Babies: 0 - 3 Months

How well does your 6 - 8 week old sleep?

I'm trying to decide if our baby is really just a terrible sleeper or if I just have unrealistic expectations of how he should be sleeping.  He only eats one or two times a night, but he wakes up ALL THE TIME.  Like, 5 or 6 times total, sometimes more, every night.  I know he's not hungry, if I try to feed him more than twice a night he just falls asleep.  We can usually get him to go back to sleep easily, but I'm starting to lose my mind.  I'm trying to decide if we need to try different things to make him more comfortable at night. 
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Re: How well does your 6 - 8 week old sleep?

  • My daughter is 6 weeks old and sleeps from about midnight to 6:30am - I feed her and then she goes back down until 9am. 

    But, she naps from 7-10pm and is WIDE AWAKE from 10p-midnight... I have no idea how to fix that!

  • How is he sleeping during the day? Are his nights and days mixed up? Does he seem uncomfortable when he's waking from things like gas, temperature, or is he breathing strangely?

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  • He doesnt sleep well at all .....lol . Im over it I knew getting into this that my sleep would be slim to none , but never expected this . I sleep during the day when he naps as much as possible . Do you swaddle him ? I swaddle and get four hour stretches ....with no swaddle I get 2 .
  • imageVenus04d:
    How is he sleeping during the day? Are his nights and days mixed up? Does he seem uncomfortable when he's waking from things like gas, temperature, or is he breathing strangely?

    Not a great napper either.  The longest he'll nap is 2 hours and that's in his swing or the car.  He has had more awake time during the day, but it doesn't seem to help.  I do worry about him being cold at night.  And when he wakes up it's not like he's even awake, his eyes are closed and it just takes a few mins to soothe him, he just keeps doing it!

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  • imageLitchfieldMom:
    He doesnt sleep well at all .....lol . Im over it I knew getting into this that my sleep would be slim to none , but never expected this . I sleep during the day when he naps as much as possible . Do you swaddle him ? I swaddle and get four hour stretches ....with no swaddle I get 2 .

    We do swaddle, he startles really badly!

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  • A 2 hour nap is pretty good! So would that mean he goes about 2.5-3 hours between feedings during the day?
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  • If he's just making noise and not actually waking up, even if it's crying, just let him fall asleep on his own.  Lots of babies will cry in their sleep as they transition from lighter sleep into the deeper sleep and back again.  It's when he is actually awake that you need to sooth.

    DD makes so much noise in her sleep it's rediculous!  She's louder sleeping than awake!  Now, at almost 7 weeks, she's sleeping about 7 hours at night.  We do put her to bed on her tummy though, and that really helped her sleep more soundly.  I know people freak out about SIDS and all that, but if your LO has head control enough to be able to turn his head from side to side on his own, it may be worth a try.

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  • imageSweets2005:
    A 2 hour nap is pretty good! So would that mean he goes about 2.5-3 hours between feedings during the day?

    Always 3 hours during the day.  Naps are usually shorter and more asleep - awake -asleep and restless.  

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  • Up until last week she was waking up every 3-4 hours.  This week we started to turn on her sound machine and we get 5-9 hours out of her.  I am not sure if it is the rain that relaxes her or if she is just doing it on her own, but I love it either way!  We also don't swaddle her (she never liked it).
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  • imagebbeck84:

    If he's just making noise and not actually waking up, even if it's crying, just let him fall asleep on his own.  Lots of babies will cry in their sleep as they transition from lighter sleep into the deeper sleep and back again.  It's when he is actually awake that you need to sooth.

    DD makes so much noise in her sleep it's rediculous!  She's louder sleeping than awake!  Now, at almost 7 weeks, she's sleeping about 7 hours at night.  We do put her to bed on her tummy though, and that really helped her sleep more soundly.  I know people freak out about SIDS and all that, but if your LO has head control enough to be able to turn his head from side to side on his own, it may be worth a try.

    How long should I let him cry?  He is very noisy.  Sometimes he will fall right back asleep, others the crying escalates and continues.  I know if I see eyes I have to go in, but if his eyes are closed should I leave him?

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  • I could have written this post! My LO has been sleeping very poorly lately. He hardly sleeps during the day, despite our efforts, and will sleep from 8 pm to 12-1am, then from 3 am sometimes wakes up every hour. I assume he's hungry so I feed him, but maybe I'm wrong. It's exhausting! He used to sleep much better (up to a couple of weeks ago). I blame it on the growth spurt, and I hope it will get better soon. 
  • imagedanjou21:

    imageLitchfieldMom:
    He doesnt sleep well at all .....lol . Im over it I knew getting into this that my sleep would be slim to none , but never expected this . I sleep during the day when he naps as much as possible . Do you swaddle him ? I swaddle and get four hour stretches ....with no swaddle I get 2 .

    We do swaddle, he startles really badly!

     

    Is he laying flat on his back or do you elevate him?  My LO sleeps in the rock n play & he sleeps anywhere from 5 1/2 hours to over night.  He just started the over night sleeps though & its still not every night. But if he were to lay flat on his back, he doesn't sleep very long.

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  • DS has only ever slept 4 hours in a row once in his life - after his first vaccination. He takes 2-3 hour naps in the day (at least one, but sometimes two).

    At night, however, we'll get a 2.5 hour stretch around 10/11, then we're lucky if he sleeps longer than 1.5 hours at a time thereafter.

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  • I know not everybody is willing to do it, but have you brought him into bed with you? Some nights DD will sleep by herself for 4-5 hour stretches, but some nights we can only eke out three hours and only if she's being cuddled. My mom keeps telling us not to, but I'm not worried about it becoming a habit or spoiling her--if she needs to be cuddled, she needs to be cuddled!
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  • me lo is a sleeper during the day..as of right now she wakes up at 730 diaper change, play 30min feed and she naps for about and hour ..11 am wakes up same thing diaper change play feed and naps till about 3ish and the same thing again when she wakes up at around 6 shes stays awake most of the night...bath around 8ish,lotion,play alittle 20-30 min cuddle bottle in bed around 9:30-10 and asleep at 1030-11 sleeps till about 4am or 5 am then wake up at 730am... but again that changes sometimes its never right on the dot lol.
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  • If Lo wakes up and it hasn't been 3 hour I just pat her and give her her paci I don't let her get worked up if at all possible, she wakes up twice once at 11 and once at 5
  • My DS is just over 6 weeks. He sleeps pretty good at night (3 to 4 hours at a time) at a time. It's getting him to sleep that is that hard part. Some nights it takes 2 hours to get him back to sleep when he wakes up. He will fall asleep while eating or being rocked, but wake up within a few minutes of me putting him down in his crib. He didn't start this pattern until about 4 week old, before that he would go right to sleep.
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  • Our son usually eats every three hours, night and day.  He usually wakes up in between feedings though.  We try and take turns getting him back asleep and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  We don't swaddle him because he hates not being able to move his hands and arms.  I wish swaddling worked for him because he is always flinging his arms and legs around.  We did try a sound machine last night and it did seem to work pretty good.  He would wake up between a feeding and we would just go in there and turn on the machine and he would fall back asleep, usually within a couple of minutes.  Unfortunately the machine only stays on for 30 minutes and of course, he woke up the second the machine turned off.  I am looking into a different white noise machine, one that will stay on all night.  I am hoping that will result in longer stretches of sleep. 
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