baby will only be held to sleep - how long?

[Wugz22]

This is my third baby and I know they all sleep eventually. He's almost 6 weeks. But this is the first baby that will literally only sleep on me, day or night, and still wakes every 1.5 hours. He doesn't have a "long stretch" at night. He can't be put down, even if he's in a deep sleep, he'll spring awake.

Just wondering for those who had babies who had to be held to sleep - what age could you put them down??? My husband and I where going to leave him with grandma for a weekend around 6 months, but I would never expect anyone else to go through what he's doing now, so the trip would be off if he can't sleep in his crib, at least for a couple hours!

 

[Unlucky41]

Hi Wug,

My two babies would only nap on me but after 7 they would go down in the crib deep asleep.

For my daughter she slept on me for all naps until she turned 1 years old and then I cuddled her in our bed for her naps. At 2.5 years old she can now nap on our bed independently however I need to be in the room.

My son who is almost 4 months is napping only on me and I can't wait to find out when he will grow out of it. For my daughter we did sleep train her for night time pick up put down method but although she sleeps well at night it never carried to her naps. I gave up trying to train her for naps as she would just cry for hours get overtire and I would have no rest.

My son would wake up every 2 hours or less for a feed until 8.5 weeks. Hope it improves for you soon

 

[Weebles]

I'm sorry in advance this ended up being so long, I am going through the same thing!

My DD is 7.5 weeks old and will only almost exclusively sleep on us. She also wakes frequently. Every once in awhile my husband or I manage to put her down in her bassinet and it feels like such a victory. I think the longest stretch in it was an hour and a half but most of the time it's a minute or less as she realizes she's not in our arms even in the deepest sleep. Just this past week I've been able to put her in a bouncy chair and she likes it so long as I'm sitting next to her but it's not something I want her to sleep in. At least there are days now I can fold the laundry.

Our solution isn't the greatest. We split the nights. My husband takes a three hour nap. Then I sleep for 4-5 hours. Then he takes a two hour nap before he goes to work. During the weekends we don't break it up like that and both sleep in longer shifts. If you're nursing pump before and after you go to sleep. DH had a hard time settling her at first but now she has an understanding of what's going on and she only gets inconsolable for him when it's time for me to wake up.

My son was the same way. I ended up having him sleeping in bed with me and had zero issues after that. I don't even know exactly when he started sleeping through the night because I nursed him right in bed with me. I was extraordinarily well rested. I'm not against bed sharing. But it's not something I would do now for various reasons, at least not until she is a bit bigger.

I keep telling myself it won't last forever. I can't bare to leave her crying a moment longer than is absolutely unavoidable. But I'm tired. My husband is tired. My shoulders and back hurt more and more from holding her all day long.

Some of the articles at this site really helped me to at least feel better.
https://www.askdrsears.com/topics/h...aby/high-need-baby/12-features-high-need-baby

 

[MindUtopia]

Mine would sleep not being held at night from around 6 weeks. Before that, we literally did the night in shifts. I went to bed at 7pm after a feed, my husband would wake me when she woke around 10 ish, then I'd sleep til 1am and we'd switch and I'd sit up with her until the morning while he slept. We literally did that every night for 6 weeks or so. From then, she would sleep on her own lying down, but we continued to bedshare (by choice, no idea if she would have slept without us with her, but it was an intentional choice that we'd have a family bed until she decided otherwise). During the day, she slept in the wrap for naps until probably past 1 and then usually in the pushchair. But she slept for naps in a cot at nursery when she started at 9 months. I just didn't see any point of doing things differently if what we were doing worked great. We were rarely home for naps, so seemed silly to just be stuck in the house all day. I would expect though to see a big change from 3-4 months. It's up to you what you feel comfortable with. We definitely couldn't have left ours overnight at 6 months as we were bedsharing, but a lot can change for you in 5 months time.

 

[ChocolateC]

I want to say around 3 months, but I didn't try too hard with him since I knew it was my last baby and last body-to-body sleep-cuddles. But yes, it did change, just not as quickly as I'd hoped. When he started sleeping on his side and tummy (6 months) he started preferring his crib to anything else because he couldn't sleep in that position anywhere else.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Vi was held on our chests till 8ish weeks. It just happened naurally. Before that she wouldn't go in her moses AT All. We did get a Co sleeper and change that way.

Before that we also done shifts. I would sleep 9pm-1am is then I would take over a while and go back to bed when my OH went to work and she had a nap xx

 

[xdxxtx]

By 4 months, all of my babies had a long stretch of sleep throughout the night and no longer needed to be held. I'm gonna say they were laying in the cosleeper on their own by 3 months, but by 4 months, every last one slept at least 5 hour stretches. I know that sounds like it will be forever, but I promise - think back - it goes by quickly and then washes away from memory. I still hold my babies for naps until they decide on their own that they'll sleep alone - past 1 year old. So I might be a little more accommodating than most parents. Not sure if my babies would sleep on their own sooner if I was different- or maybe it's the other way around.