Day vs night routine

Cypress82

What are you guys doing to get your LO's on a day/night schedule?

My LO is just over 2 weeks and seems to want to sleep all day and is super alert at night, esp from about 1-4 am. I have been trying to wake him during the day, every 3 hours, to eat...but he'll eat just a little bit and then want to go back to sleep. How in the heck do you keep a 2 week old awake?? I usually have to wake him for most of his feedings. At night, he just fusses in between feedings and wants to be held, or fed again, or needs to be changed again. He spent his first week of life in the NICU, so am wondering if constant lights on, no windows or concept of day vs night, really screwed up his biorhythm. 

Any advice would be appreciated! I know it will probably just take time...

Thanks!

PB102012

It took about 3 weeks for LO to get over her night and day confusion. I will tell you though that trying to keep a baby awake is not always a good idea as they can get overtired and will have a hard time falling asleep when that happens. Good luck! It will pass and get better.

CaliforniaDream87

2 weeks is a little early for a schedule. We didn't start to *try* a schedule until at least 5 weeks. We do bath time nightly and we make sure to keep lights dim until we put him down, an absolutely no stimulation.

Hmoffat1

I am following the advice from the book Babywise. It has given me some good tips about timing with regards to feeding/wake time/ sleep time. My DD is 5 weeks today, and every week she improves on her middle of the night sleep times. I would recommend checking it out. Good luck!

HFrizzle

5w here and our witching hour, as we call it, is getting smaller & smaller. It was from about 7pm-3am but we are now at around 10/11pm-2am. They figure it out slowly.

Skalbrecht

Loppy19 said:

It takes a little bit of time for them to get their day and night in the right order. Keep it light (especially natural light) during the day and dark and quiet at night. They will figure it out!

This! It just takes some time and patience!

Cypress82

Awesome. Thank you guys so much for your input. I have been trying exactly what you guys are suggesting...going about my day/noises during the day and keeping it quiet/dark/minimal talking at night. I will let him sleep during the day as much as he wants then -  I definitely don't want to keep him up and make him overtired. We are slowly learning what his cries mean, so that has helped - esp during the night shifts. Such a learning process! But we are loving every minute of it!

mrsbrooksie

Hmoffat1 said:

I am following the advice from the book Babywise. It has given me some good tips about timing with regards to feeding/wake time/ sleep time. My DD is 5 weeks today, and every week she improves on her middle of the night sleep times. I would recommend checking it out. Good luck!

One if my good friends is using Baby Wise but be sure to read up on it first. It has been linked to dehydration and failure to thrive in infants.

Lesly84

Im in the same boat my little one is only 2 weeks but me & hubby are hanging in there! Good lucky ladies!

Ninjamama86

We're 5 days in and so far she's the boss I just try to go to sleep after a late feeding, last night around 11p and she let me sleep until 230. I put her back down at 330, if she'll sleep until 6am I'm calling that a win

Cypress82

The main issue we're running into now is that he will sleep like a ROCK during the day (probably 4+ hours if I'll let him, but I'm waking him every 3-3.5 to eat), and then at night, after we feed, it's not like he'll just go right back to sleep. he is WIDE.AWAKE. If we try to lay him down, he fusses and then eventually starts screaming. Completely quiet the minute we pick him up and wide eyed and looking around. So we rock him, lay with him, rub his back. Then he'll fuss like he's hungry again, he will take another 10ml or so, act like he's falling asleep - we put him in the crib, and the eyes pop open and again, WIDE.AWAKE. This goes on for about an hour to an hour and a half after feeding. It's a fun cycle

taraleanne

yeah, do what you are doing by keeping day time stimulating, bright and lively - WORTH staying up for, but don't ever force him to stay awake. I wouldn't go on a babywise schedule but you could follow the IDEA of eat/play/sleep but don't live and breath by it. My son did that kind of pattern on his own but I didn't go by the clock. Feed on demand, meet his needs. 

I also agree you could wake him for day feeds if it's been a while but let him sleep at night as long as he wants (as long as weight gain is OK). The other thing is get him out of the house and exposed to indirect natural light, car rides, errands, walks etc... it will help to set his circadian clock! 

At night, try hard not to talk or have any stimulation. When he does seem like he's sleeping, it sounds like he doesn't want to be put down though, which is why his eyes are popping open or why he's screaming. Normal. You probably need to keep holding him, he's been used to being in your belly! You could try swaddling, the woombie, merlins magic suit, all sorts of crazy gadgets out there nowadays but otherwise, he might just need his mama to hold him. I used to just rock my LO in his room in the glider and shut my eyes and hope he got the picture. He did eventually! It will take time but be patient and soon enough he will get days and nights straight, don't worry. He'll wake to eat and fall right back asleep, just be patient with him.

p.s. even at 5 months, my son woke the other day and stayed awake for three hours. Playing!! he hasn't done that in forever!!  They are always changing things up on us but don't worry, he will sort out days and nights soon  

Cypress82

Perfect. Thank you!!