Nights and days mixed up and sleeping for longer than 3 hours/schedules

lesmanly0506 · July 2011

My little man has his nights and days mixed up. He sleeps during the day and then likes to stay awake at night for 3 or more hours. How do I get him on the right track? Also, when do preemies start sleeping for longer than 3 hours? My husband and I are so exhausted! Thankfully it's summer and we do not have to be at work, because we can not seem to get up until after 11am because we are so tired. How did you get your LO on a schedule? Examples of your daily schedule would be very helpful.

TIA!!

bhilyer · July 2011

I'm sorry. We dealt with the same thing when JS was discharged. And I'm afraid we will deal with it in the next week or so when H comes home. With JS, we woke him every hour on the hour during the day by changing his diaper and/or taking his temp. Also, we started out not swaddling during daytime sleeps. We've found that JS doesn't get into a deep sleep without being swaddled.
As for sleeping longer than 3 hours - are you BF or FF? That makes a huge difference. Another factor is weight. The baby has to have enough fat to sustain longer stretches of sleep. We noticed a difference with JS once he reached 9 pounds or so. He's EBF and we are getting anywhere from 5-7 hours from him at night. Currently he's right under 10 pounds.
FWIW, DH and I had a hard time getting into a routine once we got home. We were both exhausted and slept as much as possible. Don't feel bad for sleeping late. It's not like you're sleeping straight thru to 11.

katie4253 · July 2011

The pedi basically told us to expect every 2-4 hrs until he is close to 10lbs. That is terrifying to me because he is 6lbs now. He's on track to be 10lbs in September Tongue Tied .

Right now we have no daily schedule really. We do give him baths at night and try to lay him in his crib "for the night" between 8 and 9pm. But, that doesn't always work. He eats every 2-3hrs (sometimes going 4hrs at night). He is usually awake about 5-8hrs in a 24hr stretch. Yesterday he was up SO much it was terrible. He was the world's most grumpy baby yesterday because he wouldn't sleep and then got himself so tired that he couldn't sleep. I think he slept like 2hrs the whole day yesterday. Not good...

Basically, I just try not to think of it. If I think about him not sleeping much at night until September, it makes me want to cry. So, I just focus on the day I am in. That day, the next feeding, going to bed when I can, etc.

flutepharm87 · July 2011

I never made enough BM to feed both of my boys, so they're exclusively FF now. That, and considering they're catching up by leaps and bounds, means they're STTN now and have been for the past few weeks (I'd say since they were about 3 months old). They sleep about 8-9 hours overnight. That being said, I've heard this is the exception rather than the rule. As far as getting him to switch his nights and days to the correct configuration, my boys HATE tummy time, so I make sure to put them on their bellies a few times a day so they can "work out" and I change their diapers frequently (they hate being dirty anyway, so it keeps the screaming to a minimum). Keep you head up, it gets better the older they get!

lesmanly0506 · July 2011

Matthew is FF because he has a cow's milk allergy, so we have him on soy formula. At his last doctor's appt., which was 2 weeks ago, he was 6lbs. 15oz. I'm sure he is over 7lbs. now. I am a 1st grade teacher and I just don't want to be exhausted when I go back to school. It will not be good for Matthew or my students to have an exhausted mommy and teacher.

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