Bump in the Night

lilaros

I know there used to be one of these threads but I figured I'd start a new on me since most of those people are gone/I'm too lazy to find it.

Anywho, is anyone awake out there? It's 2:00 my time and I am up feeding. It's been exactly 1 hour since my last feeding. Babies do eventually sleep for more than 1-2-3 hours at a time right, because mine does not and he is 7 weeks old!

Also I am secretly hoping he cries and wakes up my husband who actually thought the baby was already sleeping through the night because he "never hears him." Lucky you dude. This guy is up 4-5 times at night and one of those usually involves a 1-2 hour rocking session. I miss sleep

jenkar01

Oh wow that is exhausting. My LO is 9 weeks old and luckily sleeps 4-6 hours stretches at night. Is he getting enough to eat before bed? Do you swaddle him? These are things I've found work for us. He gets a bottle before bed from Dad and then we swaddle him and he usually goes right to sleep. Also I've read if they don't get enough naps during the day, they won't sleep well at night. I hope things get better because exhaustion does suck. 

drabong88

I second the bottle and swaddeling at night. My my LO is almost 6 weeks and we started doing a bottle at around 3 weeks and at that time he would sleep 4 to5 hours and is now sleeping between 6 to 7 hours at night....one day he even slept for 9 (i didn't know what to do with myself). If he seems always hungry I have heard some pediatricians say it's ok to give a little cereal before bed to help keep him full. 

Sbrown721

@drabong88 6-7 hours?! Jealous!! My LO is almost 6 weeks as well and he's up every 2 hours for an hour still. And I feed him both boobs. Do you breastfeed or formula? I know babies can go longer on formula. 

drabong88

@Sbrown721 I breastfeed but also pump so he gets a bottle of pumped milk at night

lilaros

We have tried everything to get him to sleep for longer periods of time but he isn't ready or is unable to sleep for that long yet. The most he has ever slept is 4 hours and that only happened twice.

Our nightime routine is 7:00 breastfeed, 7:30 bath, 8:00 - 9:00 Swaddle, bottle from dad, rocking in the rocking chair, story, soothing music and top him off with more breastfeeding/cuddles. Hopefully he's in bed by 9:00. Last night he wouldn't go down until 10:30. 

I use swaddle me wraps because he was busting out of the Halo Sleepsacks. We have also used tried swaddle blankets but he kicks them open. If anyone has recommendations for other swaddles to try, let me know! I also don't think him not sleeping is from lack of naps. He sleeps A LOT during the day. I'd say from 7 am to 7 pm he sleeps about 10-12 hours, sometimes more. We haven't tried rice cereal in his bottle but I can ask his pediatrician about that at his 2 month appointment. 

BabyBoyH92016

@laraeq I am having the opposite problem. My lo is mostly sleeping well at night. We usually get one 4/5 hour stretch and then a 2/3 hour stretch.

My problem is day time naps. He will not sleep any longer than 30 minutes at a time. I would say his total daytime naps are somewhere in the 3ish hour range. As the day goes on he seems fussier and tired so I know he needs longer day naps. 

We are currently reading Weissbluth's book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". Although it's too early to start sleep training, we are trying to be proactive so when it is time to start, we have a game plan. One thing we've started to implement is an early bedtime. We try to have bathtime, feeding, and soothing done between 7 and 7:30. We've been pretty successful at having him fall asleep by 8ish. He usually wakes up 2-3 hours later for a feed, but then goes down pretty easily for his long stretch. We were concerned at first that this early bedtime would mean he's up super early, but it really hasn't. He definitely needs a little more soothing in the early hours, but overall I'm up around the same time.

How old is your little one? Is it possible he hasn't figured out day/night yet? 

CDE20

@laraeq how about the miracle blanket? It's the only Swaddle that works for us as it has pieces specific for the arms. I tried several others and my daughter was able to bust her arms out. She likes having her arms out and in the beginning I felt really bad about keeping them tucked in but she sleeps so much better with them covered. Is it possible to Swaddle halfway through the bottle or towards the end? I have been breastfeeding for bedtime but when she stops and after burping is when I Swaddle. She's drowsy at that point so she doesn't fight too much. Then I put her back on the breast for a few minutes. I put on the white noise and turn out the lights once the Swaddle is on. 

@BabyBoyH92016 our babies sound the same. I have the same issue with night sleeping going pretty well but naps are an issue. I started reading the same book but haven't gotten too far yet. Any tips that you find that work, please pass along. 

To everyone that uses a bottle of pumped breast milk at night for bedtime, I'm curious if there is a reason? Or does it just work for your routine to have flexibility on who does the feeding? 

hejo2016

@Laraeq I'd also suggest bumping up the whole bedtime routine, baby might be in overtired stage.
i sympathize with all of you and the multiple wake ups. My son was a horrible sleeper (still not the best at age 3), and he didn't sleep thru the night til he was FIFTEEN months, first time ever. Then it was very rarely after that. I won't even discuss our newest LO sleeps like

jenkar01

@CDE20 the bottle at bedtime is the only time my SO is home for a feeding so it works best for us in that aspect. Plus he seems to sleep longer after a bottle than he does just breastfeeding. It may also be the swaddling on top of it.

drabong88

We do a bottle for the same reason. It gives my SO a chance to feed him and I think he probably eats more from a bottle then from the boob so it keeps him fuller longer and he sleeps better, or at least I think so. Also it gives me a little time to relax at the end of the day which is much needed some days. We originally started the bottle because we had my sister in laws wedding when he was just over 3 weeks old so he needed to be able to drink from a bottle so my mom could feed him. 

lilaros

Thank you to everyone for all the suggestions and ideas. You ladies are the best!

@BabyBoyH92016 My son is 7 weeks. I think he might still have his day and nights mixed up because he sleeps more in the day than at night. He does normally go right back to sleep at night though. During the day he stays up for a bit.

@CDE20 I have been looking into the miracle blanket. I'll have to give it a shot. That's a good idea for swaddling we kinda change up when in the process we just choose a time when he seems mellow.

@hejo2016 Should we move up our routine earlier or should we just try and get everything done faster? We shoot for a 9:00 bedtime so he is on the same schedule as us but I'm desperate for sleep so I'll give anything a chance!

BabyBoyH92016

@Laraeq where are his naps taken? If you think his days and nights are switched it may be worth having him nap somewhere where it's lighter out so his body adjusts? I would ask your pediatrician at your 2 month. We also use the miracle blanket especially for night

hejo2016

@Laraeq you could try bumping up the whole routine earlier. I mean it's all a crapshoot at this stage, but maybe an hour earlier might help?