Getting baby to sleep

Baby is now 7 weeks old and we are still having difficulty getting baby to sleep. People say that after 6 weeks babies get into a routine and sleep better, but not our little baby. She is still only sleeping for a maximum of 2 hours. Generally she wakes after only 5 minutes and we have to try re-settle her.

After consultation with a pediatritian we were told that baby should be sleeping at leas 4 hours by now so she has referred us to a Katitane, a family care centre. My wife was interviewed on Friday and because our baby was such a difficult sleeper we were given a priority listing. Fortunately for us there was a cancellation so she was admitted on Monday. At Karitane, mothere and baby stay over for 4 nights so that staff can monitor what is happening and find a solution for getting baby to sleep.

So far it’s only been one day and we were told that we have a difficult baby. Hopefully by the end of the course baby will be sleeping better.

Baby is now 5 weeks old and we would like her to sleep longer, but getting baby to sleep longer has been quite a challenge.  Currently she only sleeps for about 2 hours at a stretch. There have been conflicting ideas on what to do. A book I was reading suggests to develop a routine and if baby wakes and cries leave them be so that get used to a routine. I gave it a try but its hard for any parent to watch their baby screaming their head off, and with my daughter her whole face turns red. The postnatal nurse suggests picking baby up to calm baby and then put baby back to sleep. Her reason being that the baby gets all worked up and will be harder to settle.

Another factor in getting baby to sleep longer is whether baby is bottle feeding or breast feeding. Formula milk lasts longer in babies tummy and therefore baby will not get hungry as soon compared to breast milk. However, breast milk is healthier for babies, especially during the first few days when colostrum is produced. Colostrum provides new born babies with antibodies until their own immune system is strong enough to protect baby from germs.

Getting baby to sleep longer can also be influenced by what mother eats. The one day we had some visitors over and there were a lot of sweet cakes. We had trouble getting baby to sleep that night. This was probably due to the increased levels of suger in the milk which make baby more active.