Baby sleeps all day and wakes up at night

Ms H13 · May 2013

She's 5.5 weeks old. We tried keeping her up part of the day today, but didn't work that well - she was just so sleepy!!

Anyone else go through this? Any suggestions?

pb_bride · May 2013

Oh, that's so tough! Yes, M was like that when he was a newborn, but it gradually got better.

Are you making sure that she's exposed to bright daylight & noises during the day? Whereas at night, preferably an hour prior to "bedtime" start dimming the lights and keep noises down. Do you have a bedtime routine? It's never too early to start one, IMO. Also, for us, I found that cluster feeding M in the late afternoon/evening hours helped him sleep better.

I've tried keeping M up during the day even when he was tired, and that totally backfired. Esp for newborns, if they get overtired during the day, the nighttime sleep gets even worse. It's sort of counter-intuitive, but IME, the better they nap during the day, the better sleep they get at night!

GL!

Dstevens429 · May 2013

Little A will be 6 weeks tomorrow and the best thing I found to work was routine. "A" sleeps alot during the day and like you I tried keeping him awake but that made my night even more misrable. Our routine consists of PJ's and swaddle at around 8 or 9pm, then his last bottle until his MOTN feeding around 2:30a - 3am. The MOTN feeding gets later and later as the weeks progress so I am hoping I get a STTN baby soon lol. Good Luck but I have to agree with the PP..Routine is the key!

Dragonfly1226 · May 2013

pb_bride:
Are you making sure that she's exposed to bright daylight & noises during the day? Whereas at night, preferably an hour prior to "bedtime" start dimming the lights and keep noises down. Do you have a bedtime routine? It's never too early to start one, IMO. Also, for us, I found that cluster feeding M in the late afternoon/evening hours helped him sleep better.
I've tried keeping M up during the day even when he was tired, and that totally backfired. Esp for newborns, if they get overtired during the day, the nighttime sleep gets even worse. It's sort of counter-intuitive, but IME, the better they nap during the day, the better sleep they get at night!
GL!

All of this. Unfortunately this type of day/night confusion is normal. LO will figure it out. I would not wake the baby up during the day though. Just focus on day atmosphere vs night atmosphere. It will work itself out soon.

Ms H13 · May 2013

Thanks all, glad to hear we're not alone in this and that it gets better. We try to make a distinction between day and night but could do a better job, and we don't really have a bedtime routine - guess it's time to start one!

Jenny952 · May 2013

Oh yes! Get her outside during the day, make the daytime fun and bright and loud. Even if she's sleepy, go to the mall or even the library. Keep the radio on or open the windows so she can hear cars going by. You could also wear her during the day while you go about your chores to promote active wakefulness. Nighttime is the exact opposite, low lights, quiet, don't do anything too exciting. Have a bedtime routine around the time you want her to go to sleep for the night, bath, jammies, books and nurse/bottle. Then keep things dark and quiet. When my DD woke overnight to eat, I turned on her closet light and cracked the door just a smidge to be able to change her diaper. Then I nursed her and put her right back into her crib. She knew nighttime was for sleeping and daytime was for awake. Be consistent with your routines and she will gradually get the hang of it after a few days.

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