Advice on How to Get a Baby to Sleep?

My babies always slept better on their stomachs. If I tried to put them down on their backs they woke right up. If I put them down on their bellies they'd snuggle right in and stay asleep.

I'm a HUGE believer in sleep training, but you're about 2-3 months too early. :)

There's only 4 things a baby needs when crying - sleep, bottle, burp or fart. Once you run through all four and it's just down to sleep, then make sure you swaddle tight - remember she was in a womb just 60 days ago and will still like the confinement of her arms. Plus, she can't control her arms yet and they'll find her face and wake her up.

We've found that the first 4 months or so the sleep has to be aided by a vibrating swing, or vibrating bouncy seat. They won't be addicted to the vibrations, we switched to a crib with no problems.

And ditto the white noise. She heard everything when she was in utero, the sudden silence of an empty world at naptime is probably disconcerting to her. At least keep a radio on, if not one of those shushy bears that make the shoosh shoosh sound the baby heard in utero.

But definitely swaddle. That's key for the next 6-9 months. :)

At 2 months, it's a little early to start sleep training - save that for older than four months - so for now, you're just looking for whatever it is that resonates with her most.

For our eldest, it was just being held. Rocking, snuggling, nursing, whatever - she just wanted to be held. The swing worked sometimes, but it was mostly the contact she needed.

For our youngest, she wanted to be walked. Rocking or the swing didn't cut it - she needed to be held and walked. If we got tired of walking, a waltz would do, but it was all about moving for her. (As she got older, rocking became okay, but in the start - we probably did MILES through our house!)

Also, are you swaddling? Sometimes that helps, too. It seems like it would be very confining, but if you think about it, so is the womb, and now she suddenly has all these arms and legs that she can't move very well, and it's very intimidating, and she NEEDS that confining swaddle! So if you're not trying that, maybe give it a go!

(It might be helpful to know in advance, that when she hits about four months, she is going to start paying attention to location, as well as movement or who's holding her, and her sleep habits might adjust then, too. Just an FYI, so you aren't blindsided later!)

Good luck, and hang in there, mama.

im just starting to figure things out with my daughter.. she'll be a month old on thursday.. if shes not hungry and doesnt need a new diaper its usually because shes gassy.. iv found that some times ill feed her and change her and then lay her down and if shes still crying and fussy ill lay down (not completely -i put pillows behind my back so im sort of in a reclined position) and lay her belly down with her head on my chest and she falls right to sleep.. once shes sleeping i wait a little while before moving her back to her bassinett (putting her down on her back) .. i think sometimes she just doesnt want to sleep on her back she'd rather be on her belly .. o0h and if i move her too soon she wakes right back up again.. you have to wait til shes really in a deep sleep, she wont even notice shes being moved

She possibly just needs to be rocked, changed, fed, swaddled, maybe she's too warm, too cold, just wants to be cuddled, perhaps she has gas or colic... She is still very young with an unpredictable sleep schedule, music, white noise, all that can help.

Dr. Sear's is an expert with this and has some great advice here:
http://askdrsears.com/topics/sleep-problems/31-ways-get-y...

Try white noise and rocking. That white noise can be produced by a fan, or when I was desperate, I used whitenoise.com on my laptop and put it near my sons bed. Get lots of good burps out, maybe she is extra gassy. Does she drink a full meal or just "snack"? My son was a snacker... he just could not handle a full meal because he had reflux. He slept better sitting up because of this. He had colic by the way, it was reflux related I am sure. These things helped him a lot. Good luck

Try white noise. Look up vacuum cjeaner sound on utube. Could she be hungry. Try feeding her a little more.

at 2 months old babies need to swaddled, cuddled, rocked and fed to sleep. It is way too early to do sleep training. That will come later, when she's older and more secure. Right now I would first swaddle. Then give her a bottle or breast feed and see if that puts her to sleep. Then either just kick back and hold her while watching tv or try putting her down while she's still swaddled and asleep. At this age babies love motion so try putting her in the swing or bouncy chair. Also maybe try getting her to sleep before she acts too sleepy. Sometime by the time they act sleepy it means their already over tired. So for example all my babies were on a similar sleeping pattern at 2 months. They would wake in the morning to eat around 8. Then up for about an hour and a half to 2 hours. So nursed back to sleep around 9:30 or 10. I would let them sleep for about an hour and a half to 2 hours. so up around 11:30. Then up until around 2. Then nursed back to sleep and I would let them sleep as long as they liked. usually around 3 to 4 hours. so up around 5 or so. Then nursed back to bed around 7:30 or 8. then I would feed them as they woke during the night. at 2 months old babies still sleep a lot so don't try to keep her up too much during the day.