For those whose babies sleep a little longer

dmsny · March 2012

I'm just wondering how this is possible. Even when it seemd like she's going to get a long stretch of sleep (and by long I mean more than 2 - 3 hours), she's up needing a diaper change. I wish I could get her to sleep 4 hours with no hunger and no diaper change but it's not happening. Maybe I pick her up too soon when she fusses to check her diaper? And it's not like this happens only during the day - it's nighttime too. The most I get at night is 3 hours at a time. I try and feed her more at night to get her to sleep longer, but she's still up every 2-3 hours. and she definitely sleeps more during the day than at night.

I want to start training her to sleep more at night for when I go back to work but my mom and MIL shake their head at me as if it's pointless to try and get her on a schedule. Is it too soon to start a schedule? She's 5 1/2 weeks.

runrinserepeat · March 2012

My LO is also about 5.5 weeks, and she usually sleeps for at least a 5 hour stretch at night. She gets a fresh diaper at bedtime so that she's dry going down. She also eats a lot before bed, and a lot in the morning.

something I noticed is that she does grunt occasionally in the middle of the night. This doesn't mean she needs to get up. Usually, if I turn the vibration on in the bassinet, she'll drift right off again. Figuring this out has meant a lot more sleep for me.

dmsny · March 2012

kleMcK:
My LO is also about 5.5 weeks, and she usually sleeps for at least a 5 hour stretch at night. She gets a fresh diaper at bedtime so that she's dry going down. She also eats a lot before bed, and a lot in the morning.

something I noticed is that she does grunt occasionally in the middle of the night. This doesn't mean she needs to get up. Usually, if I turn the vibration on in the bassinet, she'll drift right off again. Figuring this out has meant a lot more sleep for me.

How often and what is your LO eating? Mine is getting 4 - 4.5 oz of formula every 3 hours.

JenJH923 · March 2012

My son sleeps for 6-7 hours at night, sometimes longer. He is formula fed. I feed him 4 ounces per feeding during the day and his last feeding (Usually around 7pm) I feed him 5.5 ounces. I keep the room pitch black. If I get up to change his diaper- which sometimes he pees through his PJ's so I have to- I keep all the lights off, don't talk to him and then put him right back down to bed.

He also sleeps in bed with us. If you are comfortable doing that I totally recommend it. If he starts to fuss I just put my arm around him and snuggle him in close to me and he goes right back to sleep. If he didn't sleep in our bed I think he would be up often through the night, because he does wiggle around a lot at night.

LSquared3960 · March 2012

DS is 6 wks and we're getting 3-4 hour stretches pretty consistently. I'm a little bit slower to respond to him at night, and I'm starting to notice that sometimes he puts himself back to sleep before I get to his room with the bottle. I also only change him if I know he's pooped. GL!

pinkshades05 · March 2012

I think the sleeping pattern definitely varies from child to child. DD used to sleep every 2-3 hours, but that changes from night to night now. Now it can be every hour

Lena122 · March 2012

This past week DS has been going about 10 hours at night. He started doing 6 hour stretches around 7/8 weeks and has gotten progressively longer since then. I dont change his diaper at night unless he soaks through which is rarely. I cover him with diaper cream right before bed and he's never gotten a rash.

I would let your LO grunt and squirm a bit before picking her up. She may go back to sleep. If she does soak her diaper often then you may want to dry a different brand.

Vii Lii · March 2012

I cluster feed at the end of the day to encourage a full belly. Lo did six hours last night, I was so surprised. Lo doesn't cry over a dirty diaper though. I usually have to check.

HappyToBe2012 · March 2012

DD just started sleeping longer stretches at night. She gets her last bottle of the evening around 8-8:30pm. She'll then sleep until 3-3:30am. She will usually fuss in her sleep sometime between 1am and 2am, but doesn't full wake up (eyes might open but they close almost immediately). I'll wake up, check on her, offer her the paci if she wants it, and then lay back down. I don't change her diaper until she fully wakes up to eat. I don't feed her any more ounces in her last bottle than I do in any other since her tummy can't handle it. But she does eat more frequently during the day now. She was going 4 hours between feedings and has started waiting only 3 hours since she sleeps longer at night.

We do a routine at night not really a schedule. After her last bottle, we turn the lights down, swaddle her, lay her in the PnP if we're going to be downstairs, don't talk to her, try not to rush right over unless she starts crying.

runrinserepeat · March 2012

I EBF. LO eats every 3-4 hours during the day, except right away in the morning and right before bed, when she eats more often. Idk how much she's eating at a sitting, though.

casoldier03 · March 2012

DS has always been a good sleeper and gives us a 5 hour stretch followed by a 3.5-4 hour stretch after middle of the night feeding. I would suggest cluster feeding to fill her little belly which is what I do. Right now I EBF so not sure how much he eats but he does eat more often in the afternoon. Are you swaddling? I had stopped for a while because I thought he hated it, but now when I swaddle him, he knows its bedtime and calms right down. I would also suggest a bedtime routine, (I change his diaper, lotion him up, swaddle, read and feed), to let her know her main sleep time has arrived. I dont think its too early for a schedule and over the past couple of weeks I have noticed if I stray from his nap times or bedtime schedule, he doesnt sleep as well during the night. Good luck she will get there soon!

jju_stb_jju · March 2012

What has worked for us is during the day I try and keep ds up as much as possible, during day feedings I give him an ounce, burp him, let it settle for about five minutes, and keep doing that till he's finished, he's eating about five ounces per feeding, then I play with him, talk to him as much as I can, then lay him down, at night I give him his last feeding at midnight, change him, swaddle him, and lay him down in hisbassinet and he falls asleep on his own (something he's always done since he was born, he's never slept anywhere other than his bed), and he drifts off tool about 7-8 am, he wakes up, I change him, reswaddle him, feed him and lay him back down and he's out for another 4-5 hours. Personally I see it as the longer he's awake during the day, the longer he will sleep at night.

MarnieMS · March 2012

LO is almost 6 weeks and we get usually 3-5 hours between wake ups and sometimes we get 6+ hours, we had two nights were we got 8. He sleeps in his room, and we use a monitor. If he isnt crying it does not wake us. He is FF and gets 4-6 oz a feeding, depending on what he takes. We never ever ever ever wake him up when he is sleeping for any reason other than if we have to leave the house. And it has to be for a dr appt or something really important.

sparks2987 · March 2012

pinkshades05:
I think the sleeping pattern definitely varies from child to child. DD used to sleep every 2-3 hours, but that changes from night to night now. Now it can be every hour

this excaltly!

I have tried everything, feeding her more before bed, bath before bed keeping it dark, not talking to her, laying her down awake, letting her fuss a little, and even tried to let her sleep in my bed with me...none have given me more than 2-3 hours but right now that is a good night. last night was up every hour taking 30 min to eat and leaving 20 min or less of sleep at a time.

MollySm · March 2012

Our LO is 5 weeks, and she sleeps one at least 5 or 6 hour stretch at night. She is formula fed and eats about 3.5 - 4 oz every 3 hours during the day. The main thing we have realized is that she will fuss and make some noise, but not wake up. We wait until she actually opens her eyes and makes a crying noise (it's just short and quick, she doesn't really cry) before we get her up. She sleeps in a co-sleeper next to our bed. She also needs her arms swaddled in, as the jerking will wake her up if they aren't. She usually has one feeding around 3, and then one around 7.

SeptemberBride'08 · March 2012

DD goes down for her long sleep between 7-9 and will be down for about 6-8 hours. We did nothing to train her, she just did it on her own. She doesn't cluster feed nor do I try to encourage her to do it. I figure she will do it if she needs it. We only swaddle at night and only use her RnP at night and only use white noise at night.

We change her diaper when she wakes up for her early AM feeding. Sometimes she poops right away so we change her quickly before she passes back out. Her second round of sleep will be 1-3 hours. She is usually up for the day by 630-730.

I also find that if she doesn't get the sleep she needs during the day she doesn't sleep well at night. I never try to get her up during the day.

vballgirl78 · March 2012

My LO started sleeping about 8-10 hours per night around 7 1/2 weeks. She just started doing it one night and has been doing it ever since. I EBF and she gets a good long feeding right before bed (not sure how many ounces). We make sure she has a dry diaper before bed. She's never soaked through a diaper. We also swaddle her at night. She usually wakes up with a fairly wet diaper, but we change her right away when she gets up. If she poops a lot (which is rare for her at night) she will wake up and get fussy so we know she needs to be changed. Otherwise, she does just fine through the night.

jldubb0626 · March 2012

My DS is EBF and will sleep 5-6 hours at night for me. The tip the pedi gave me was to continue every 2 hour feedings during the day (even if that meant waking him up out of a nap) and to not respond at night with a feeding because now it's more of a habit for him to wake up than actual hunger. So to stretch it out, when he would wake up every 2 hours a night, I would do everything I could to get him to go back to sleep. If all else failed, I would feed him but I would give it decent effort and by the time he would feed, it would be 2.5 hours later instead of 2. Once he got used to that and woke up every 2.5 hours I would continue what I was doing and it eventually got pushed back to every 3 hours and so on and so forth. It took about a week and a half, 2 weeks but it was definitely worth it! And like other PP's said, I don't change my DS unless it is absolutely necessary when he's awake because it takes longer for him to go back sleep.

FormerlyKrista555 · April 2012

dmsny:

I'm just wondering how this is possible. Even when it seemd like she's going to get a long stretch of sleep (and by long I mean more than 2 - 3 hours), she's up needing a diaper change. I wish I could get her to sleep 4 hours with no hunger and no diaper change but it's not happening. Maybe I pick her up too soon when she fusses to check her diaper? And it's not like this happens only during the day - it's nighttime too. The most I get at night is 3 hours at a time. I try and feed her more at night to get her to sleep longer, but she's still up every 2-3 hours. and she definitely sleeps more during the day than at night.

I want to start training her to sleep more at night for when I go back to work but my mom and MIL shake their head at me as if it's pointless to try and get her on a schedule. Is it too soon to start a schedule? She's 5 1/2 weeks.

#1: My guess is that you probably indeed are waking your baby up too much. Does your baby wearing disposables? If so, they are designed to wick moisture away from the skin. If the baby is just slightly wet, don't worry about changing them right away. Those Pampers diapers with the line that turns blue can make you crazy, because the very slightest bit of moisture can turn it blue.

I'm not at all suggesting that you leave your baby in a super wet or poopy diaper for hours at a time, but a slightly wet diaper isn't going to bother your LO, unless she has crazy sensitive skin.... I promise.

#2: Your baby will work into a schedule soon on her own. Don't push it too hard. Believe me, I understand how you feel because I felt the same way with my DD. But if I could talk to my former self back then, I would say, "RELAX... it will all work itself out.... the baby will figure it out.... this doesn't last forever."

#3: You're doing great. I know it's overwhelming at times, and you just want to do the right thing for your baby.... but it really is nothing to stress about. Your DD will not be a 16 year old who gets up a ton at night

My DD was a really bad sleeper. She had awful gas. It wasn't until she was 10 months old that she fully, 100% slept through the night. Add to that, I was an EBFer who couldn't even pump, so every single breastmilk meal she had was directly from me. That was rough. But we got through it and it seems like it went by really fast looking back in hindsight.

FWIW, she's an excellent sleeper now. She goes to bed around 830ish and gets up at around 930-1000 am!

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