3 weeks old...

and DD insists upon sleeping all day long and staying up most of the night. She's killing me, I take one nap a day with her during the day just so that I can function with her at night but how in the hell do I switch her up. I've been trying to keep her awake as long as I can but she becomes miserable and tends to fall alseep no matter what my efforts are. Sooooo need help. I am nursing and I give her a bottle of formula at night before bedtime to get a good 5-6 hrs out of her. She gets her bottle between 8:30 and 10:30 at night and then I go to bed the same time she passes out but then she is up between 1 and 3 and stays up until 6 /7 am before I can get her to sleep for another 4 hrs .... I need some sort of balance.
Any suggestions ... PLEASE

Re: 3 weeks old...

for a 3 months old to sleep 5 to 6 hrs is pretty good..

What I did at that time was, keep waking her up every 3 hrs for feedings. You don't have to keep her up, but make sure she eats every 3 hrs - so she is up every three hrs. Than, my last feeding was always between 11 - 12. That way she slept till 5 am. Than, at 5am, I kept all the lights off at all times, quietly fed her, and back to sleep - unless she pooped i didn't change her diaper.

.. maybe that will help you

Re: 3 weeks old...

I think the part that is killing you is the 5 hours she is up from 1 to 6. That would kill me too. That happened once with my DS and I thought I was going to die, literally! I started swaddling him again and he fought and fought, but it worked. Maybe try swaddling. Also, for the last feeding of the day, i let him go as long as he wants...could mean an hour. It is a pain, but I think it fills him up and he does not stay up as long. Good luck. I feel your pain!

Re: 3 weeks old...

Make sure at night you keep the lights dim and keep things quiet. During the day make it bright and active.

There are two books that really really helped us:

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

and

The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer

Each of them has made a profound difference for me.

ETA: I borrowed both from my library instead of buying them.

Message edited 3/25/2008 5:31:51 PM.

Re: 3 weeks old...

My dd did that a few times. Would be up from 12-6 I wanted to die! Then she would sleep from 6-11, so that's when I slept. We finally worked that out and then had a hard time getting her to go to bed earlier than 11. I really don't have any advice other than just ride it out and she should be better in another 3 weeks. My 6 weeks, my dd was sleeping 11-4.

Re: 3 weeks old...

thanks for all the advice.. at night we are def keeping things nice and quiet which seemed to work the night before but was no help last night. Today I tried the waking her every 3 hrs and she has now been awake for 2 1/2 hrs already so i'm hoping to keep her up as long as she will allow and then give her a nice long feeding of formula by 10 or 11 and hoping that will put her out for 5 hrs or so... I HOPE

Re: 3 weeks old...

Re: 3 weeks old...

Posted by Mrs

Posted by CalendarGirl16

thanks for all the advice.. at night we are def keeping things nice and quiet which seemed to work the night before but was no help last night. Today I tried the waking her every 3 hrs and she has now been awake for 2 1/2 hrs already so i'm hoping to keep her up as long as she will allow and then give her a nice long feeding of formula by 10 or 11 and hoping that will put her out for 5 hrs or so... I HOPE

good luck!!!

The trick is also not to keep them up for too long - if they are overtired they will be even worse!

Re: 3 weeks old...

I would do anything for my DD to sleep 5hrs at a time, she is 4 weeks.

Re: 3 weeks old...

so far so good tonight.... I woke her up every 3 hrs during the day and let her eat a ton at 10:30 for bedtime.. she woke up for a 2:30 feeding and now its 4 am and I get to go back to sleep!!!!!!
However we will see what time she wakes up now..... hmmmm

Re: 3 weeks old...

so i lied i tried to go back to sleep at 4 but DD woke up again at 4:30 and didt't go back to sleep again until 6:30 after another 4 ounce bottle... I give up

Re: 3 weeks old...

that is completely normal behavior for a 3 week old... i would wake her to feed her during the day but don't try to keep her up...
Around 4-6 weeks they start to switch their days/nights so you are almost there!
Take her out for a walk today, sunlight helps their internal clock...

Re: 3 weeks old...

OMG.... so its now 7 am and this child is still not asleep
I just woke up my husband because I can't take it anymore I need to get some sleep and she's still awake. I have now fed her twice and changed her like 3-4 times and gave her medicine to get rid of her gas, rocked her, rubbed her back, walked with her......

Re: 3 weeks old...

Unfortunately, this is the way it is at the beginning, it is completely normal and eventually she will begin sleeping more at night.

Listen, my 11 month old goes to bed at 7pm, wakes up at 11pm for a bottle, again at 1:30am for a bottle and then again at 5am for a bottle

Re: 3 weeks old...

Posted by CalendarGirl16

OMG.... so its now 7 am and this child is still not asleep
I just woke up my husband because I can't take it anymore I need to get some sleep and she's still awake. I have now fed her twice and changed her like 3-4 times and gave her medicine to get rid of her gas, rocked her, rubbed her back, walked with her......

Message edited 3/26/2008 8:06:34 AM.

Re: 3 weeks old...

DS is 4 weeks old and my situation is pretty much the same. He did pretty well last night - meaning he woke up every two hours to eat and then went right back to sleep (for the most part). He did wake up at 2 am and went back to sleep at 3 am and then at 5:30 am he was up until 6:30 am and he's still sleeping now.

I would love to sleep as well but as soon as DS fell asleep, at 3 am his lovely 2 year old brother woke up screaming and has been up ever since.....

Hang in there, eventually they do start to sleep longer. People told me with DS#1 to wake him and feed him right before I would go to sleep. I wish I had done that looking back. I'll start doing that with DS#2 when he's about 6 weeks. Start a routine such as bath, eating, bed. It's still early but I found that helped with DS#1 and around 6 weeks it started to get better - he knew what was coming next.

Good luck and I feel your pain:(

Re: 3 weeks old...

thanks girls... well DH finally got DD to sleep around 7:30 and because she had been awake for 5 hrs by then and had exhausted herself I was lucky enouigh to get a good 6 hrs sleep out of her
Thank goodness.... now its almost 2pm and we are finally up for the day

Re: 3 weeks old...

My ds is only two weeks, but he is starting with similar sleep patterns.

Re: 3 weeks old...

I think we ALL feel your pain!!! Sleep deprivation is HORRIBLE. Especially when you have a newborn to care for. I really dont have much advice. It seems as if you are doing what you should be doing, but I will say that it does get better.

I know it seems like another 6 or so weeks seems like an eternity, but my DD wasnt the greatest sleeper in the beginning, but at around 9 weeks old....bam....she slept through the night with no wakings. She is still sleeping through with the occasional waking here and there.

I cant even begin to tell you what sleep deprivation did to me. I made be me feel so depressed, etc. But, i got through it. It just takes some time and patience.