6-8 Week Hell

trusted489

New member
We are in week 7. Our LO’s sleep I feel I progressively getting worse (if that’s even possible). Prior to week 6, independent naps were about 40-50 minutes with an occasional 1.5-3 hour. Nights 3-3 hour stretches. Since week 6 we don’t know what the hell to expect when we put him down. We follow his sleepy cues, put him down for a nap, if he gets up we try to “save” the nap by rocking him back to sleep (less than 50% success rate) or contact nap. Now it’s like 90% dumpster fire independent naps followed by contact naps. The nights suck too as he will get up at the 45 minute mark in his bassinet so contact sleep it is again. Did we break our baby? Please tell me it gets better, suddenly overnight lol.
 
@amcleaning 6-8 weeks is the absolute worst time for newborns! Growth spurt and coming out of the sleepy newborn phase. We just did anything to survive and to try to make sure she got at least 13 hours of sleep a day. We kept trying bassinet, rescued naps with contact naps, took shifts at night holding her when she wouldn’t stay down. The snoo helped us a lot but things completely turned around at 4 months when we sleep trained and moved her to the nursery and crib. I would just try to remember it’s temporary and they WILL sleep better. Now, she sleeps 14-15 hours a day. We realized she was so fussy until 4 months because she’s actually a high sleep needs baby!
 
@ffd213 That is currently us rn. Our LO seems to not like the sleep sack that comes with the SNOO (not snug enough I guess?). We just got it because we’re desperate lol. It may be that he hates his arms being pinned down when swaddled cuz he doesn’t calm down after being swaddled. Day naps in the SNOO have only last 30 minutes so far. We haven’t used it for night sleep yet as he’ll sleep 2 3 ish hour stretches at night (thankfully) in his regular bassinet.
 
@trusted489 Totally normal from everything I read on here for weeks 6-8. Developmentally normal. Those were hell weeks. My LO went from 2 hour naps to 30-45 minute naps starting week 6. Nights also became difficult. It was to the point where I was getting anxiety from hearing the monitor. I read another post here about naps that helped me: give yourself 15 minutes to salvage a nap and then move on. If it’s not time to feed, take a walk, put your LO in a carrier, or contact nap. Do something besides standing in a dark room being frustrated. I needed that because I felt my anxiety spiral every time I was in the room, trying to get him back down. It gave me an out. We’re in week 11 and my LO just slept for 6 hours overnight. Naps are still junk, but now I just assume they are going to be max 45 minutes. I don’t try to salvage naps anymore, unless when I pick him up, he yawns. His wake windows are short because of it, but he’s miserable otherwise. We had a few 50-60 minute naps this week. Today we had a 2 hour nap!! It gets better. I’ll let you know how our 4 month regression goes!!
 
@lovemyangel Thank you so much for this and sharing where you’re at now! A few days ago we tried to salvage a nap and he slept on his own afterwards for nearly 3 hours, that one boon in a sea of crappy sleep.
 
@trusted489 8 weeks and my baby’s night sleep has gone to shits! Up every hour and won’t sleep in her bassinet past 2 am. I’m an sooooo sleep deprived at this point. Hoping it’s just a short phase.
 
@trusted489 45 minute bassinet nap is pretty good! That’s about what my 9 week old does too. They are waking up more and being more alert so they don’t need to sleep for as long stretches. I miss those 3 hour naps though! Now our baby does 45 minute to hour naps. Sometimes they’re as short as 30 mins. We just follow her cues, as long as she isn’t overtired we let her be awake after a short nap. It’s more energy for us to try to fight it and get her back to sleep if she doesn’t want to.
 
@trusted489 I have a really good baby, a unicorn baby as they call it, but week 6 is rough! the gas cries, pooping every other day (huge 3 poops in a poop) napping less/waking up whenever she’s put down

thankfully she’s still sleeping at night, but god, even with a good baby the 6-8 week stage is rough as fuck
 
we gave up on the bassinet, she wants to kick and be stretched but doesn’t want to kick a wall of a bassinet

thankfully we have the pack & play but she seems to hate the pad and only enjoy sleeping in the crib
 
@dammy2k2 Interesting! I assumed my LO liked the crib because the mattress was softer than the bassinet but at one point he slept better in the bassinet than the crib lol. I swear their preferences change all the time.
 
@trusted489 Yes my 7 wk old baby hasn’t done a real poop since Saturday 😩 doctor isn’t worried and windii didn’t do anything! I’m scared for the big shit lol
 
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