature sounds that we sometimes use as well.
Both of my babies did not sleep for longer than 30 minutes at a time until they were about 4 months and that is the time when a schedule actually will start sticking. If I wanted them to sleep longer than 30 minutes I had to sleep with them. I know very few newborns that nap for long periods of time, that is something they grow into when their stomachs get larger and they realize they are not a part of you any longer. At about 12 weeks I was sticking to a schedule with 3 naps one morning nap, one afternoon nap and one evening nap, none of these lasted longer than 30-45 minutes. My little guy is 10 months and takes two 1- 1.5 hour naps per day, that is it. Good luck and be patient.
8 weeks is a little early to expect more than an hour nap, I think...In my experienc, especially that early, they can take 2-3 naps a day of up-to an hour each. I read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" when I was exhausted with a 7 month old that was STILL sleeping like an 8 week old, it worked wonders for us!
http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp...
I reccommend reading it now! If not before having a baby! LOL! Also, make sure her room/nap area is dark, and there is white noise to block out other noises.
My 2 year old had reflux issues at thebeginning and we slept her on this "Tucker Sling Wedge" I got on eBay - here is the eBay search for them.
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_tr...=
Here is the Tucker Designs Address: http://www.tuckersling.com/
She slept much better on there than flat on her back, she was securely wrapped in there, and she was still in her crib, so didn't get "addicted" to sleeping with motion in the swing or bouncy or being held or carried all the time.
Good Luck!
Jessie
You could try letting her sleep in her carseat. Make sure to buckle her in to keep her safe. It will help the stomach acid stay where it is supposed to be and you won't have to buy any extra equipment. It also works when the baby has a stuffy nose and has trouble breathing from a cold. You can place the carseat in her crib so she realizes that is where she sleeps. If that doesn't help, you may need to increase or change her acid reflux medicine. Good luck!
Make sure the area she is napping in is quiet and dark. Many newborns can sleep through anything, but around 6-8 weeks, they start to get more aware of their surroundings.
Also, try keeping her up for more like 1 hour after you feed her. Holding her upright for 20-30 minutes is still good, but then keep her up for another 30 minutes, maybe in an infant chair or swing or tummy time, burp her again, and then put her down.
Good luck!
My son was the same way. Daycare actually called me (my husband drops and picks him up) and said "Bryce never sleeps! What can I do??" He never slept longer than an hour at a time, and is 4 months old and still doesn't (he does sleep from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. now, so there is hope!!). The one thing that did work to make him sleep a little longer is keeping him warmer...using blankets, thicker clothes, hats, etc. We put a space heater in his room (we unplug it when he's actually in there) and we turn it on about a hour before he's going to be in there. My son also has acid reflux and sitting him in a swing or carseat doesn't really help much. All that we've found so far is keeping him warmer. Good luck!!!
Have you tried putting something under the head of the mattress to have it at a slight incline? We do that for our 6 month old with his reflux. Without it he won't sleep. It helps keep the acid down while he sleeps. Does she roll yet? He also has to sleep on his tummy. He was never able to sleep on his back with the reflux. We had a wedge and had him on his side till he could roll. Hope some of that helps.
What is the dosage of the Prevacid? My daughter had acid reflux since birth, and at 8 weeks we had to increase the dosage to 3/4 of a pill because the reflux was so bad. She was on 3/4 of a pill every day until she was 15 months old, but it worked like a dream. After 2 days she went from 30 minute naps to 2 2-hour naps. She never could sleep on her back so I let her sleep on her tummy during naps prior to 8 weeks since this helped keep the reflux at bay, then once the Prevacid worked I started putting her to sleep on her back, but she learned how to roll over onto her tummy at 10 weeks anyway. She is also a very light sleeper and needs a dark room, and very minimal noise. Regardless to what people say, all people sleep differently - even babies. Some people can sleep through a thunderstorm, but some people wake up just from the sound of their heat kicking in. Not all babies can sleep through the sound of household noises, and I can personally wait to vaccuum when she is awake! Hopefully some of this will work for you and yours.
