Anyone else? -sleep question

jenEP · January 2016

Is anyone else still holding out for a stretch of sleep longer than 3 hours? DD is 5 weeks and she still wakes every 2 hours to nurse at night. Sometimes I will get one 3 hour stretch. I am so excited for the first night that she goes 4 hours. Anyone else still not getting a long stretch at night? Those of you who do get 4 hour plus hours, what's your secret?

kelseyofanne · January 2016

I'm not getting a consistent one but a couple times I was surprised by a 6 hour stretch!

Gingermom15 · January 2016

Henry sleeps in 5-8 hour stretches at night at least a few times a week now, though sometimes he still cluster feeds and doesn't sleep. He will be 9 weeks on Monday and he slept for the first long stretch around 7 weeks. I let in lots of natural light in during the day, tried to stimulate him when he wasn't napping and read to him. his last feed is usually 9ish so 8:30 we change his diaper, turn down the lights and reduce noise. Recently we started using the white noise app and that helps settle him. I have no idea if these things help him if I passed my love of sleep on to him. We initially started this routine because we noticed he was eating at the same times every night for a while. Sleep training shouldn't be done until the child is older but we wanted to get a start on a routine.

Taylovesbrad · January 2016

Right there with you. Almost 7 weeks. And he is not a great napper. This kid fights sleeps like nothing else

Court11152325 · January 2016

I think a routine has helped us. Sybil's first stretch of the night is typically at least 4 hours, but she's gone 6. We try to start around 7 with tummy time, dimming of lights, a bath, lotion, clean diaper, pajamas, and then nursing. She's done nursing around 9:30 and I get her down around 9:45.

Now if someone can tell me how to get her to nurse faster at her first wake up, that'd be great. It regularly takes 2 hours. Then she's up again in 1-2 hours after that. Gah!

thatgirlree24 · January 2016

Yeah my LO doesn't really do long stretches of sleep either. Longest was probably 4 1/2hrs and that happened like once.

dmendo01 · January 2016

Lyncoln fights daytime naps but generally her first stretch is 4 hours from 8 or 9 to 12 or 1. Then she usually goes back down around 1:45 and sleeps til 5. Then it's a crap shoot whether or not she will be easy to get back down. We do 2 hour feeds during the day. I have no secret at all ha, but I would also love a 6 hour stretch! That would be amazing!

angelicac06 · January 2016

Its hit or miss over here. Some times is 3 hours. Other times is 4 and I have had 5 hours twice.

Try to start bath aroung 8:30. Nurse 9-10pm. He wakes up around 2 then back down around 3 then 1-2hours after that. Maybe it does depend on how much they nap during the day? Ill start paying attention. Hes 7 weeks.

groovylocks · January 2016

The longest stretch might have been somewhere close to 4 hours - typically she sleeps between 2-3.5 hours a stretch. She makes up for short sleep bursts by being super-habitual. She goes to sleep between 9 and 10. Sleeps till 1:30. Then wakes again between 4 and 4:30. Then again between 6 and 7:30. And then she's up for about an hour before going back to sleep for another hour.

During the day, she used to go down for naps but now her daytime naps are on me or the cat, who absolutely adores her (pic below for attention ^_^ ) EDIT: Don't worry, i supervise all that.

I'm looking forward to longer sleep stretches but i know that the first night she manages to sleep a long stretch, i'll wake up in a blind panic thinking she's dead.

JackJacktheCat · January 2016

Sophie is 5w & EBF. She often sleeps 3-6 hour stretches. At night I keep the tv off, lights dim, sound machine with white noise on, and she's always in a halo sleep swaddle (arms out for nursing). After I feed her at night I let her fall asleep on the boob, then I leave her there in whatever position she's in for at least 20 min. I don't move... At all. Once she's super passed out I CAREFULLY put her in her co-sleeper, put the arms inside the halo sleep swaddle & let her be. She hardly ever wakes during the transition but if she does she's right back to sleep. I repeat this anytime she wakes up at night, which is usually only once or twice.

During the day, we never swaddle her & we keep all the curtains open, & make as much noise as necessary. I think this has helped her distinguish night & day. Or we may just be lucky. The more she naps during the day, the more she sleeps at night.

jkloeppel · January 2016

It is 2am and I just woke up to nurse her from a six hour stretch. Praise jebus. This is pretty rare. She usually feeds every 3 hours at night.

dec15mum · January 2016

Zachary can sleep up to 6 hours at a time, I'm not sure why (although not complaining)
I bed share and that's the only thing I can think of, I've tried getting him to sleep in his basket and he won't more than half an hour

chewie5990 · January 2016

My LO just started doing 4 hr stretches and so far so good. Question for moms who EBF do you wake up and pump if your LO sleeps up to 6 hours? Even 4 hours leave me engorged and then LO has a hard time nursing in the morning. I almost don't want to go longer because waking up to pump would involve walking to the kitchen, turning on lights, rinsing equipment, etc. and seems like more work than grabbing him from his cradle for a quick nursing session.

Evvi121515 · January 2016

No long stretches here.. Our norm is 2ish hours, longest he's gone is 3. EBF and almost 5 weeks old.

kksquared · January 2016

chewie5990 said:
My LO just started doing 4 hr stretches and so far so good. Question for moms who EBF do you wake up and pump if your LO sleeps up to 6 hours? Even 4 hours leave me engorged and then LO has a hard time nursing in the morning. I almost don't want to go longer because waking up to pump would involve walking to the kitchen, turning on lights, rinsing equipment, etc. and seems like more work than grabbing him from his cradle for a quick nursing session.

DS occasionally will sleep 6 hrs and once 6.5 hrs. I asked a LC and she said I should pump at the 6 hr mark of he is consistently sleeping longer than that. One night shouldn't matter for your supply but every night might. I don't set an alarm to pump at the 6 hr mark since he only goes that long 1-2 times a week. If I wake up at the 5ish hr mark uncomfortable I wake him up to eat since I know he'll want to eat soon. It would be my luck to start pumping and he would wake up and I would have to get a bottle of expressed milk ready and feed him right after.

Court11152325 · January 2016

@chewie5990 - I would have the pump ready just in case you need it rather than leaving it unrinsed in the kitchen. But it sounds like the most you'd need to do right now is manually express a little to soften your breast a little. If LO rarely goes longer than 6, I would do what PP said and wake up baby and feed (if you're waking up from engorgement anyway).

JackJacktheCat · January 2016

chewie5990 said:
My LO just started doing 4 hr stretches and so far so good. Question for moms who EBF do you wake up and pump if your LO sleeps up to 6 hours? Even 4 hours leave me engorged and then LO has a hard time nursing in the morning. I almost don't want to go longer because waking up to pump would involve walking to the kitchen, turning on lights, rinsing equipment, etc. and seems like more work than grabbing him from his cradle for a quick nursing session.

I never know when she is going to sleep for 4-6 hours so I don't set an alarm or anything, but if she does sleep that long I've undoubtedly produced more than she'll eat so I let her eat first, then pump until I'm empty before returning to bed. I usually get 5oz. It's helped me build a freezer stash. My supply hasn't been affected so far but if it starts to decrease I'd just set an alarm to be sure to wake up & feed her. She sleeps in a co sleeper so if my alarm went off she's wake up too.

Knottie16959881 · January 2016

I don't know that there's a secret to achieving long stretches, but if you cosleep try nursing laying down on your side. My mom taught me this a couple days after we came home from the hospital and it makes it so you can sleep while they're nursing.

cdepperschmidt · January 2016

Lurking from November...

DS was 9 weeks before he slept longer than 3 hours. Before that it was usually only 2 hours with the OCCASIONAL 3 hour stretch. I don't think there is a secret. One night he just slept 5 hours (and I woke up every hour to make sure he wasn't dead). Hang in there Mama, it will come when you least expect it!

teachmegs817 · January 2016

The longest we've gotten so far is 4 hours, and it's not even a full 4 hours of sleep, it's just 4 hours between last time he woke up. So he's probably sleeping for 3ish and the other hour is when we changed/fed him. And it only happens maybe 1-2 a week right now. He's pretty much every 3 hours otherwise between last feeding.

DS was born 6 weeks early, so I'm holding out that he has yet to sleep in longer bouts because he's preemie. I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks, we start to see a change.

soccsm13 · January 2016

DD is a month old today and slept 6 hours straight for the first time last night! Usually she does 2 4hr stretches. We have white noise at night and a noisy toddler in daylight hours

she usually naps when he does 1-4pm too!

katy4128 · January 2016

Leo sleeps from about 11-4:30am then eats and sleeps 5:15-8:30. He has done this for 5 nights in a row so I hope this is his new thing! At about 10:30 when I go to bed I will feed him about 2/3 oz to top him off even if it isn't "time" to eat yet. If he is asleep I still do a dream feed. He will usually finish the bottle. Leo also sleeps in a RNP right beside me. Before he started sleeping this good he was in a PNP and up every 2 hrs.

ammnam14 · January 2016

Zoe and I have a bedtime routine, it seems to be working well for us.

She'll eat around 6:30-7, then we'll play with her or let her hang out in her bouncer. 8-8:30 is bathtime. She is starting to really love baths, yay! I use the lavender baby soap and then give her a good massage with the lotion. I also rub her feet with a little essential oil mix (totally safe and approved by pediatricians). Once she's warm and comfy she'll eat again around 9. Then she's usually passed out by 9:45-10 and will sleep until 2-3. It's heavenly. I actually got up before her today and was able to make breakfast and clean up!

grkgdss00 · January 2016

We have 4-5 hour stretches, my baby is 3w and EBF. Not sure how we achieved it, maybe just luck. I also swapped out the lamp in my room to a red light, so there's only a minimal amount of light at feedings and no talking, etc. She sleeps in her Halo sleep sack with jammies underneath, cause she likes sleeping with her arms up. We go to bedroom, put on sack, nurse, burp and she'll usually fall asleep on me. I don't waste time I put her in her bassinet and she'll sleep around 4 hours, wake, eat, burp and when she starts to fall asleep I change her diaper. Then come back and nurse and burp again and back to bassinet. She'll usually go another long stretch then wake up around 4-5am and want to eat every hour or two until about 9am. Hope that helps!

Bubbz · January 2016

This is how I cheat and get mine to sleep longer (sometimes): I sneak in an extra pumping session and top him off with a bottle before bed. He'll eat more out of a bottle than from the breast, and the extra food will knock his butt out for about 5 hours instead of the usual 3.

ATolentino89 · January 2016

Bubbz said:
This is how I cheat and get mine to sleep longer (sometimes): I sneak in an extra pumping session and top him off with a bottle before bed. He'll eat more out of a bottle than from the breast, and the extra food will knock his butt out for about 5 hours instead of the usual 3.

This. Before I went back to work DH would give LO a bottle before bed while I pumped then I would let LO comfort suck for 5 minutes until he fell asleep. He slept for 4-5 hours.

dmendo01 · January 2016

Okay guys...help! DD is seriously fighting day time naps. She generally is good with night time. But she wears herself plum out trying to stay awake all day, and I have been vigilantly trying to make her sleep. I would say she is up pretty much from 10-5 before she will give up and nap. At night she gets swaddled and sleeps in her RNP which is rocking and I play the white noise for her...I try to do the same thing for day time the only difference is probably the back ground noise of the tv on low or light conversation as well as some daytime lighting. She has previously not had a problem with the sound so idk if that's it? But I don't want her to get days/nights mixed up and I don't want to have a baby that's the lightest sleeper in the whole world. I tried putting her down today when it was very quiet and I wait til she is conked and she will still woke after only 30 minutes. this makes evenings horrible because she is so exhausted she gets very fussy and it's difficult trying to nurse her. Any advice?

kdoak2015 · January 2016

I have the opposite problem ours naps during the day and is awake sometimes from 6-11 with 30min cat naps in this time frame. She is soo fussy in the evenings "purple crying" and it's wearing me down and I feel like a POS mom during this period.

misamima · January 2016

@dmendo01 It sounds like DD is overtired. Not sure how many weeks she is, but with LO, I always attempt to put her down for a nap after being awake for 45-50 mins. I've found that this is her sweet window to be put down for a nap without her fighting it so hard. I've made the mistake of waiting too long (while I tend to my toddler) and putting her down after being awake for over an hour and she is an overtired mess that tries to fight it.

leek71983 · January 2016

At my last appt, the nurse practitioner said its more about weight than weeks old. She said around 10lbs-11lbs they start sleeping longer bc their bellies hold more and they remain full longer. My LO is 10lbs and 5w. He will do a 4 hour stretch. I'm hoping for some longer ones soon. We may have to adjust sleeping arrangements though for this to happen.

canalles · January 2016

After reading everyone else's stories how their baby sleeps 4-6+hour stretches I started to feel really bad because my son still wakes up every couple of hours and he's 8 weeks. I read your comment and felt really relieved because he's only 9.5 going on 10lbs. Hoping he will start those long stretches soon!

dmendo01 · January 2016

@misamima my LO usually nurses for at least 30 minutes. I'd be putting her down after every feeding if I only let her stay up 45 minutes. But she must have some kind of point I need to find and not keep her up past!

breezypip · January 2016

dmendo01 said:
@misamima my LO usually nurses for at least 30 minutes. I'd be putting her down after every feeding if I only let her stay up 45 minutes. But she must have some kind of point I need to find and not keep her up past!

Me too, DD nurses on average of 45 min per session. I can only get her to nap for about 20 min unless carried. It makes for a tough day where I can't leave the couch and get nothing done.

misamima · January 2016

Obviously all babies are different and no 2 are alike. But I basically followed this as a guide with DD (now 2.5 yrs old) and currently following as a guide with LO. So far it's been working, along with watching her sleepy cues (yawn, dazed look, fussiness, etc). LO will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and her current awake time is anywhere from 45-60 mins (feeding time included). If I catch her in this window, it's easier to put her down for a nap, which lasts anywhere from 45 mins - 2 hrs.

Again, this is just a guide I follow. Not saying it'll work out for all babies. Just thought I'd share.

ksrkim · January 2016

My boy is over 11 pounds and is 6 weeks and the longest I get at night is 2.5 hours, and then like every hour after that. He is battling reflux and bad gas so I think that is the reason for his short sleep sessions. I am trying many things to figure him out and help him feel more comfortable but nothing consistently works.

jenEP · January 2016

I got my first 3.5 hr stretch last night followed by a 2.5 hr one. It was glorious. It was also well-deserved as DD had an impressive witching hour from 6pm-11pm

dmendo01 · January 2016

DD will sleep decent at night. She does start stirring and I was wondering if you guys get your LOs up when you can tell they're about to wake up or do you wait for them to cry? Sometimes DD will stir and go back to sleep and this will go on for an hour before she actually cries, and her eyes are still closed but she's grunting and turning her head. I have been waiting for the actual cry but wondering what everyone else does.

katy4128 · January 2016

@dmendo01 My lo does this too. When I hear him I will first try to give him his paci back. Sometimes that is all he needs but if he still is noisey after about 5/10 mins then I feed him. For me, it is easier to feed him before he gets upset and it keeps my motn feedings quieter (ds wakes up easily) if lo doesn't cry as much.

taysun · January 2016

dmendo01 said:
DD will sleep decent at night. She does start stirring and I was wondering if you guys get your LOs up when you can tell they're about to wake up or do you wait for them to cry? Sometimes DD will stir and go back to sleep and this will go on for an hour before she actually cries, and her eyes are still closed but she's grunting and turning her head. I have been waiting for the actual cry but wondering what everyone else does.

If she wakes me up with grunting and movement I feed her before she wakes up. If I manage to do that I can sometimes feed and burp her without her even waking up.

dmendo01 · January 2016

@taysun that sounds wonderful! LO was pushing over 5 hours of sleep last night so as much as I would love to put her right back I felt I needed to change her diaper which always wakes her up good no matter how sleepy she is

taysun · January 2016

dmendo01 said:
@taysun that sounds wonderful! LO was pushing over 5 hours of sleep last night so as much as I would love to put her right back I felt I needed to change her diaper which always wakes her up good no matter how sleepy she is

Maybe this makes me awful but I don't change her at night unless she won't go back to sleep or is seriously fussing. She hasn't gotten any diaper rash from it and we both sleep better. She also rarely poops at night and I've found the huggies we use to be dry to the touch even with a full wet diaper.

Anyone else? -sleep question

Re: Anyone else? -sleep question

Choose Another Board

Search Boards