My ebf baby WILL. NOT. SLEEP.

Don't worry this is totally normal it just means your baby's learning new skills what I would recommend is using the sleepy time soap that worked great for me and my son

What’s his nap routine like? How are you getting him to sleep? Does he have a dummy?

It also seems hes just using the breast to soothe instead of eat try offering a binky?

Same boat. You are not alone. I don’t know if that helps :)

@Ellie I’ve tried many times since he was born. He hates it. Never took it

@Sharon This is a sample of his schedule 6:30 am wake up and feed 9 am - 10 am (Nap 1) 12 pm - 2 pm (Nap 2) 4:30 pm- 5 pm (Nap 3) 7:30 bedtime starts

Is he pretty active and playing alot? Like a bouncer or walker Have you tried the bedtime bath soap the purple one it has lavender and chamomile to help soothe

@Ellie do you have a picture?

You could also try tummy time after or before bath time to help get him a little bit more tired. However, he could just be going through a sleep regression and it will pass.

Is he still in your bedroom? I don’t know how you feel about him being away from you but it made a huge difference to my EBF baby’s sleep being in his own room. He still wakes up twice for a feed but his first stretch is usually between 4-5 hours x

This is normal behavior for a baby. What you need is support from your husband. He can get up and help you put the baby to sleep faster since baby won't be able to smell the milk. I suggest couples therapy because this sounds very overwhelming and you need your husband to step up his role. Be patient with your baby mama, love your baby, put on an audio book, a podcast, a YouTube video, or something you would enjoy with your headphones.

I have exactly this issue, sounds exactly like my 6month old! Impossible to put him back down to sleep at midnight and has a full meltdown tantrum. We’ve been using the spare room to slide him to, so that he falls asleep better with one of us there. But he does still wake up & cry every half hour!! We did try a bedtime bath stuff but it gave him bad eczema. Which I do wonder if is making him itchy in the night?? Health lady said it could be why he seems like such a hyper & irratic child. Really bad nights started at nearly 5 months.. this feels like a very long regression 😅

Maybe over tiredness? As can increase night times waking and difficulty falling asleep. I would explore changing daytime schedule - possibly decrease length of nap at lunch time and have earlier bedtime. So build up a sleep pressure for nighttime?

I have had that since newborn! Plus now he will only sleep if latched on, if i even try to put dummy in he cries instantly. So every night my nipples hurt 😢

@Alessandra So, if I were to take a guess, I’d say he’s not tired enough. He’s getting 3.5 hours of day sleep and his last nap is only 2.5 hours before bedtime. Every time you let him nap, you are releasing the sleep pressure and that pressure is what keeps him asleep. Not all babies need the same amount of sleep and the difference between a low sleep needs baby and a high one can be as much as five hours. Plus their sleep needs change as they get older meaning they need to nap less. You wanna calculate his 24hr sleep need - track his sleep for a week and take an average. If he sleeps, say, 13.5 hours total and you want him to sleep 7.30-7.30 - that’s only 1.5 hours of naps. You need to be strict - no more car naps! Other tips: Aim for a set bedtime, but be strict on wake up time too. Don’t let him sleep in, even if you’re tired. And if he wakes up after 6am, get him up. It’s morning. Don’t feed him to sleep. Put some distance between that last feed and putting him down.

…books, a lullaby, a good cuddle, soft music. Whatever you need to do to build your nighttime routine. Have a strict bedtime routine. Babies love routine - it makes the world more predictable and helps them to get into the sleep mindset. Put at least 3-4 hours between that last nap and bedtime. Don’t let the last nap go longer than 30 mins and don’t let any nap go longer than 90 mins. If he’s pissy at bedtime, that’s ok. Being tired and grumpy won’t hurt him. Get a white noise machine (I prefer brown noise myself) one that will run continuously through the night and block out ambient noise. A red nightlight may also be helpful. Get blackout blinds - essential now that the sun is rising earlier. If he wakes, don’t rush in too soon. Give him the space to work out how to go back to sleep. Doesn’t need to be a CIO situation, just 10-15 minutes. Sometimes our interference can make things worse. Also, tell your husband to stop yelling. That’s so fucking unhelpful! 🙄

And whatever you do, don’t give him a dummy! You’ll be up all night putting it back in his mouth when it falls out. They are sleep ruiners.

It does sound like you might consider working towards 2 naps. That last nap is rather close to bedtime. Usually the space between nap and bedtime should be the longest. I would work towards dropping the 3rd nap and moving the second nap towards 1 (ending around 2:30 or 3 )and maybe moving bedtime up a little to help during the transition.

That seems like quite an early bedtime for a baby having 3 naps, and not much time between the last nap and bedtime. Maybe try pushing his wake times out a bit so bedtime is a little later and he builds a bit more sleep pressure? When my boys had restful/wakeful nights, unless they were really upset/in pain, then I knew I’d put them to bed too early (or they’d had too many naps). They were restless/awake because they just weren’t tired enough to fall into a deep sleep. Later bedtime meant deeper sleep and less wakes for both my kids

You’re ebf but feeeing oatmeal…?🤔