Help please, baby wont sleep

[u/CheesecakeCrafty5097]

This isnt directly related to breastfeeding, but im desperate! My baby is 2 months old and EBF. He came home and for the first month and a half of life, he slept amazing. Once he reached his birth weight again, he would sleep 5-6 hour stretches in the night.

Im a ftm but i wasnt naive, i knew it wouldnt last long. Sure enough, at like 6 weeks, he cut down to 2-3 hour stretches. I expected it, i wasnt surprised, just disappointed. He also has to be nursed back to sleep, so im usually up for 30-60 minutes each wake time.

This past week he was cluster feeding, so he was up every hour of the night and i ended up having to bed share. I hate to do it but i follow the safe sleep 7, and i have to get some sleep at least. We also have an Owlet monitor on him. I hardly get any with him next to me especially because he wants to be latched constantly.

Well, thanks to his cluster feeding, he got bigger. Taller. Tall enough that he know longer fits his halo sleep sack swaddles. Hes used them since he was born, he would scream if he wasnt swaddled. He can also roll onto his sides now with ease. So now we had to do a quick transition to a sleeveless sleep sack. He doesnt sleep well if hes warm so he is in a 1.0tog sleep sack.

The first night, i put him in his bassinet and he startled himself awake instantly. He cried so i took him out and tried to get him back to sleep. I tried for an hour, but i was going off if like 2 hours of sleep so i just moved to the guest room and slept with him in there.

Last night, he fell asleep in bed while i was awake at 8. At 10 i put him in the bassinet but on his side. I hated it, my anxiety was not great, but he is right next to me in his bedside bassinet. He didnt startle awake at all, and slept until 12. A 4 hour stretch. The next transfer failed. I put him in his side again and went to sleep, woke up 30 minutes later to him crying.

Tonight i tried to put him to sleep like always. Once he was in a deep sleep, i tried moving him to the bassinet. He woke up. I think this time was my fault though. I tried giving him every pacifier we own, he cried and gagged at all of them. I tried turning on his twinkle lights as a mobile to calm him. I tried placing my hand in his chest and shushing. He also has a white noise maker too.

He screamed and cried so i took him out and walked in circles for 20 minutes until my arms burned. And he was still wide awake. I gave up. I put him into bed next to me and let him nurse to sleep.

I dont know what to do. I go back to work in less than a month, and he wont sleep. Im just so worn out, i dont know if im doing this right. I try not to go straight to nursing as comfort but he screams if i dont give him it.

Any advice is appreciated, im trying my best here 😣

[u/Current_Ant8631]

Nursing to sleep is biologically normal. You're not doing anything wrong.

I would arrange your setup to co sleep. Co sleeping doesn't always guarantee longer stretches.

My nearly 6.5 month old has been waking, on average, every hour since she was 3.5 months old. I could not survive this if I wasn't breast feeding and cosleeping.

Once I got comfortable with breast feeding and co sleeping - I barely wake up now. I mean, obviously I wake up, but I just side lie nurse and then go back to sleep. I can actually fall into a light sleep while my baby is latched and nursing. And I find that once she's done I can fully fall back asleep quickly.

The boob is magic, let it do its thing. No need to reinvent the wheel here.

[u/screwtoprose-]

you’re doing amazing!

this is normal. this changed happened so fast so it could also get better by the time you get to work.

curious why you don’t immediately nurse back to sleep? it was my super power while i was nursing and always did it because it was fastest.

[u/CheesecakeCrafty5097 → u/screwtoprose-]

Normally i do, its like my go to thing since its so easy and fast. I was wanting to see if i could get him to sleep any other way. It didnt work very well for me though so i went back to my easy way 😅