Settling a new-born

[gadj1976]

Hey Hondo

I can completely understand what your going through. It's very trying times and lots of people will say the first 6 weeks is the hardest. They're DAMN right!

We've got a 4 month old now, and I went to this forum very early on because we were having a heap of trouble settling our bubs :

[url]raisingchildren.net.au[/url]

and that gave us some great ideas - and those from above in this thread are good too.

I bought my wife a rocking chair. We made sure bubs was full, clean, bathed, wrapped and then rocked her to sleep. Each child is very different as we've realised and our bubs only sleeps when she's being held. It'd be great to put her down and for her to nod off but she just wont do it. Rather than try and make her into what other children are, we've let her be herself and adapted accordingly.

Nowadays, after being bathed & fed, I plonk her in my lap watching TV, rocking in the rocking chair with my hands interwoven on her stomach. She falls asleep, then I wrap her and off she goes for up to 10 hours. If she wakes up when I put her down (happens often) I make Shhhh'ing noises (as in "be quiet") which we were told is the sound they hear inside the womb, and apparently it's comforting. I put my hand on bubs chest, make that noise and she goes back to sleep.

The main thing we've worked out (mentioned above already) is routine. That's the secret and all options should be used until they work for you!!! Good to hear things are on the improve for you.

Cheers

Gadj

[Dissident]

Gadj, we have a 12 week old at the moment and she's the same... she will sleep until the cows come home being held, but then gets restless and cries when put to bed!

That site you mentioned is great - thanks for the heads up.

[gadj1976]

Gadj, we have a 12 week old at the moment and she's the same... she will sleep until the cows come home being held, but then gets restless and cries when put to bed!

That site you mentioned is great - thanks for the heads up.

Hey Dissident

We tried CD's to soothe her, warming her cot for her, doing everything to try and get her to settle but she just wont. Once we accepted it, we work with it, rather than against it. Baby Bjorn's are great for that, she'll go to sleep pratically in any position, just as long as she has our body heat or is having some sort of slight movement. That bit we can't quite work out still.

I might add, if she wakes up at 3 or 4 o'clock she now puts herself back to sleep providing the room is warm enough.

The website was great for us. We are 1st time parents who expected everything to be copybook. Which was a silly concept but you don't know what questions to ask when you're not parents, then when you are, you don't know who to ask. My parents just said to try the things that helped for myself and my sister, which either didn't work or were outdated ("cool down boiled water and give it to her" was one idea).

That forum made us realise three things :

we're not alone
there are methods to work around our bubs behaviour
each kid is different and her behaviour is completely normal.

One thing that DID work really well was to put her in a pusher or basinette and rock the bejeezus out of it - like REALLY violently. The shock shut her up and she'd go to sleep in no time! Now that she's out of the basinette, we've reverted to gently rocking her asleep.

Best of luck with your little one.

Gadj

[Hondo]

Our 4-week old is now much better at night ... sleeping from about 9pm to 3am every night and then going down fine until about 7am.

It's during the day we are still having issues settling him .... some days he seems to only get 2 hours sleep

He gets until the 6-week mark then we officially start some 'tough-love' on him

Mum is also joing a mothers'-group soon, many have told me that is a very good thing to do

As 1st-time parents, things like this thread and the other sites out there are a huge help .... like every other 1st-timers we thought our baby would be perfect .... and he is in a lot of ways .... but not with sleeping

[gadj1976]

Our 4-week old is now much better at night ... sleeping from about 9pm to 3am every night and then going down fine until about 7am.

It's during the day we are still having issues settling him .... some days he seems to only get 2 hours sleep

He gets until the 6-week mark then we officially start some 'tough-love' on him

Mum is also joing a mothers'-group soon, many have told me that is a very good thing to do

As 1st-time parents, things like this thread and the other sites out there are a huge help .... like every other 1st-timers we thought our baby would be perfect .... and he is in a lot of ways .... but not with sleeping

Wow, he sounds exactly like our daughter. She slept from 9 to 3, then about 4 to 7, then only 2 hours during the day. I recall one day we were so worried, she'd had about 8 hours sleep in a 24 hour period.

However, when she got to 12 weeks it was like a light went on in her head, she started sleeping through and slept for 1 to 2 hour stints thru the day.

I'm a light sleeper, so we think she just takes after me. Bad luck for myself and the wife.

Good idea about going and getting other people's ideas. Anything and everything helps. You will find techniques that work for you.......eventually (na, kidding!).

[Dutchy]

Mum is also joing a mothers'-group soon, many have told me that is a very good thing to do

very good idea...people in like situations in your area, a very good support network for the mums...by joining a mothers group my wife found out our neighbours 4 doors down had a boy 3 weeks after us....now real good friends along with another couple