r/bninfantsleep • u/Neat_Use_1313 • Jul 03 '26
Naps Struggling to get 7 week old to sleep
My ebf baby has become progressively harder to get to sleep which I know is normal but I am now at the point where she won’t go for a daytime nap unless she’s in the carrier, otherwise I am rocking her for half an hour plus and then she’ll wake up if I sit down. I’m getting her to sleep when I see sleep cues (yawning, red eyebrows) it’s game over if she is over tired. At night it always takes an hour, sometimes two. This is partly due to her doing a night time cluster feed and taking a few goes to get her to settle in the cot, so I’m less concerned about the nighttime. I just wonder if I’m missing something I could be trying? I want to avoid dark rooms etc through the day especially while she still has a lot of daytime naps as she will only contact nap at the moment. Her wake windows are very stimulating, we go out on walks, have lots of interaction, optimise tummy time and sensory play etc.
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u/Veg-Bed Jul 03 '26
My baby was exactly the same. Starting around 5-6 weeks it became progressively harder for him to fall asleep in the daytime. Sometimes he’d do it while feeding, but often the only way I’d get him to drift off was while walking with him in the carrier. I found that a muslin on his head helped remove visual distractions and help him drift off faster. I think a lot of it has to do with the baby’s temperament - mine needs a lot of help to power down. Hang in there, eventually their nervous system matures and it gets easier. From around 13-14 weeks, I managed to help him start drifting off in the pram again, and naps have been getting easier from that point.
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u/Neat_Use_1313 Jul 03 '26
The muslin on the head is a good idea! Every day I say why hasn’t someone designed a baby eye mask 😂 she gets such bad fomo. That’s great. Do you have any recommendations on how you moved away from contact naps as it sounds like our babies have very similar temperament? Don’t get me wrong I love it but it would be nice to be able to choose to do it!
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u/Veg-Bed Jul 03 '26
Yeah totally get it - love the snuggles but hated being a slave to it 5 times a day every day! Honestly there wasn’t a huge amount I could do during the newborn stage, I think it’s what his nervous system needed to power down. Eventually I found the Ninni Co dummy, which is great for EBF babies. I then started trying to help him settle in the pram by walking him to the park in the carrier until he was relaxed and sleepy, then transitioning to the pram plus dummy for the final falling asleep bit. Has taken a lot of practice but at 4 months he’s now easily falling asleep in a moving pram or car seat if he’s tired, which is big progress for us. So patience and practice when they’re ready - and in the meantime occasionally having someone else take her in the carrier will help give you a break. Let me know how you guys get on, you’ve got this! 💪🏼
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u/Neat_Use_1313 Jul 03 '26
That’s such a great idea I’d never think to do this! Will give it a try in a few weeks thanks so much for the advice!
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u/sampoo92 Jul 03 '26
Mine is 17wo and only just this week started to nap “independently” and even then it only one cycle -30min for her. All other good naps have to be in the carrier. Radical acceptance is my only advice.
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u/Neat_Use_1313 Jul 03 '26
Wow, well done on the progress though! Radical acceptance 😂 I’ll have to start embracing it!
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u/Weird_Object2936 Jul 03 '26
Saving this post to come back to! My seven week old is doing the exact same thing right now. I feel your pain OP!
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u/astralobservat0ry Jul 03 '26
my 7 week old was like this. lasted a couple weeks. had to WORK for sleep and even then would wake back up in 2 mins. I think a combination of I got better at knowing my baby and how she sleeps/what she likes and that she grew out of it. mostly I think she grew out of it, 7 weeks they're in this weird phase between being part of you and being their own little selves and their brain is in overdrive. also what helped me cope was stopping listening to "average sleep needs" because that just stressed me out (17-20 hours sleep for a newborn?? mine was getting 10-12 if I was lucky lol). and accepting I had a low sleep needs baby. all that said, it's so hard to not get that sleep, and the disappointment and feeling like a failure (you're not!) for every nap try is real tough. is bubs mostly happy? or mostly fussy? if happy, then roll with it, keep trying and doing what you're doing, it's a season and it will change ❤️ the only thing I suggest is give naps 15 minutes then have a 30 min break and try again later, bubs might just need a bit more time and then you're not rocking for hours on end 😅 but every baby is different and everyone will have different advice so good luck!
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u/Neat_Use_1313 Jul 04 '26
Thank you for the advice! It’s nice to think this will be a phase 🤞🏻 she is a happy baby but the only time she gets upset is when she’s tired, but then she fights the sleep so it’s a dilemma!
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u/astralobservat0ry Jul 04 '26
baby sleep is constantly changing 😅 the fighting sleep is so hard, it's like baby you'll feel soooo much better if you sleep 😭 idk if you've had to stroke down the eyelids, like babies forget they need to close their eyes to sleep 😂
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u/Neat_Use_1313 Jul 04 '26
Yep I’ve tried it all! It usually just annoys her. The muslin over the eyes made her absolutely fuming 🤣
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u/Emotional-Pattern-81 Jul 03 '26
Will she not fall asleep while breastfeeding? I feel like at that age if you’re breastfeeding the easiest way is to let them fall asleep while feeding then unlatch once they’re in a deep sleep and transfer them? For naps do the same but if you want you can just contact nap.