6 week old advice

MommyMoru · January 2015

Hello moms

Kind of a two part question...

My little man just turned 6 weeks old. Recently he's been having trouble sleeping in his crib and I've basically had to get him to sleep in my bed then move him at night but he never stays asleep when put in his crib. The husband and I can't really sleep with him in the bed because there isn't enough room for the three of us to bed share safely at this age. I'm wondering if any other moms have advice on getting LO to sleep and stay asleep in their bed. I usually wait at least 10-15 minutes after he goes to sleep in my arms to put him down since I know he's deep asleep.

Along with this, he's been sleeping 3-6 hour stretches during the day and only 1-2 hour stretches at night. I'm finding myself exhausted during the evenings/nights because of this. I have things to do during the day (cleaning/cooking/errands/etc) just like any other mom and can only put in about an hour or two of nap time myself during the day, if that sometimes. It's like LO has his days/nights mixed again. He was doing great for a while and had days/nights switched well but now it's like we've gone backwards. I'm wondering if I should let him sleep during the day or try to keep him awake or just let it run its course for now. But I'm staying so exhausted at night that at times I have little strength to even hold him and I know that's dangerous. At those times, I just put him in bed beside me and breastfeed lying down for safety and to try and rest while he eats/comforts himself.

Just last week we went through a spell of never sleeping during the day and sleeping 2-3 hour stretches at night, fyi. And my husband can't really help much during the week because of his work schedule (usually up at 6, works 8am-8pm and home around 930pm) so he's always really tired and needs his rest in order to work. And I don't have any family or friends nearby that can really come help and it seems troublesome to ask someone to help during a 2am waking, at least to me.

So any advice on what's going on with LO, how long it will last, and what I can do in the mean time to catch up on sleep and be awake enough when he is to tend his needs would be helpful

FirstatForty · January 2015

I remember saying the same thing at that time. I also posted that my LO at 6 weeks was mixed up with days and nights. Hang in there, it will get better. My LO is 8 weeks now and sleeps considerably less in the day and more at night in her crib. I still have to rock her in my arms until she's asleep but then I gently place her in the crib holding her as close to me as possible and lower myself with her and then hover there. Lol, it sounds funny but I'm tricking her into thinking she is still in my arms and she can settle still smelling and feeling me close. I slowly slowly pull away from her and most of the time it works

Of course I'm still not getting much done in the day now she's awake more and I'm either feeding her, playing or she wants to be held. When our LO's are crawling around we will probably wish for these days when all they did was sleep, lol. Good luck

anewadventure · January 2015

it's normal for babies that young to have day/night confusion. as your LO gets older, he will start to consolidate his night sleep and move his longest sleep period to the nighttime. i know no one wants to hear "just wait" as an answer, sorry.

please don't wake your baby when he is sleeping during the day unless your pediatrician has directed you to in order to provide enough feedings for weight gain. making your baby overtired will not actually result in more sleep at night.

you can try a wedge under the crib mattress to make an incline or using another sleeping vessel like a rock'n'play until LO is older. are you swaddling? swaddling can really help you with your crib sleep quality.

i get that your H needs rest in order to work but i think you should revisit this topic with him. i don't think it is unreasonable for him to help you in the MOTN so that you can get some rest, too, especially if you think you are so tired that it is unsafe. taking care of an infant is work, too, even though you aren't commuting to a desk job.

MommyMoru · January 2015

anewadventure said:
it's normal for babies that young to have day/night confusion. as your LO gets older, he will start to consolidate his night sleep and move his longest sleep period to the nighttime. i know no one wants to hear "just wait" as an answer, sorry.

please don't wake your baby when he is sleeping during the day unless your pediatrician has directed you to in order to provide enough feedings for weight gain. making your baby overtired will not actually result in more sleep at night.

you can try a wedge under the crib mattress to make an incline or using another sleeping vessel like a rock'n'play until LO is older. are you swaddling? swaddling can really help you with your crib sleep quality.

i get that your H needs rest in order to work but i think you should revisit this topic with him. i don't think it is unreasonable for him to help you in the MOTN so that you can get some rest, too, especially if you think you are so tired that it is unsafe. taking care of an infant is work, too, even though you aren't commuting to a desk job.

We don't have a regular pediatrician here because Japan has social insurance and you go wherever. But at our one month check up he didn't say anything about feedings or waking him up to feed

I've not been waking him since about 4 weeks as he was gaining weight well and had enough wet/poopy diapers that I wasn't concerned about feeding so H and I have been doing on demand feeding for a couple of weeks now.

As for swaddling they don't really practice that here

and when I tried LO fought tooth and nail with it. He just won't accept it at all. So I loosely wrap him and hold him mainly to keep him warm

And H and I have discussed things because I just was so tired and frustrated. We've worked out some things to try so we shall see how that works out.

lana22 · January 2015

my LO is only 3 weeks old, but i wake her every 2-3 hours during the day to eat. sometimes she goes right back to sleep after nursing, and sometime she then stays up for a bit. i prefer she do longer stretches at night and not have any day/night confusion. she is still taking lots of naps, but generally not longer than 2 hours. if you want you LO sleeping longer stretches at night, don't let him sleep 3-6 hours during the day. it may take a week or so, and it may be rougher during the day, but eventually he will get it.

i know it's hard, but i would also try to start (esp when you're feeling better rested) to hold him less and put him down earlier. it will take a lot of repetition, but the earlier you start trying to put him down drowsy but awake, the quicker he will take to it, and in the long run it will get easier. you could also try putting a blanket underneath the sheet so his head is elevated a little bit.

6 week old advice

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