Advice needed: reverse cycling?

ct103 · May 2013

Hi ladies! I come to you this evening looking for any advice or input when it comes to reverse cycling. That is, my DD sleeps all day and is awake all night! I've tried waking her during the day, but that just results in fussing until she falls back asleep. I still feed her every 23 hours during the day, but that's all she can manage to stay awake for. I realize how lucky I am that this is the biggest challenge we're facing right now. She's a very healthy little girl, but she's a night owl! So, what do you think? Is there any hope in a 6wo learning the difference between night and day? Or should I just continue to sleep when she sleeps until she outgrows this phase? This may be a post and run because we're about to start bath time, TIA

ct103 · May 2013

Let me be clear, I feed her every 2 to 3 hours, not every 23 hours!!! Stupid mobile

ProfessorPedals825 · May 2013

We always make sure nighttime is very different from daytime naps. During the day we keep it very bright and loud and do not swaddle. Then nighttime is very dark and quiet and we swaddle.

We also use different baby lotion in the morning then at night. The lavender night time lotion before bed and regular pink bottle baby lotion dung the day. We think the different smells help her know the difference.

I hope this helps a bit. Good luck, and I can't believe your LO is already 6 weeks!

ct103 · May 2013

andreahshields:
We always make sure nighttime is very different from daytime naps. During the day we keep it very bright and loud and do not swaddle. Then nighttime is very dark and quiet and we swaddle.We also use different baby lotion in the morning then at night. The lavender night time lotion before bed nbsp;and regular pink bottle baby lotion dung the day. We think the different smells help her know the difference.I hope this helps a bit. Good luck, and I can't believe your LO is already 6 weeks!nbsp;

Good idea with the lotions! I have both kinds already in my house. We make day and night sleeping very different too, but that hasn't seemed to help yet. Can I ask, approximately how many hours does your DD sleep at night?

ProfessorPedals825 · May 2013

ct103:
Good idea with the lotions! I have both kinds already in my house. We make day and night sleeping very different too, but that hasn't seemed to help yet. Can I ask, approximately how many hours does your DD sleep at night?

She'll fall asleep around 9pm, wake up once around 3-4am to eat, go right back to sleep then wake up again around 7-8am. So a good 6 hour stretch followed by another 3-4 hour stretch. She is bottle fed breastmilk though. I don't know if that makes a difference. We're not nursing on demand, so she does get 4oz bottles every 3 hours. Some people say that if baby is full before bed she'll sleep better, but I don't know how much I believe that. For us, maybe it's more like genetics because DH and I both slept well as kids too.

ct103 · May 2013

andreahshields:
ct103:

Good idea with the lotions! I have both kinds already in my house. We make day and night sleeping very different too, but that hasn't seemed to help yet. Can I ask, approximately how many hours does your DD sleep at night?
She'll fall asleep around 9pm, wake up once around 3-4am to eat, go right back to sleep then wake up again around 7-8am.  So a good 6 hour stretch followed by another 3-4 hour stretch.  She is bottle fed breastmilk though.  I don't know if that makes a difference.  We're not nursing on demand, so she does get 4oz bottles every 3 hours.  Some people say that if baby is full before bed she'll sleep better, but I don't know how much I believe that.  For us, maybe it's more like genetics because DH and I both slept well as kids too.

OMG that's amazing! Good for you and DD. BTW, I think of you every time I watch an episode of Friends because your baby's name is Phoebe and mine's name is Lisa!

JulyMomma2U2 · May 2013

DS was like this the first few weeks as well.. we would do lots of things to help him stay awake longer during the day.. he was a summer baby, so it was warm all the time, too.. I can remember giving him extra baths just to wake him up a little bit during the day. We also kept the radio on so he was used to lots of noise in the afternoon, as opposed to the quiet at night.. and, we never had him nap in his bassinet or crib during the day -- he either napped in the PNP or swing. Plus, I was perfectly okay with "disturbing his sleep" a little bit during the daytime.. ie, guests came over and wanted to hold him.. sure, go right ahead.. it just helped so that he was more tired by the night time.. good luck getting it sorted out!

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