My 7 week old fights sleep right till the end....?

Question

Any ideas why? What can I do to make him sleep better? Right when hes sleeping good he will wake up and start rubbing his face with his hands and whinning. I dont get it hes burped,changed and well feed! Yes I bottle feed. He like sleeps for 20 minutes than will wake up and be up for like 20 minutes then he will want more bottle to fall asleep on... I dont know.................?

he hates his pacifer

Answer 1

lol don't worry had the same thing with my daughter, she still fights sleep and she just over 12 wks. I think she is afraid of missing something. My doctor said to make sure she knew when night and day were by how many lights were on at those hours and she'd eventually get it. it;s worked a bit.

Answer 2

I let my son cry for about 5 minutes before I would grab him from the room just to give him a chance to fall asleep on his own. It was hard to do at first but I was told by his pediatrician that running to his every cry would make it worse. If he doesnt fall back asleep within 5 minutes then hes ready to get up but if he did fall back asleep then great. Believe me If I wouldve done this with my first child life wouldve been much easier... Now that I am on child number 3 he has incredible sleeping habits. Both my children would scream bloody murder if I put them in the crib for bedtime or nap time. The baby though, he goes right to bed without a question for both bedtime and naptime on time every night since he was about 3-4 months. I've been blessed. Try it... it might work for you.

Answer 3

You have to get into a routine with your baby. I have a 4 month old whom I also bottle fed. If I see signs that he is tired I just lay him in his crib with his pacifier and leave the room. If he starts to fuss I don't go in right away give him a few min. to try to relax himself. If you keep on doing this he will fall asleep on his own and if he wakes up he will have learned his own way of putting himself to sleep. My son was the same way at that age but once I started to do this it wasn't even two weeks before he went to sleep on his own. Also if you feed him to go to sleep he will want that every time he is tired even if it is just a little bit that is why when he wakes up he needs the bottle to go back to sleep. Hope this helps

Answer 4

He may be having an allergic reaction. You may try...1) change to soy formula, 2) make sure that anything that touches the baby is washed in dreft or any other free and clear detergent, only use bounce with a 0 rating on smell and you may try without entirely. My son was so sensitive to detergents that I had to wash what I wore too or he would itch and be very uncomfortable.

He may also still be having gas, a few drops of mylicon before he eats would be an easy way to test that theory.

If your son has a high startle reflex, throws his hands out alot and such, You may try (please everyone out ther be kind!) sleeping him on his stomach. If that makes you completely uncomfortable make sure that when he's sleeping and throws out his hands that he touches something so he can settle.

Just some guesses on my part. I know the sleep thing is challenging, bear with it, they change their ways every 3 weeks or so.

Answer 5

My daughter only slept about an hour or two a day for the first three months! Needless to say I don't think I've ever recovered. How about putting a pacifer in his mouth after he gets done with the bottle? He might stay asleep that way.

Answer 6

Babies are so different. It's hard because you need some you time and sleep yourself. I found that very strict routines (feeding schedules, naps, ect.) are sooooooo important to them. I come from a large family and have tons of nieces and nephews. Don't be so sure of the well burped. If they are uncomfortable they won't sleep well. Make sure you're feeding him upright. Don't put them to bed with a bottle. Being upright helps with trapped air. I wish you much success and many good nights sleep.

Answer 7

Swaddle him. This works amazingly. We started swaddling our newborn after about 3 weeks of him rubbing his face to wake himself up and it's worked wonders! He's almost sleeping through the night now (almost 3 months old).

If you're talking about fighting sleep at night, you should consider putting baby on a schedual. Do the same thing every night before you go to bed religiously. For example, Ben and I's schedual is: Dinner, bathtime, playtime on the floor, reading a story while he's having a bottle, swaddling, and then he normally lays in his crib for a few minutes until he falls asleep. And, of course, if you haven't already, add a pacifer into that.

I highly suggest swaddling, trust me, it will work. We also put Ben to sleep in his boppy/nursing pillow. It makes it feel like someone is holding him, which is probably why your baby wakes up - he wants to be held. Have you noticed yourself holding him during the day when he sleeps? Or just holding him all day in general?

Another thing that works if you're talking about him sleeping during the day is when he wakes up, immediatly put him on the floor at start playing with him - gyms, kicky toys, bright colored toys, whatever. That will teach him subconsciously that "hmmm...if I wake up, instead of someone holding me like I want to, I play on the floor."

That works well for me, too.

Don't know how to swaddle propery? http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/newborn/howtoswaddleyourbaby/

Congrats on the little one! Good Luck!

Answer 8

babies like to nap alot during the day so why dont you try and keep him awake longer during the day and see if that helps my son did the same thing he was completely backwards everyone kept telling me i had to flip him upside down to make him right side up you know cause he had his days and nights mixed up also make sure theres alot of sunlight coming in the house during the day and its dark at night that way he starts to know that that when he sleeps it worked for my son until he started to teeth from then on ive had probs getting him to sleep during the night no matter what i do good luck though

Answer 9

try holding him in your lap and giving him a pacifier to suck on my son did that to because he wants to suckle you may have to hold it in at first because they drop it if you don't but it should help and once he is asleep you take it out of his mouth and you can put him down in bed or where ever make sure its a 0-3 moth size my son liked the Winnie the pooh kind from walmart he wouldn't take anything else good luck.

Answer 10

Some babies are light sleepers. DO NOT give him more milk or he will depend on that to fall asleep every time. If we wakes up leave him alone he will learn to fall asleep on his own and stay asleep on his own.