baby sleeping situation?

Question

Hi, I am a first time mom. My daughter will not sleep alone on her back. The only way she falls asleep is if I am holding her or I am laying on my back and she is on my stomach. I have tried the bassinett used as a bed side sleeper, a "snuggle nest" in my bed...letting her cry just a little...She just won't do it. It is difficult for me to keep sleeping with her on my stomach. I had a c section and had complications with that so I am tender. She is 6 weeks old. Any advice to get her to sleep, even if it's in bed next to me would be great. Thankyou so much!!:)

I have tried her swing, her bouncer...letting her fall asleep on me and moving her and she wakes up right away. She wont sleep in her bouncer or swing anymore. She cries and cries and screams even if she is just laying on the bed next to me. I have tried to put her on her tummy next to me (while I was awake watching her) and she still hates it. I guess she is just a cuddler. I will have to do something when she begings to roll over on her own...she is getting close to that during tummy time!

Answer 1

My son is now 21 months and still wants to sleep on me!! I get him to sleep and then move him over and immediately he scooches straight over to me and lays on my head...my chest, whatever! :)
Some of them just need that extra skin contact.... my oldest son couldn't sleep with me for anything and was in his own bed at a very early age....I think he was 3 weeks old.
Individuals!! These little ones!! Sorry mamma....they do grow up really fast... :)

Answer 2

I feel for you. I had a c/s with a difficult recovery as well.
You aren't going to like this, but my son did the same thing. I carried that boy around for 5 days, and got what sleep I did sitting up or propped up in bed.

I finally laid him on his belly and he slept for 4 hours strait. It was wonderful. He hates being on his back at all still, and he is 6 months old.

Try that, just make sure that you don't have any bumpers or anything else in the crib that the baby could scooch up on (unless they can turn their head, then they should be ok).

Other than that, try the swing or car seat, but you don't want to use those a lot.

also check out www.kellymom.com
Good luck!

Answer 3

I just went through this! My son is 4 weks old and did the EXACT same thing! What I did the past 2 night is I put him in his swing, he fussed for 3-5min, and then goes to sleep. He sleeps about 3 hours this way. 3 hour is good for him. Other than that I have to hold him in our bed for him to sleep that long, or hold him. Last night i slept sooo much better. Good Luck!

Answer 4

We started putting my daughter down on her tummy at 3 weeks. She's to small to move, as long as her head is to the side. It worked for us, as well when it's close to her nap time put her in the car seat and bounce her...we had to do that for a while.She is 4 1/2 month now and she only sleeps with her face barried in her blanket or face down in the bed.She's weird.Good luck, trial and error really.

Answer 5

I have a couple of suggestions: (1) Put her to sleep on her stomach and hold your hand on her tummy until she falls asleep. (2) Have her checked for sleep apnea.

Back sleep is associated with social skills delays, motor skills delays, deformational plagiocephaly ( flat head syndrome ), torticollis ( shortened neck muscles ), shoulder retraction, TMJ, and it decreases sleep durations, increases sleep awakenings, and increases sleep apnea. Stomach sleep has none of those negative effects and also helps to prevent hip subluxation, increases sleep duration, decreases infant screaming episodes, and also lessens colic. The SIDS prevention Back To Sleep campaign statistics are misleading, overstated, and not even applicable to 99% of infants. Before 1993, when pediatricians were recommending tummy sleep, over 70% of American babies slept on their stomachs while 13% slept on their backs and the rest slept on their sides. Since the change to back sleep there has been a huge increase in plagiocephaly, as well as a huge increase in the number of infants, toddlers, and children with developmental delay, speech and language disorders, emotional problems, failure to thrive, and learning disabilities. The huge number of babies wearing orthotic helmets and going to physical therapy as well as children going to special education classes is evidence of this. I think stomach sleep is far healthier. It's possible that giving her more awake tummy time might also make her sleepier. Plus, I'd highly recommend reading a lot to her - if you don't already. I wouldn't try the "cry it out" method though as that sometimes causes a lot of problems from what I've seen. If your baby keeps crying or won't stop crying you should possibly try variois methods of putting her to sleep on her tummy and see which one works best. Sorry for writing so much. Good Luck. :)

Here's 31 Tips from Dr. Sears which are quite good:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070300.asp

Here are some other articles:
http://www.oandp.com/edge/issues/articles/2006-12_02.asp

http://cgi.thescientificworld.co.uk/cgi-bin/processHtml.pl?Id=2005.03.71.html&format=Dreamweaver

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1595182

Also, here's a link to a pretty good online dictionary that describes all the commn medical terms such as plagiocephaly, torticollis, shoulder retraction, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, ADHD, cradle cap, diaper rash, etc. etc.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html

Also, since you are probably both tired and busy I'd highly reccomend "Codependent No More" by Melody Beattie as that book has a lot of good strategies in it on how you can gain time for yourself. Other good authors I'd recomend are John Bradshaw and Stephen Covey.

Answer 6

My daughter would often fall asleep in my arms or on my stomach. Once she was asleep, I could usually lay her down in bed next to me and she'd stay asleep. Will your baby sleep lying on her side, next to you?

Answer 7

She probably loves to hear your heart beat! Try buying one of those womb bears...it mimics the sound of your womb. Suggle her in a tight blanket and lay her on her back but propped on one side with a blanket.

Good Luck!

Answer 8

ok take your shirt off that you have on rite before you two go to bed lay her on it and you can put something else on lay next to her and pat her on the back or bottom untill she nods off it should work i had to do it with both of mine. good luck and let me know if it works congrats.

Answer 9

You really need to just put her in the bed and let her fall asleep. She might cry a bit but that won't hurt her. It's really important that she learn to fall asleep on her own without you holding her all the time. That is how sleep problems start. If you know her belly is full, she's burped and has a clean diaper you're all set. She needs her sleep too in order to grow and develop properly. PS congrats on your new little girl.

Answer 10

Honestly if you get her to sleep on her own you are gonna have to let her cry a little, feed her before you lay her down, and it will help her go to sleep. Try soothing music, and my son loves his projection mobile. Good luck to you.