I NEED SLEEP, MY 1 MONTH OLD WON'T LET ME!!!

[dhampshire63]

my son is just over a month old. he is not a big sleeper, in 24 hours he'll sleep anywhere from 6-8 and only in 1 hour intervals maybe 2. i am in desperate need of sleep. the only time i can catch up on sleep is on weekends when df is off from work so i been trying to pump some milk for the weekend nights. its never enough though, my df always has to wake me up at about 3am, (finally when i start dreaming,lol) and it seems like when i finally got some milk pumped, my ds is hungry and i feel empty. any suggestions??

[jcelis]

Will your DF or a family member watch the baby for an hour or two while you nap? Even a little sleep can go a long way when you're sleep deprived.

[JT32606]

youre a new mommy! of course youre exhausted! i remember the first month or two sooooo well. i was crying i was so tired. just sitting there starting at my son in his little seat, wishing and praying i would get some sleep SOMETIME!
its hard, i know. itll subside eventually.

does he not sleep long because he is not next to you? if that is the case, i would try laying in your bed, and put him to sleep, and then move him to his crib when he is knocked out. i used to do that with my son.
i used to pretty much force my son to sleep/naps because i needed sleep so bad. id lay in my bed and stick a boob in his mouth praying he would pass out and he would ( i know it sounds terrible) i needed sleep BAD.

i was never one to put my son on a schedule, but maybe if you try that, you can get things going smooth?

[bostonharlem]

 sadly, this is the life of a new born....it does get better, I hate to say this so bluntly, but you need to sleep with the baby, and feed the baby instead of pumping, your milk suply is being established right now.... if anything, take naps during the day, but you need to be feeding the baby as much as possible right now,possibly only pumping like once a day.... even that is hard to say because you could hurt your supply by pumping too much right now..... and not feeding the baby.....  like I said, it does get better... the first 6-8 weeks is the worst.

[jcelis]

I remember doing the same thing. I would be in tears almost every night and it got to the point where I wanted to pull my hair out.

Quoting JT32606:

youre a new mommy! of course youre exhausted! i remember the first month or two sooooo well. i was crying i was so tired. just sitting there starting at my son in his little seat, wishing and praying i would get some sleep SOMETIME!
its hard, i know. itll subside eventually.

does he not sleep long because he is not next to you? if that is the case, i would try laying in your bed, and put him to sleep, and then move him to his crib when he is knocked out. i used to do that with my son.
i used to pretty much force my son to sleep/naps because i needed sleep so bad. id lay in my bed and stick a boob in his mouth praying he would pass out and he would ( i know it sounds terrible) i needed sleep BAD.

i was never one to put my son on a schedule, but maybe if you try that, you can get things going smooth?

[JT32606]

lol, gotta do what ya gotta do. Man, i even used to put my son in his little bouncer seat to take a shower. still to this day, my son likes to come into the shower, but actually now, he COMES in the shower...lol....17 months later hahahah

Quoting jcelis:

I remember doing the same thing. I would be in tears almost every night and it got to the point where I wanted to pull my hair out.

Quoting JT32606:

youre a new mommy! of course youre exhausted! i remember the first month or two sooooo well. i was crying i was so tired. just sitting there starting at my son in his little seat, wishing and praying i would get some sleep SOMETIME!
its hard, i know. itll subside eventually.

does he not sleep long because he is not next to you? if that is the case, i would try laying in your bed, and put him to sleep, and then move him to his crib when he is knocked out. i used to do that with my son.
i used to pretty much force my son to sleep/naps because i needed sleep so bad. id lay in my bed and stick a boob in his mouth praying he would pass out and he would ( i know it sounds terrible) i needed sleep BAD.

i was never one to put my son on a schedule, but maybe if you try that, you can get things going smooth?

[gdiamante]

There is unfortunately no way to make them sleep longer. They do it when THEY are ready, despite what you want. **smile**

It WILL get better. I highly recommend co-sleeping. And dump anything not needed for survival, so you can get some rest.

[go_romanovs]

There's nothing wrong with laying down to nurse and dose off together with your baby. We all have done it, it's survival. Just lay down with him, and you can sleep while he is sleeping and\or nursing.

At night if you keep him close you don't have to wake up much - he'd be right there, so you help him latch and dose off again. Because you hardly wake up you'll feel a lot more rested in the morning even though you'd nurse just as much.

And on weekends, tell daddy to put the baby in a sling or a wrap sling while you are taking a nap - the baby is more likely to stay content longer :)

[dhampshire63]

Its not that no one will watch him while I take a nap. The problem is that its just me and him every night from about12am till 3pm the next day, because dad goes to bed at 12 and gets up for work at 6am and the kids (9 and 11) are at school. And he is an eater that likes to eat for 10 mins at a time most of the time so I'd always have to wake up to feed him anyway.

[dhampshire63]

yes its because he's not near me. he loves to sleep on me, as soon as i put hom down he wakes up. last night i found something that worked. he slept beautifully last night. anytime i feed him laying down, he spits up alot so feeding in bed doesn't work too well for us.

[dhampshire63]

i sleep everytime he sleeps, even if only for 20 mins. my supply is great. i only pump on weekends, i try to leave 2 bottles a night for my df.