7 weeks, feeling overwhelmed; anyone else?

Question

I’m a FTM with a 7 week old little guy. He was born four weeks early so he was supposed to be a November baby, but he became our October surprise. 
Lately, for the past two weeks or so, he’s been a nightmare when it comes to sleeping. I’m at my wits end. The fight to get him to nap is epic. His last nap took three HOURS for him to conk out, and I was trying to put him down before he got overtired. At night, when he wakes up, it will take HOURS to get him back to sleep. This morning he woke up at 4 am for his diaper change and feed, and it’s 10:00 am right now and he still hasn’t gone back to sleep. I’ve since fed and changed his diaper again. It’s not for lack of trying. I softly sing, I rock him, I pat his back, I have white noise going, I tried turning the vibration setting on his bassinet, I tried having him fall asleep on me to transfer him... he’d fall asleep for maybe ten minutes at the longest stretch, and then start fussing and then full on screaming. This has been going on for a week. 
I am so tired. My husband pulled an all nighter the other night so I could catch up on sleep and baby slept soooooo long! He was definitely sleep deprived. For some reason I couldn’t sleep—I think I was overtired! I was just so anxious and overwhelmed I couldn’t sleep. When my husband told me the next morning that he was going to work from home to help me during the day, I was so tired all I could do was start bawling. That was yesterday. He left for work this morning and little guy is up to his usual shenanigans of fighting sleep. My mom is coming to visit me today. 
I’m sorry for the long vent. I just feel so overwhelmed. So tired. And I feel like such a bad mom because I don’t know how to comfort him or get him to sleep. 
He didn’t used to be this fussy, just the last week or two, and we’ve gotten gas drops and that’s helped him, so I don’t think that’s the factor here. 
Is anyone else experiencing this? A baby who refuses to sleep? I feel like such a failure. This is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. 
And yes, I am definitely crying as I’m writing this post. 
Please tell me I’m not alone...

Answer

Don’t change him in the middle of the night if it wakes him up more. Just lather him up with cream before bed and he’ll be fine. No sense in causing a stir.
I’ll add that 7 weeks is a pretty big jump for their brains and even physically. They just need to eat a lot, be held a lot, and sleep a lot. Allow baby to nap on you. They are in their fourth trimester until 3-4 months. No sense in fighting with a newborn about a nap. All that crying isn’t good for either of you. Enjoy this time. Slow down, be lazy a bit, and do the only thing you NEED to be doing right now and that’s loving that baby!

Answer

Mine doesn’t nap well during the day at all, but she will sleep well at night most of the time so that helps. We have to swaddle her super tight to get her to sleep. Do you swaddle? It took us a couple rough nights to figure it out. If she can move an arm then she gets pissed and fights and squirms until she gets it out. My husband can swaddle better because he is stronger and she likes to be tight/snuggled. Also, I read teething causes sleep regression/trouble sleeping and babies can start to show symptoms up to 2 months before they get teeth....so maybe baby is teething?? I dunno! I wish you the best because it is really tough!!

Answer

Week 7 was a nightmare for us as well. We are nearly to week nine and she seems to be slowly leveling out. What worked for me is doing tummy time when she was up in the morning to tire her out. She’s go down by 1am, was up at 3, 5, and stayed up at 6:30 or 7 am until 11:30. During the 7-11:30 am stretch we did snuggles, two feedings, tummy time, read a book and then she was out by 11:30am. She then would get up by 1, eat then nap at 3 or 4 for a VERY short 20 minutes and would fuss until midnight or 1am and the cycle would start again. 
All I can say is hang in there, try to stay calm, ask for help when you’re exhausted, and remember you are doing the best you can. I swear to you it will let up. Your baby will eventually sleep.

Answer

My daughter (8 weeks) isn’t great at napping in day either. She sleeps for 5 mins realises she’s sleeping and wakes 🙄 I have heard: ‘sleep promotes sleep’ and napping in day can help at night. If my daughter doesn’t sleep in day and gets over tired and ratty I put her in her wrap and baby wear in day. She can sleep for 4 hours in there and I can get stuff done if needed. This then helps with a better night too. Read up on baby wearing and get a wrap (if u haven’t already of course) it really helps us

Answer

I know this post is a few dsys old but I wanted to let you know that I could have written this post myself. We were supposed to have a November baby a d she came 3 weeks and 3 days early. currently 8 weeks tomorrow and have been going through the same things since 4 weeks. if she sleeps 10 hours in a 24 hour period we're lucky. She also have silent reflux and a protein allergy that we are trying to manage. We see the gastro doc tomorrow. I don't have any solutions for you. I literally tried everything too. But i wanted you to know you're not alone! Hugs!

Answer

We went through this as well around 6 weeks my LO started refusing to nap. I think it’s related to a developmental leap. Look it up. It lasted about a week or two and then my LO went back to normal and started napping again for an hour or two at a time without fussing. Now we are 9weeks and he’s not napping again!!! The cycle is starting over. It’s nothing we are doing wrong it’s just our babies growing and developing. Remember that every phase will pass.

Answer

7 weeks is a hard week. Babies are make a big leap in their brain. Download the wonder weeks app it will tell you about their development and let you know when it’s coming. Is the room the baby sleeps in super dark. My room was dark but I guess not dark enough so I had to use complete black out windows for my son. Try to not stimulate your baby so much. Also maybe try a bath durning the day or at night time. This always helps me when my son is very fussy. Regular swaddle blankets weren’t working for me. My son would get right out no matter how tight he was. So I went online and got ziggy baby swaddles and he never breaks out now. He could possibly startle him self with his reflex if he’s not swaddled tight enough. Babies at 7 weeks are too small to be on sleep schedule but I try to repeat the same steps every day with my son to help him understand what’s morning and night. I get him up in the morning change him, feed him, put him in his swing, change him again after pooping, lay him on his play mat and let him kick for a little and once I start seeing him yawn and grab his ears, I change him again and swaddle him and put him down for nap before he gets too tired. At night I give him a bath around 6 and then feed him and his out by 7pm for about 5 hours. He’s starting to learn that’s our routine. I always change my sons diaper at night. If I don’t he cry’s and don’t sleep. I know so many moms say not to change them but sometimes that could be the reason he’s wet and uncomfortable.. sorry this is long but hopefully it will be helpful

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I’m mostly just feeling lonely these days. I go back to work Jan 2nd been out since Sept 26th.

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I hope this makes you feel better because we have a 7W old baby girl who doesn’t sleep much since week 3. I started to track her sleep, diaper and eating since week 4/5ish because of noticing that she is hanging out with me all day long. This shouldn’t be right for a newborn right..? And guess what,? She sleeps only  9 hours some days. We have tried swaddles -all sorts- she breaks out, white noise, supplementing with bottle thinking that maybe she is not feeding enough to stay asleep more than 45 mins stretches😂🤦🏻‍♀️, rocking, wearing, routines like bathing, singing etc.. She has been fussy between 9am to 11:30 am and 6pn to 10 pm almost every day for the last 4 weeks. It drives me crazy too.  Everyday we try other things and sometimes we get lucky and most times we are not. For instance, my poor, desperate  husband literally jogs in our tiny apartment while holding her to put her sleep😳 And yes she sleeps as ling as he runs🤣🤣 Desperate times... 
Anyway, I genuinely think that there is not much we can do other than be patient and survive this tough times. It is not us, it is baby business itself.  Don’t beat up yourself. 
Things currently -literally at the moment-that helps her stay asleep for ab hour tops (day/night, yes that is our lame ass goal😂😂) 
-Wearing her and going out and taking a bottle id expressed milk or formula in case.
- Holding her on chest
- Baby bjorn- got 20 min nap yesterday😎
-Jog in arm😂😂 Nap time depends on your endurance😂
-Putting her on breast while lying next to her. Putting boob in mouth anytime she fuss and hope that she takes...

Answer

Download the wonder weeks app. It helps you understand developmental milestones they go through that causes fussy phases. 
My son is 7 weeks today and he’s giving me problems sleeping during the day. I find that giving him a morning bath helps over stimulate him and he knocks out. 
Sleep promotes sleep! I also have been bundling him up and taking a short walk. The fresh cold air wipes him out too.
You’re not alone and it won’t last too much longer!

7 weeks, feeling overwhelmed; anyone else?

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