6-8 Week Hell

@trusted489 Also here to commisserate, seven and a half weeks here and due to gas cramps (which according to our pediatrician peak at the 6-8 week point, and so far that has been our experience as well) our little dude spends a couple of hours every day and every night either fussing or outright scream-crying. I've actually been up the past hour taking care of exactly that, and trying to feed him in between because he's also hungry and I don't want him to get too hungry either. However, it's morning now (western Europe) and tonight was the first night in a week that he only woke up with cramps and to eat twice, so I am hopeful that maybe it's slowly getting better again (although all other signs of improvement so far have turned out to be false and got my hopes up only to be squashed again 😅).
 
@definedbytruth Omg I was just telling my husband how he now cries when he’s bored. I’m glad I’m not crazy! I have to switch up what we’re doing every 5-15 min otherwise he cries. And naps? What are those? It’s 5 min here and there if I’m lucky.
 
@trusted489 No advice because we’re at 7 weeks and going through it too! He’s only contact slept since week two (nights included) soooooo I don’t even know what it feels like to have a 3 hour stretch in the crib lol. I feel you about trying to save the naps, our success rate isn’t great. This morning I said “I’m so tired I might die”. So yeah, no advice, but just know you’re not alone! We’ll ALL get through it one way or another.
 
@trusted489 6 weeks today. Mine was sleeping 4-5 hour stretches this week, suddenly last night he’s down to 1.5 max and most are 45mins. It makes sense and I’m sad at how uncomfortable my LO probably is but everything I’ve read it’s a short season.

I haven’t napped since the first week so time to start napping with baby soon.
 
@trusted489 The first 2-3 months are rough; you’re all baby knows and is familiar with, they have no clue that they’re a person yet. My baby would only contact nap but one day he decided he was over it and now will take naps in his crib (1.5-2 hours 3 times a day & sleep through the night) someone also suggested to me that baby might not even like the bassinet (which we found accurate, our baby hated his bassinet & his pack&play mattress) We definitely noticed our baby sleeping so much better once we transitioned him to his crib. It was a very scary transition but he loves it and we have little to no problems with him waking up in the middle of the night. You got this!!
 
@trusted489 I was there just a month ago. I’m here to say it gets better, I completely understand your feelings! Gas drops has helped our little one so much when he was struggling. Definitely recommend them!
 
@trusted489 Week 4-8 was hell. My baby went from
independent napping to contact napping which she still is at week 14. I gave into contact naps because it meant our evening sleep was good.

I don’t want to be the annoying Reddit that says it gets better so I’ll say good luck, you have my sympathy. You got this!
 
@trusted489 We’re just shy of 8 weeks and it changed overnight! Highly recommend tracking with Huckleberry app and following wake windows. I didn’t think I needed to do that again as a STM but once I started up again around 6.5 weeks it was a game changer. No more needing to remember times for everything and we were on point with our wake windows for a few days.

All of the sudden he started doing two 4hr stretches at night following by a ~2hr stretch and I feel like a whole new woman now that I’m getting sleep. Naps are still inconsistent lengths but all I care about is the overnight sleep! We’re on night three of that pattern and it’s been a dream! You got this!
 
@sunia1 We just switched from the Sprout Baby app to Huckleberry and plan to use their sweet spot feature soon to help with independent daytime naps. We’ve gotten at least 1 3-hour stretch so far and he makes 8 weeks today! Hoping for more or longer stretches!
 
@trusted489 It's a phase . Will pass suddenly once he gets bigger. Mine suddenly slept .11 pm to 5 am .was HEAVEN ON EARTH .suddenly. .... the 45 mins nap was real for me too... I still have gray hairs from it..but hang on in there moms... I can tell you it will not last long....
 
@trusted489 My son is 12 weeks. His first 4 ish weeks were so easy we were almost bored because he slept so much and so easy. We had the same wake up call around 6-8 weeks. I've heard from multiple mothers that newborns "wake up" after a few weeks. It did get better for us but he requires a little more effort to be put down than those first weeks.
 
@trusted489 I recommend you get a snoo but don’t buy it at full price. Either rent one or get it second hand. It was a lifesaver for us. My son absolutely refused to sleep in a regular bassinet or crib. I also recommend you sleep in shifts. If you have an extra room with a bed, split your nights up in 2 shifts so each person gets uninterrupted sleep. We did 8:30-2:00-and 2:00-8:00. It is just temporary and it also got us each enough sleep to get through the hellish days. It does eventually get better OP. I know it seems hard to believe and like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, but as someone who has just been through it with a now 4 month old, just hang in there a bit longer.
 
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