DD is confused... Mommy is exhausted!

AngelEyes06 · June 2010

DD obviously has her days and nights mixed up. She sleeps basically all day long for 4-5 hour stretches. I have to force her to wake up long enough to eat and then she's right back to sleep within 30 minutes. Sometimes I can't even get her to wake up long enough to nurse! Then at night she is up every 1.5 to 2 hours wanting to nurse! There have been a few nights (like last night) when she will be awake for 3 or 4 hours in the middle of the night! Last night she woke up and ate at 3:00 and didn't go back to sleep until 7am! And now she's still sleeping four and a half hours later...

During the day I really try to keep her up longer. When she is sleeping I'll put her in her swing or in the boppy next to me on the couch. At night we swaddle her and put her in her bassinet. So we are trying to differentiate (sp?) between night and day but she doesn't seem to get it just yet. Any other tips you can give me?

With a two year old DS at home it's not like I can just nap all day while DD does. So I am getting to the point of completely run down and exhausted. Ughhhhhhhh this is the part of the newborn stage that I did not miss!

Shandie_725 · June 2010

There's an OWT my ILs swear by.

Put LO on the bed, and in one motion, turn them counter-clockwise. That supposedly will "set them straight".

I, personally, just worked on waking LO up during the day - I let her nap but I wouldn't let it go for too long before I'd pick her up, move her around, played music, etc.

brennatay · June 2010

This happened to my DD as well. We were able to get it turned around in a couple days by making sure we kept the lights very dim at night when she should be sleeping. Also, if she was awake when in the middle of the night, we would provide for her needs but not make eye contact with her or play with her. During the day, we opened the blinds, took her outside for a walk, did tummy time, made eye contact and played with her. Within a couple of days, she wasn't wanting to be up for long stretches in the middle of the night.

lep712 · June 2010

My DS was like this too - it got a whole lot better around 1 month. You just do what you have to do...and you are right, it is sooo hard with a toddler too! Good luck!

ChefsWife923 · June 2010

I feel like I could have written this post myself - aside from having a toddler, as DD is my 1st.

Somewhere in the 1st couple fo weeks of being home DD got her days and nights mixed... I think partially I am at fault - as DH is a chef and works LONG hours getting home LATE... so we have a pretty nocturnal household to begin with...

In any event - her 'daytime' is from 2:11am on the DOT...till sometime between 6 and 7am... and she is UP straight thru most nights - with the occasional 10 minute cat nap in between...even if we've gotten her to bed at a reasonable hour... depending on what she'll allow... once 2:11am comes... she's UP. Like last night... Bath at 8:30 - feeding and snuggling till she finally settled around 10pm...then to bed. She was up 45 min later wanting to hang out again... got her to sleep on my chest on the sofat around 1am... put her down, attepted to go to bed myself and then... 2:11...

In DD's defense - she also has reflux and HORRIBLE gas, the poor little noodle... so sometimes her awake time is fits of uncontrollable crying - others its just hours of silently begging her to fall asleep...

She is 6 weeks old now... I REALLY hope we can turn this around.

GOOD LUCK and let me know if you find something that works.

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DD is confused... Mommy is exhausted!

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