Postby BabyMagic » Tue May 14, 2013 2:03 pm
Hi SW11,
I know the feeling well! Baby sleep patterns become even more of an issue when there is a toddler in the house. It's lovely to have a milk-sleepy newborn cuddled up on your chest with that delicious tiny baby smell and the beautiful little sleep smiles...but it's not terribly convenient 100% of the time, and they get a bit heavy by 8 months!
To be absolutely honest, there is no real way of sleep training a 7 week old, very young babies have such frequent growth spurts and change their patterns so often that trying to 'train' as such is useless until about 6 months (although there will be plenty of very expensive folk who will tell you the opposite, charge you the earth and sort one sleep routine, only for you to find your little one changes their natural pattern again at 8 weeks!).
What you CAN do is learn how to establish the best possible sleep hygiene for your baby, and rule out anything more developmentally problematical or medically relevant e.g. reflux, ear infection etc. Good sleep hygiene and a sound but flexible early routine will help build the basis for healthy happy sleep later in life. Once any 'red flag' issues have been ruled out there are lots of techniques you can use that will enable you to put your baby down, awake, in the Moses basket and ensure that you get some 'grown-up time' of an evening!
The best way to do this is to have someone come in and observe for an evening, in order to see what may help. There is no 'one size fits all' plan as far as sleep goes, whatever Gina Ford may suggest (IMHO). If you'd rather try and sort it without any expense, then your first port of call is your health visitor. I'm also happy to have a chat on the phone too, if it helps, no charge.
My last but one sleep family had much the same problem, we had a couple of phone chats, I came in for an evening's observation (at about a third of the Mewes cost, fab as she is), they tried on their own with the option of me coming in, one phone call later...sorted. Sometimes it's easier for an outsider to 'read' the baby signals, especially when subjectivity and sleeplessness are involved. Getting help is not giving in, especially with older children (6 months +), it can sometimes take a friendly 'outsider' to break a pattern that the child/baby associates with the parents and their patterns of behaviour. This doesn't apply at 7 weeks, but there are lots of tactics that can be tried until the right for for your baby and your family as a whole is found.
I know that this probably wasn't very helpful, so far, but the trainee Doctor in me is wary of giving specific advice without knowing more first hand!
My ward dutioes finish at 5pm this week, so feel free to give me a bell, if you'd like. I may only have half an hour or so free, but I'm happy to talk if it helps.
Happy sleeping,
Sophie.