Newborn Sleeping

3KIDSNOMONEY

I have a 5 week old and during the day he sleeps and sleeps - he wakes for feeds. He normally wakes in the evening. I have tried to alter his sleeping pattern but when he wants to sleep its impossible. i normally put him in his fisher price infant to toddler rocker so he isn't laid fully flat but isn't squashed up. Would love to know how what sleeping patterns other people with newborns have - should i be putting him in a moses basket when he sleeps for ages. When he does wake i do tend to pick him up as i feel guilty as he is sleeping so much - am i making a trouble for myself as he won't be content just to amuse himself.

Also, i tried him on a bottle of formula last night, sma gold, but he didn't sleep much as he has a cold, anybody had any good/bad experiences with this milk, i.e. tummyaches.

RoxieW

i think at 5 weeks its too early for him to be in a proper pattern and he will likely sllep for a large proportion of the time. Dont feel guilty about this - if he didnt need to then he wouldn't sleep.

Ours had similar sleep pattern - would sleep lots during the day, the be awake from 6pm - midnight, on and off.

I'd give it another month before worrying about any kind of routine - just try to take advantage of him sleeping lots while you can!

piratess

Hiya x ...

Umm the sleep thing is always a toughy! I always used to put my newborn into the moses basket which we had in the living room or in the carrycot on the pram,
I think after a few weeks they find their own routine i used to keep my newborn with me and then when i went to bed i carried his basket upstairs with me ....
When he reached 10/12 weeks i set a bed time 9.pm and then at that time each evening he went upto bed and we did the leave to cry for 2 mins then go in and settle ... this took about a week to get goin but was worth it,

I think at 5 weeks they start suffering really badly with colic! .... crying bringing legs up towards tummy not being able to settle you cant calm them and this can go on for a good 2 hours an evening, I had my newborn on sma gold ... and also colic drops in his milk when the colic started ...

If you think your has colic a good way of help ease it is to lay baby on your lap sort of inbetween your legs so head is at your knees and legs down near your tum ... then cycle babys legs as if on a bike this motion can ease colic . Or with the flat of your hand place just above front of nappy, and then in a clockwise movement give a gentle rub but only in one direction slowly in the clockwise direction somtimes this can help ....

Im not sure about the spoiling him bit! .. If mine woke up id leave him to just babbles and coo until he started getting stressy and then id take him out for a cuddle ..... bum change bottle etc ...

xx hope some of my babbles help x

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

because of my postnatal depression my oh and i have tried really hard to get dd in routine (she is 6 weeks old) - it wouldnt work for everyone but its the only way i can feel like im coping when oh is at work.

she gets up between 6 -7ish, nap from 9 - 10am, nap from 11.30am - 2pm, nap from 4-5pm, down to sleep at 7pm then up at 11pm and between 2 and 3ish for feeds.

if you want more info on the details please pm me

she has had this routine since she was 4 weeks - it doesnt work everyday but i try to keep to it as much as i can - but i'm flexible when it goes wrong :rotfl:- like you the hardest part is trying to keep her awake - i also use her fisher price rocker with the music and vibration on which sometimes works - her dad is much better at keeping her up

i know lots of people are against strict routines - but my dd is very happy little baby and is putting on weight well so i must be something right. it also means i get a few hours to stay on top of house and just have some time to relax even just an hour of tv or to phone a friend or my mum (yay for mums)

that said i think its what works for you - millions of people have a much more flexible approach and their babies are just as happy and well

Love Nic x

EDIT - sorry meant to say i use sma gold (as dd wouldnt latch on) and i also use a few drops of infacol before hand - miracle stuff - she loves the orange taste lol

jay11_2

I'd say enjoy it! I remember asking the midwife when DS would stop sleeping so much, and her laughing and saying I'd soon be trying to GET him to sleep:rotfl: .

Her advice was to wake him for a feed if he went 5-6 hours without one, and to seperate day/night (nightime sleeps in a darkened bedroom, daytime ones in a light room), and to establish a bedtime routine of bath/baby massage, song/story, etc. This was to support baby's sense of day & night,and worked a treat.

From 3 months he was increasingly more awake, and of course I looked back longingly at times. When DD was born, (when DS was 1:eek: ) I was sooo glad she slept lots:rolleyes: . We followed a similar routine, daytime in the pram near us, night-time in their cradles, and both have always been fairly good sleepers.

I don't think you can spoil babies, I always loved cuddling mine, but you can't do it constantly (sadly). I found that when I was busy they were mostly happy to lie in their pram watch me/dad/sunbeams/their fingers/anything and everything, as long as fed, cleaned, and in a relaxed environment. Or having them close to me in a sling did the trick. Just think you can't cuddle/snuggle/play with, grumpy teens, so ENJOY, and listen to your instincts.

I'd definitley lie him flat though--simply much better for the spine at that age, as their bones are so soft.

Don't know about milk, sorry, what does your midwife / HV say?

jetcat

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico wrote: »

because of my postnatal depression my oh and i have tried really hard to get dd in routine (she is 6 weeks old) - it wouldnt work for everyone but its the only way i can feel like im coping when oh is at work.

she gets up between 6 -7ish, nap from 9 - 10am, nap from 11.30am - 2pm, nap from 4-5pm, down to sleep at 7pm then up at 11pm and between 2 and 3ish for feeds.

know lots of people are against strict routines - but my dd is very happy little baby and is putting on weight well so i must be something right.

hey miss kitty

i had exactly the same routine with my DD2. like you, i also had pnd, and found that a strict routine was the only way to go - it meant i didnt have to worry about making the right/wrong choice as to when to wake etc - it was all written down for me!! my midwife would (gently) tease me about the strictness of the routine, but she knew more than anyone how well baby and i were!

i found that over a period of a few weeks, i was able to gradually delay the 11.30 nap till after she had had her dinner, and then after a few months, she was fully settled into having a big nap after her dinner. she does still have the odd nap (about 40 mins) on a morning, esp if she has had an early start.

as we have to leave on a morning at 7.45 for DD1 school, i kept DD2 to the wake up time of 6 - 7ish (though lately it is getting more like 5.45 )

i say, go with whatever you feel is working for you - and i hope you are getting all the support you need, for both you and bubs

wes_cov

I'm sooooooooo Lucky

DD is 12 weeks old and has slept through at night from about 3 weeks.

Last feed at about 10pm then in to her Moses Basket all swaddled (we found this really helped her distinguish between day and night) then she would wake about 7am this has continued now we have just moved her in to her cot (as she was breaking out of her swaddle and getting too long for her Moses basket)

we did try her on SMA gold but found she suffered from terrible Constipation then moved her on to Cow and gate and she swung the other way health visitor then decided she was Lactose intolerant so she is now on SMA lactose free and is back to being constipated though now where near as bad as before so health visitor recommended V diluted apple juice if that didn't work V diluted orange juice and failing that v diluted Prune juice THIS WORKED!!!!!!:rotfl:

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

thanks jetcat

its good to hear im not the only one - i think my mil secretly thinks im like a sergeant major :rotfl: but to be fair she doesnt know about the pnd - i manage to hide it most of the time

Paula_anne

My daughter started sleeping all through from 3 wks old, i didn't really do anything but keep the room dark and quiet at night and she done the rest, i also don't put her to bed during the day, i let her lay on the sofa as i don't want her to get confused.

All 3 of my babies were on sma gold and we had no probs, though with this one she only drinks the cartons as they're sweeter.

squashy

I found that trying to follow a strict routine made my PND worse. Try coping with a screaming baby at 4 months when they go through a growth spurt and sitting their pointing at your watch saying "well you are not due to feed for a couple of hours yet!"

I have just had my third baby and she has demand fed all the way, I am so much happier, we just muddle along together nicely, breastfeeding of course makes this a doddle, we have a "cycle" rather than a routine where she tends to have a nap inbetween each feed but no set times for any of it.

We have always taken her upstairs for her last feed and this has naturally fallen into around 10pm, she then recognises the dark and sleeps straight after each night feed too so we are all getting plenty of sleep.

I am going back to work in just under three months but I am confident she will figure her own routine by then, for daddy to cope with!

I couldn't bear to leave her to cry-it-out, in fact I couldn't bear it with my son hence it contributing to my feelings of self loathing which seemed to lift once I gave up on the routine thing for my precious baby!

Lunar_Eclipse

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico wrote: »

like you the hardest part is trying to keep her awake

Why? Babies need sleep and apparently can't have too much.

For anyone who has a baby that loves sleep - count your blessings, you are extremely lucky!

Have had children at both ends of the sleep spectrum. Wouldn't force one to stay awake if they need sleep since it usually (but not always) means they sleep less overall as they get over tired. Took me a while to realise that over tiredness is the hardest thing to deal with (besides severe colic although the effect is the same - lots of crying!) since it makes it hard to get to sleep. And then they usually sleep for less time.

I remember reading once to get babies and children into bed before the third yawn. It works! The best 'advice' I ever had.

Edit to add hope for someone maybe - my baby that didn't sleep during the day is now 8 and sleeps for 11 hours/night which is at the higher end for her age There appears to be no similarity between the baby and the child/person IMO. The baby in my NCT group that cried ALL the time for what seemed like his first year of life (hard to be around and very tiring for his first time parents), is now the happiest and calmest of children. And sadly my happy very easy (second) baby who is now 6 spends a lot of time moaning!