Problems with sleeping during the day

[elca]

Hello.
I need some advice or suggestion regarding my baby-girl who has problems with sleeping during the day.
She is 2 months old and since the birth she doesn’t sleep during the day. The only way we were able to keep her napping is carrying her around the house. After placing her in a crib (sleeping) she would wake up in 5-15 minutes. So, we decided to keep her sleeping in our hands during the day. Any way, she is a very light sleeper during the day and any noise could wake her up. Another issue with the baby – she is spitting up a lot that is why we carry her for 1 hour after the feeding.
I tried to place her in a crib and let her cry hoping she would fall asleep eventually. However, she cried over 1 hour and still was awake. I stopped experimenting this way after that.
So, if someone has a good advice I would appreciate it very much.

[Vlada]

Hi,
Babies can't neurologically selfsoothe themselves untill they are about 4 to 4.5 months old. I think your babygirl is still too young to be able to do that. At this age you can try the swing or vibrating chair, it really helped me, since my daughter didn't sleep much during the day at home at that age, she would fall asleep in the car if i was going somewhere though.
Hope this helps a little bit.
Vlada

[Warren Dew]

The bouncy chair helped us a lot, even though we didn't use the vibration. We learned to keep it bouncing with a foot while doing other things. When that didn't work, putting her in the car seat often did.

But yeah, get used to carrying her around a lot. Even rocking didn't fool our daughter - we had to be actually walking, or driving somewhere in the car (and she would wake up and complain at red lights).

[meg12]

My daughter was the same way...she would only sleep if we held her. Even at night!

I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but enjoy it now! I don't get enough cuddle time anymore...so even though it is so stressful and you can't get anything done just try to take a deep breath and enjoy holding that baby. I promise that she will sleep on her own in her own time. You can do the laundry then

[elca]

Thank you, Ladies, for your responses.
I have another problem now. The baby screams like crazy when we hold her in order to make her sleep. Does anyone have a clue what is going on?

[Vlada]

Colics? Or may be she is kinda ready now to sleep in the crib and getting uncomfortable in your hands?

[Warren Dew]

Hard to tell; a lot of things can go wrong with babies, but young ones have only one way to cry. We would usually go through the list - too hot? too cold? dirty? wet? hungry? stuffy nose? stomach gas?

Some of these you can't really do that much about. It's best to "burp" the baby after each feeding, but sometimes they get gas anyway. For our baby, when she cried from being held, it usually helped to hold her more vertically so her sinuses can drain. That was especially true before she learned to swallow her phlegm.

[sugabeanzs]

It is hard to tell. I would say maybe colic? It really varies with each baby. But I have a web site for you to go to that helped me a lot with sleep issues with my girls....

http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/

Go there. There is a lot about sleep. I use Baby Wise but there are ways that you do not have to let them cry it out. I have been doing it since they came home from NICU and it works for us. Now they only cry for maybe three minutes before they fall asleep. (3 mo old 1 mo adjusted).

My one (kenzie) is a bad sleeper during the day as well. She is a cat napper. But I still put her down for her naps. She sleeps for maybe 45 minutes then wakes up. Some babies are not good nappers in my opinion. But I still make her lay there and have quiet time to herself.