New mom- help with sleep
Echowysp
member
Hi everyone- I'm a brand new mom... my DS is 5 days old. I'm so happy he's here, but really struggling already with knowing what to do or why he's doing something.
He's a very good baby so far. My main question is understanding his sleep pattern. I know that newborns have days and nights confused, so he sleeps a lot during the day. He gives me usually about 1 to 1/2 hour blocks at night where he sleeps, wakes to feed and then go back to sleep. What I'm struggling with is it seems that from about 10 pm to 1:30 am he is fussy and wants to bf a lot. He will fall asleep at the breast, but wakes up 5 minutes after I put him down, rooting around and crying. It seems that once 1 or so comes around, he will nurse and then just go down. During the day, he sleeps most of the day and will really only wake to nurse.
My question is if he's falling asleep on the breast and then sleeps in my arms, why does he wake up 5 minutes after being put in his pack n play? Would he still fall asleep even if he's still hungry? Should I just not even try to go to bed during this time, even though he's sleeping in my arms?
Sorry if these are dumb questions. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with this new love bug creature. :-)
Re: New mom- help with sleep
Same to you. The little pooper is sleeping on the boppy in my lap and I just know he'll kick up a fuss if I put him down...lol.
I'm no expert, but judging from my experience and reading on these boards this sounds totally normal. ?My baby would only have a few good stretches of sleep a day and then constantly want to nurse around the clock, especially from 3 am to 8 am (convenient, huh?) ?I was going out of my head, thinking that there was something wrong with his latch, he is colicky, he doesn't like my milk, I'm not making enough milk, etc. etc. ?
Around 6-8 weeks, he slowly started to get better. ?He still gets up every night at 3 am on the dot and is a little fussy, but he is way way better. ?Just hang in there, it's so hard especially when you're BF and you feel like your nipples are about to fall off! ?Newborns especially just get tired really easily...you could try to keep him awake by stroking his feet, going skin to skin, using a cool washcloth, etc. to keep him awake and prolong his feeding time.
It's still early yet, but definitely read some of the books out there too - No cry sleep solution, healthy sleep habits, happy baby or whatever...they have great tips on sleep habits and how to switch days/nights (also very common problem!)
HTH?
I think the thing is that babies that young just aren't ready to be away from their mothers yet. Even just for an hour. I have read many new moms here complaining about the same exact thing that you are describing. While it is completely understandable that you want to put him down to do things or get some rest yourself, some babies just need to be held.
That being said, perhaps the pp is right. Maybe you could try to keep him awake for a longer feeding, without letting him just fall asleep at the breast. I know when my DS was that young he had a very hard time staying awake. I had to constantly wake him up throughout the feeding. Also, I found that lifting him up off the boppy, burping him and then offering him the breast again got him going a little more. The only way I could put him down once he was asleep (without him waking up immediately) was to shift the position I had him in, to a side lying position in my arms. He also had to be in a deep sleep. Like, limp limbs sleep. I would then be able to transition him to his bassinet. I have also heard some moms say that they put their shirt in the bassinet with the baby so that he can still smell mom. I haven't tried it, but maybe that's worth a try? My DS also had his days and nights mixed up. We were up until 5 am many nights those first few weeks. We are still up until 1 or even 2, but that's better than 5 to me! I think the first few weeks are difficult for just about everyone. I would definitely not worry about letting him sleep in your arms, if that's what it takes. I bought one of those backrest cushions with arms, propped myself up somewhat in bed and just let him sleep on me. It was the only way sometimes, that I could sleep.
Oh, I also wanted to mention that swaddling definitely does help! I don't know if you are doing that already, but DS has always slept for much longer stretches being in a swaddle. Your DC definitely needs to eat every 1-3 hours, but it won't last forever (hopefully!). And don't worry, these first few weeks will be a distant blurry memory soon enough. GL, and congrats on being a new mom!
DS was this way ALL of today. ?Not once did he sleep in his bassinet, he wanted to be held all day. ?I think sometimes they just need the extra comfort to sleep. ?And don't think it's spoiling them to be held while sleeping, you can't spoil a newborn. ?Right now your sleep pattern is going to be out of wack for awhile, just sleep when your baby sleeps during the day. ?You'll get into a routine soon enough, in the beginning you're more in survival mode than getting into a routine mode!
?GL!?