Sleeping through night

briannacolasito

Hi mamas

My son is almost 3 weeks old - so yes. I KNOW still very young, but I'm trying to find ways to get him to sleep better throughout the night.

I am breastfeeding, and as much as I have read that right now I should be feeding him every 2-3 hours - or whenever he is rooting/hunger cue-ing - I would like to start spreading that time frame out, especially since I'll be going back to work in the next few weeks.

I've tried giving baths a little later, keeping him up by reading him books, laying him on his playmate for stimulation - all to attempt to keep him up later, hoping he'll sleep better through the night.

He naps totally fine ALL DAY LONG - but night time seems much different.

Any advice would be appreciated! TY!

momma2char

I was just going to post the same question as im going through the same thing with my little girl! following this post for the advice too

Bigboobsmcgee

At 3 weeks old you simply cannot do anything to make him sleep better at night because he is just too young. He needs to be eating that often and trying to spread that out will only make things worse. He will be cranky because he will be hungry and then he really won't sleep well. 

I know you want sleep and I know you are trying to prepare for when you go back to work but you need to adjust your expectations and let him be a newborn. They are a ton of work! 

Most importantly, keeping a baby up later only makes sleep worse. Sleep begets sleep. Words to live by, I'm serious. At this age he needs to eat on demand and sleep on demand. It's very common for a baby that young to be up for 1-2 hours in the MOTN. That's just what babies do at that age. And sleeping all day long is normal too. Let him do that.

Trust me, it will all fall into place and he will regulate himself but it takes time. Things won't get better until at least 8 weeks old. Hang in there.

NurseRieger

Bigboobsmcgee said:

At 3 weeks old you simply cannot do anything to make him sleep better at night because he is just too young. He needs to be eating that often and trying to spread that out will only make things worse. He will be cranky because he will be hungry and then he really won't sleep well. 

I know you want sleep and I know you are trying to prepare for when you go back to work but you need to adjust your expectations and let him be a newborn. They are a ton of work! 

Most importantly, keeping a baby up later only makes sleep worse. Sleep begets sleep. Words to live by, I'm serious. At this age he needs to eat on demand and sleep on demand. It's very common for a baby that young to be up for 1-2 hours in the MOTN. That's just what babies do at that age. And sleeping all day long is normal too. Let him do that.

Trust me, it will all fall into place and he will regulate himself but it takes time. Things won't get better until at least 8 weeks old. Hang in there.

Yep exactly. All you can do is give baby time. By 2 months you might get longer stretches at night but babies have to do that on their own and at their own pace. A baby that little needs 16-20 hours of sleep in a 24hr period. In a few weeks keep lights dim at night and don't interact as much with baby during feeding. Keep daytime bright with more interaction so baby can learn the difference between night and day. MOTN feedings are necessary as long as baby wants them. I know it's not what you want to hear but accept it and be thankful you have a thriving healthy baby.

Sully3302

My LO started giving me longer stretches on her own after 4 weeks. She is 7 weeks today and sleeps 5-6 hours then back to bed for 3-4.5 hours. I always make sure to feed her more often during the day (1.5-2 hours- she's not a great napper so this is her routine) and cluster feed in the evening. It will happen!

delujm0

I wouldn't try to mess with this at 3 weeks - the reason they feed that often at night is that their stomachs are not large enough to fill them to the point that they can go any longer without being fed.  DD started doing 5-6 hour stretches around 6 weeks.  She would cluster feed for a lot of the day (she hated naps and had to be forced to take them) and then only wake up once or twice overnight.  By 10 weeks she was either waking up once in the 10-12 hour overnight period, or sleeping straight through.  Now (fingers crossed) at 19 weeks she has slept through the night 11-12 hours without eating or requiring comfort for 5 nights in a row.  I'm hoping this is her deal now.  She still cluster feeds in the mornings (especially after STTN) and in the evenings before bed - but i don't force that on her, she demands it.

Bigboobsmcgee

Sully3302 said:

My LO started giving me longer stretches on her own after 4 weeks. She is 7 weeks today and sleeps 5-6 hours then back to bed for 3-4.5 hours. I always make sure to feed her more often during the day (1.5-2 hours- she's not a great napper so this is her routine) and cluster feed in the evening. It will happen!

This is good advice, if your LO will eat. It does help to feed them a lot during the day but OP needs to know that her LO is waking to eat because he needs it.  

And the cluster feeding! Ugh the cluster feeding in the evening, I forgot about that

leannef88

My son is 13 weeks and still wakes every 2 hours sometimes on a bad night, hourly. Its torture! Xxx

MCraig1484

As a pp all said, try feeding more during the day. My LO is 4 weeks and I am diligent to ensure he feeds every 2-3 hours during the day and watch for evening hunger cues so that I can cluster feed before bedtime. My LO cluster feeds from 7-10ish most nights and I try to keep him to one breast during those feedings (just re-attach to the same breast) to ensure he's getting plenty of hind milk (more calories), this allows him to stoc up on calories before bedtime and we've been getting 4 hour stretches followed by a 3 hour stretch on good nights. As everyone has already said tho, you really need to follow your LO's cues at this age. Hope this helps, good luck!