Tips on getting 3 Week Old to sleep more at night

lindzed

Hi girls,

So I totally understand at 3 weeks I shouldn't expect much sleep at night, but my adorable new baby girl wakes up every 2 hours to eat all night long (sometimes she only makes it an 1.5 between feedings).  I am formula feeding and she is taking about 3 ounces everytime she wakes up.  During the day she makes it around 2-3 hours between feedings.  Any tips for getting a little more time between the night feedings?  I'm not sure if I should try to get her to take more during the days, increase the ounces she is taking, or try to get her to go back to sleep without a bottle. Any advice would really be appreciated.  The sleeping for 1 hour increments and chasing around a toddler all day is getting tough.

ebearwife

Its not politically correct but my kiddos slept on their tummies.  They hated being on their backs to sleep.

Try swaddling tightly with muslin blankets you can get at Target or sleeping in the swing or bouncy for a couple weeks if you don't want to try the tummy.

ebearwife

PS - if you want to try the swing but only have one that works on batteries, I have an electric one you are more than welcome to borrow.

lindzed

Thanks for the advice.  I had been focusing a lot on it being a feeding issue, but I hadn't really thought through the fact she might just not be sleeping good (this is what happens with lack of sleep).  I have a swing at my parents house (we just didn't have room for all the baby stuff in our tiny house) so maybe I will give it a try.  I bought the sleep in play but she seems to do about the same in it as the crib and the bouncy seat works OK.  I'm totally up for trying the stomach.  I may give that a shot at nap time and see how it goes.  How do you swaddle and put them on their stomach?  I am a huge fan of the swaddeling (it saved my life with Adam).

 

ebearwife

lindzed:

Thanks for the advice.  I had been focusing a lot on it being a feeding issue, but I hadn't really thought through the fact she might just not be sleeping good (this is what happens with lack of sleep).  I have a swing at my parents house (we just didn't have room for all the baby stuff in our tiny house) so maybe I will give it a try.  I bought the sleep in play but she seems to do about the same in it as the crib and the bouncy seat works OK.  I'm totally up for trying the stomach.  I may give that a shot at nap time and see how it goes.  How do you swaddle and put them on their stomach?  I am a huge fan of the swaddeling (it saved my life with Adam).

 

I swaddled the same and then when I put them down, I made sure their head was turned so they could easily breathe and then I made sure there was a ceiling fan going.

lindzed

Thanks!  I will try that.

ebearwife

PS - Most babies who tummy sleep learn to roll over and turn their heads and push up with their arms before back sleepers.  So, be prepared!

Oh, and watch for her to scoot against the bumper.  Isaac absolutely loved (loves) to put his head into the corner of the bumper so just make sure if she likes to do that she can breathe and get plenty of fresh air.  But honestly if you can get away without a bumper that is obviously the preferred method.  We took P's out and there were a few incidents where she would stick her arm or leg out and not be able to get it back in and we had to get up and help her but that was not all the time.

The first night we put P on her tummy she slept 7 hours straight.  Isaac was a consistent 5 hr sleep/ 2 hr wake baby around the clock.  P never really had a schedule until she was 4 months old.  Isaac had RSV so his schedule was messed up until he was about 6 months old after the first 8 weeks.

lindzed

That's good to know.  She already tries to turn on her side to sleep and I keep rolling her back over to her back.  Her crib is in my room so I keep a close eye on her.  Adam had the issue where he had a huge flat spot on the back of his head (bad enough we got to go to see a nuero surgeon at CHOA) so I am really trying to get Ansley to spend much more time on her tummy now so we don't end up with the same issue.  Luckily Adam's was totally cosmetic and was no big deal, but it was very stressful.

ebearwife

Yep.  No flat spots for my kids due to the tummy sleeping.  You just have to make sure she turns her head well.  P was lifting her hear and turning it just after birth, like by day 3 which was before she was a tummy sleeper.

smynings_bride

You may want to look at www.momsoncall.com and they have resources you can buy online.  We used their service--they actually came to the house, and DD was sleeping 8 hours by 4 weeks.  The biggest help for us was the sound machine (really loud and close to her head) and the swaddle (we used swaddleme blankets).  They also encouraged us to give her 5 minutes of crying to see if she would go back to sleep on her own, then adding a few minutes each night to try to stretch her to sleep for longer lengths of time.  They also told us not to let her nap more than 2 1/2 hours at a time during the day.