Hi all,

Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely weather, we are about to get the bbq lit again!!!

Quick question regarding settling in the day, Henry is good at gold and will happily settle himself to sleep at night, but in the day he will not be put down and settle himself, he has to be cuddled to sleep. If I try to put him down then he will lay there fussing for ten mins or so and then start crying to be picked up.
I don't put him down for a nap unless he is fed, clean and showing sleepy signs, so I know that he is tired, but it is like he doesn't want to miss anything. He then ends up getting over tired, grizzly and won't sleep before his next feed.

How do I get him to settle himself in the day, I don't want to create a rod for my own back by going to him everytime he cries, but if I leave him then he gets himself too worked up and ends up screaming. It seems a little early to be starting controlled crying etc....any hints please???

Thanks
Lins and Henry
x

We had this problem but was at night, health visitor said to try swaddling her in a swaddling blanket and has done the trick lovely...I know that it may not be practical during the day, but maybe worth a try..will stop the thrashing around and feels like they are being hugged.
Debs x

Sam did the same thing for a while but now settles fine during the day. it may be something he grows out off. one thing my hv said was that you can never spoil a baby so i would not worry about cuddles now. just think you need to get as many in now cos when he becomes a teenager theres no hope lol

Lucas doesn't sleep at all during the day. HV says thats fine as long as I can put him down and he is content while I get a rest/do stuff. He will lie on his mat for about 40mins now without attention!

amelia won't self settle either. will only sleep in car, pram, bouncy chair or my arms!!! Its hard going when we are in during day as other 2 need me and she is crying because she tired. I have bought a sling and put her in there till she asleep and then unhook it and lay her down. Not good for her as she needs to learn. She is 11 weeks today so will start letting her cry but she really goes for it...purple face and a heart pulling yell..... think when they have had colic and you hold them so much its hard for them to re learn that they need to sleep unaided. Going to try some new dummies I have bought as think she will benefit from sucking one to get to sleep.
d x

Hadn't thought of that Dee, he got cuddles all the time when he was colicky, it must be a bit of a shock to the system not to get as many! Yesterday the little monkey didn't really sleep at all, he had ten minute cat naps here and there, and we were in the car and out in the pushchair!!!! By the end of the day he ended up grouchy, grizzly and quite frankly bloody horrible!!!! Absolutely nothing I did would comfort him or make him sleep!! He hadn't had a poo since last Thurs and was getting some painful wind, so I think this coupled with the lack of sleep turned him into the devil child!! We did bath and bed time really early and he was ready to go to sleep at 9 but then he had a big poo!!! OH and I were so happy to hear his poo noises, anyone would think we were weirdos, but seriously it changes his demeanor so much!
Anyway, we changed him, he finished his feed (expressed bottle last night, so we could make sure he had lots of milk to help him sleep) and he went to bed, he finally got off to sleep about half 9 and I'm just sitting here waiting for him to wake up now at 7am!
I just need to crack this settling in the day thing, it's so frustrating seeing him fight sleep so much when you can see that he is tired and you know it would make him feel so much better if he just nodded off!!!
My mother seems to think he isn't getting enough milk and that is why he isn't settling...but as he is gaining weight and getting lots of very wet nappies I don't think this is the case, she really bloody annoyed me actually going on about it!! She's quite old fashioned, my siblings and I were all formula fed (she tried my brother on the breast and said she couldn't produce enough milk)...anyway, she reckons that I should put him on formula, when he's finished his feed, put him in his pram and stick him out in the garden until it's time for his next feed!!!! Hmmm..not my preferred parenting choices!!