Our 7wo has been very alert/high-needs since the day she was born. In the beginning she was breastfeeding almost constantly, and the only way she would sleep was contact naps, which we embraced. Then for a while she started falling asleep nursing, and that worked, until suddenly it didn’t.
Now she can nurse for what feels like forever (sometimes close to 2 hours) and still not actually fall asleep. If she does sleep during the day, it’s always very light sleep and usually only around 30–40 minutes before she wakes again.
We’ve tried swaddling and she absolutely hates it. She hates the carrier and the stroller too. She also hated the pacifier, though we keep gently trying and she’s starting to tolerate it a little better. We haven’t noticed obvious colic, but she just always seems “on,” like she can’t fully switch off.
We are already using white noise, trying our best to watch wake windows (though honestly it is imposible because she refuses sleep), and we keep stimulation very low-dim lights, calm environment, no overstimulating activities.
At this point we’re exhausted and wondering if anyone has had a baby like this. Did it get better? Was there anything that helped? Or is this just something we have to ride out?