Sleeping at night? (Sleep help 101)

Karenpreggo

Im wondering if theres anything  I can/should be doing... FTM here with questions.  Bedtime around here - short bath/tub time because it calms him down, sleeper, nurse, swaddle, sleep in our room (but not our bed).  Exclusively breast fed.

1.  DS is 1 mo old and a pretty good baby. He is NOT a napper.  Hes good for 1 two hour nap early afternoon and is otherwise up and cannot be convinced otherwise. He sleeps hard from 8 to 11pm or so and is otherwise up like clockwork every 2 hours to nurse.  Is there any way to extend those 2 hour stretches at all? Literately everyone I talk to replies "gosh by 1 month my kid was sleeping x,y,z hours!"  Am I doing something wrong? Even my pediatrician thinks he should be sleeping longer stretches.  Also why doesnt my child nap? Even since a brand new born, he just does not sleep...ever.

2.  At the 230 am diaper change every morning he is WIDE awake for an hour or two. No amount of lights off, white noise/no white noise, paci, rocking, etc keeps him groggy. Hes just UP. not even fussing, just wide awake and ready for his day. What else can we try to keep him groggy? He needs the diaper change since he usually poops sometime between midnight and then.

3. My SIL visited and recommended we try sleeping him in the Rock n Play.  We did and it went great in that he slept in his 2 hour stretches but stayed calmer when awake (less fussy when waking up). Then I read about the dangers and tried last night  to go back to his pack n play with a swaddle.  What a disaster. He was up every 30 min to an hour fussing. He didnt sleep more than 15-30 min at a stretch last night.  What do I do? He cant sleep in the RNP forever - at some point he'll have to be a crib sleeper...do I keep trying with the PNP? My DH is exhausted, me too, and I feel like Im totally screwing up this sleep thing. I love my son but I dont LIKE him at night. 

His 2 hr afternoon nap is in his actual crib and swaddled.  He sleeps fine for that but when hes up, hes up.  5 min in his PNP (with the PNP mattress) and he gets upset.  Just now, he was in there for 5 min, started crying. I lifted him out, set him on my chest and he is now sound asleep...instantly. not practical for our family overnight.  

Why doesnt my baby sleep ever?! Help! 

littlebb22

I'm curious what other moms say about this because my baby is on almost the exact same night schedule. One 3 hour stretch at the beginning and then up every 2 hours. He does nap during the day but I feel like he should be sleeping longer at night...

josie12367

The "witching hour" thread has lots of good info and other moms going through this too, so I'd check that out. But it sounds like a pretty normal newborn sleep pattern...he probably still has the day/night confusion, but that will resolve eventually on its own. If he naps with being held then I would just hold him for daytime naps or maybe try a swing or the rnp? At this point you're not going to spoil him by holding him, so try to enjoy the cuddles if you can even though it's hard to have a baby on you 24/7. As he gets older you should have less trouble transitioning him to his crib or Pnp for sleeping as he learns to self soothe...he's just not developmentally ready yet. It's not your fault momma! Good luck!

Dantzscher32

With our first baby, we had no clue what we were doing and we were desperate. We let our son sleep in the rock-n-play at night. To me, I felt it helped with the spit-up. I was nervous about him gagging on his spit up while laying flat in the crib. He slept better in the RnP. During the day, when I could check on him more often (and not be half-asleep) I had him nap in his crib on his belly. All of my babies prefer their bellies/side. My first-born slept in the RnP for MONTHS at night and transitioned well to a crib when I/he was ready.

Each child is different, but look for clues of their environment when they sleep better. That will help you know what to do to encourage longer sleep patterns. 

I don't know if its true, but I tell DH that I am sure the baby sleeps better at night when I swaddle and put a cap on his head. I don't swaddle or put a hat on for day-naps. I'm hoping I am signaling to him by putting those extra things on him, that he knows to get comfy and sleep. I think it's working, but I haven't tried to not do it and see if it still works. 

Good luck!

nikkinbonnie

My LO is almost 8 weeks old (lurking from April 2016, she was born 4/28). My LO is a pretty good sleeper but she does have time in the middle of the night where she is fully awake for an hour or two. She is also not usually fussy during this time so I just let her be, keep it dark and quiet and I go back to sleep. At first it was weird and hard to sleep when she was wide awake and happy but after being so tired all the time it became easier!
 

vinerie

I thought it was normal for EBF babies to wake every 2-3 hours at night. My LO stays groggy, though. I try to nurse him a bit after the diaper change to help him fall back asleep, which works for us. Also--sucking on a paci calms him/helps him fall asleep. Have you tried a different paci? It seems some babies take to certain brands and not others. Hope you find an answer soon! 

sarawifenow

For MOTN feedings/diaper changes, I try to keep it all business. We get up, do the diaper, feed a bottle, and then right back in bed. I try to keep it as dark as possible and as quick as possible. I don't really talk to him at this time like I do during that day (we talk and play all day) because it stimulates him and then he is awake for a long time before going back to sleep. I find that when I take the other approach, he is back asleep in no time. I hope this helps!

ayeshaohara

littlebb22 said:

I'm curious what other moms say about this because my baby is on almost the exact same night schedule. One 3 hour stretch at the beginning and then up every 2 hours. He does nap during the day but I feel like he should be sleeping longer at night...

Me too. Exactly the same and sleeps well during the day too! 

kitandcat

Being up every two hours seems pretty standard at one month I think. My LO is one month and he eats every 2-3 hours during the day (closer to 2) and at night he only recently started sleeping a little longer. Altho to be honest, about half the time he sleeps GREAT - he will sleep for 4 hour stretches sometimes - but other nights he won't even go to sleep for half the night and he's just up and alert for hours. So he has good sleep moments but he's still pretty all over the place. My pedi made it sound like it was pretty normal at this point. 

It sounds like you're doing all the right things to create a nighttime routine. We're doing the same thing... When it's officially night time, I feed him, change his diaper, put on PJs, swaddle him, give him his pacifier and he sleeps in the RNP at night right next to the bed. When he wakes up after that I keep the lights dim, I don't interact with him much, and I just do those same things and put him right in the RNP. I try and avoid the RNP during the day for the most part. I want him to eventually sleep in his crib but at this point I'm taking 2-4 hour stretches in the RNP over 30 minute stretches in the crib/PNP. I am very anxious about LOs safety all day everyday, but I feel really comfortable with the RNP, especially with LO swaddled up... It seems almost impossible for him to move much in it. And with him literally right next to me I also feel really good about it. 

vulpini

I think you have a normal breastfed baby. My one month old son wakes every 2-3 hours at night to nurse and is awake for about an hour at 2am.  If he's not fussy, I just put him down, but usually he's gassy and upset during that time so DH and I take turns soothing.  He nurses mostly every 1.5-2 hours during the day and sometimes dozes off for a bit after and other times stays awake.  He prefers to be held for those short naps, but will have a couple longer naps in his pack n play or vibrating chair or stroller.  You can try a swing, stroller, rock n play or carrier for daytime to get baby to nap if the crib isn't working.  I would just recommend not using those too long for naps as he grows older so he doesn't become too reliant on motion to sleep (we waited too long with our first and he still wanted to be held and rocked at over a year)  The night time schedule will just take time.  My first son started having one longer (4-5h) stretch of sleep at night around 3 or 4 months.  Before that he was up every 2-3h to eat (expressed milk in our case back then).

Lusitano8

Sounds pretty normal for 4 weeks! DS had his first 3 hour stretch at 5 weeks. He's 6w now and still sleeps for 3 hours 9-12 and then is up every 2 hours to eat. He did get a lot better about being less alert at night as he figured out day vs night same tactics as PPs. 
My pedi said not to worry about sleeping longer or a schedule until after the 6w growth spurt because it can all change and that 3-4 months is when she wants baby to sleep 4-5 hour stretches. Brestfed babies don't stay full long because they digest the milk efficiently and get hungry quick so that's totally normal until LO gets a little older.
I've heard some people will give baby a tablespoon of rice cereal with breast milk to fill them up at night. Not sure that's recommend since now no solids are recommended till 6 months. But I guess if you're desperate it wouldn't hurt, it's Interesting how things change over generations. 

lalala2004

The rice cereal advice is verrrry outdated. No one here has a baby old enough to eat anything other than breast milk or formula. I'd say do your own research on that and don't even necessarily take your pediatricians recommendations if they talk about food before 6 months. They are doctors, not nutritionists, and recommendations have changed even in just the last few years. I wouldn't want to "fill up" my baby with anything that isn't the nutrients he needs. Babies wake up a lot at night to eat. It's no secret, I'm pretty sure we all knew what we signed up for....