Baby over tired at night- help!

jennsuzanne87 · September 2015

Hi mommies,

So I know you don't really sleep at night with a newborn, BUT, my little guy has been staying awake for what feels like a concerning amount of time at night. The last few nights he will be awake for about 3-4 hour stretches feeding vigorously and not falling into a deep enough sleep to stay asleep. Last night he was awake from 8 pm- 2 am. That's too long for a newborn right? I am afraid the stress of being awake will negatively impact his health- and I am of course, exhausted. I'm not sure what else to try to get him to fall into a very deep sleep- I hold and rock him, swaddle, have tried walking around with him, giving him a pacifier, using a white noise machine- none of it works. He likes to try to nurse to sleep but then will fall asleep while eating and cough on milk- then wake up mad. He sleeps wonderfully during the day and nothing seems to rattle him- so I'm not sure what's happening at night to keep him awake but I think he becomes "over tired" and then fights sleep.

What to do? Does this warrant a call to the Ped?

Mufflerlove · September 2015

It sounds normal to me. Does he want to nurse that whole time? Sounds like cluster feeding which typically happens at night.

jennsuzanne87 · September 2015

Yes, he acts starved. I thought cluster feeding too- but last night's 6 or so hour stretch just seemed excessive. Maybe not though. Thanks for the advice :-)

aavila18 · September 2015

Try starting to flip his schedule. Keep him awake during the day. I struggled with this and called a lactation consultant and it was because my milk hadn't come in. Since my breast milk came in he's been sleeping for longer stretches. Sounds like he is just hungry constantly. I know how hard it is on your nipples cause theyre constantly working. But I swear it gets better. Also don't stress. Just keep him awake if he's eating well, if this means he cries a little longer before you pick him up to feed do it. It's hard. I had my family take him so I could eat or nap while they listened to him cry and consoled him. Constantly talking to him. I will say my hormones make it hard to do. It's still hard. Just lets up lately.

jen83mn · September 2015

We feed our little guy (15 days old) every 2 hours during the day so he only gets 1-1/2 hours of sleep at a time during the day. At night we feed him every 3-4 hours and let him sleep longer. Our ped told us to make sure he's not sleeping for super long periods of time during the day so he doesn't enter that "deep sleep" and saves it for nighttime. It seems to be working so far! He's been sleeping for 3-1/2 hour long stretches at night now which definitely helps with my sleep deprivation! Worth trying anyways

WDDCH · September 2015

He has day and night mixed up which is normal.

tlc11934 · September 2015

WDDCH said:
He has day and night mixed up which is normal.

Yes, this. Try to keep him awake during the day, even if it's just 20 min longer per stretch. Also, feed more during his last feeding before "bedtime". Will he sleep in a swing? That did the trick for my fussy DD.

jennsuzanne87 · September 2015

Thanks ladies! I had him do an activity after nursing this afternoon and he's having trouble falling back to sleep again. He seems to need to nurse to sleep which is not a habit I want to create. This mom stuff is not for the faint of heart!

Mandii385 · September 2015

I wouldn't worry too much it just sounds like he's got day and night mixed up. Try to keep him awake more during the day and in the light and at night make sure it's dark, also start to make a bedtime routine like nurse bath reading nurse etc or whatever works for you. We did this with DD1 and it helped a lot.

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Baby over tired at night- help!

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