Any tips on keeping baby awake during the day?
Think this is my first official post in Baby
My Baby Boy is 18 days old today and i'm shattered from him wanting to feed every 2 hours at night (so only 1 hr sleep at a time). Been trying to get him into some sort of routine and he's been quite good at only waking once between 11pm and 6/7am for the last 2 nights.
Unfortunately yesterday he slept for AGES during the day (he would fall asleep straight after a feed and i just couldnt get him to stay awake) and so was awake for 2 hours at 3.30am! he just wouldn't go back to sleep
so does anyone have any tips for the following:
1) Keeping baby awake during the day (outside of nap times) - particularly just after feeding
2) Getting baby back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night
thx
My Baby Boy is 18 days old today and i'm shattered from him wanting to feed every 2 hours at night (so only 1 hr sleep at a time). Been trying to get him into some sort of routine and he's been quite good at only waking once between 11pm and 6/7am for the last 2 nights.
Unfortunately yesterday he slept for AGES during the day (he would fall asleep straight after a feed and i just couldnt get him to stay awake) and so was awake for 2 hours at 3.30am! he just wouldn't go back to sleep
so does anyone have any tips for the following:
1) Keeping baby awake during the day (outside of nap times) - particularly just after feeding
2) Getting baby back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night
thx
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Replies
I don't want to be negative because I know how hard it is at first so its not a criticism ;\) As regards night times, sometimes its a developmental thing and at such a young age i think they have yet to settle in to a routine of sleeping at night and waking during the day, you have to give them time to work it out? Have you got the room completely dark? Do you pick him up when he wakes up (maybe try leaving him?), is he feeding at that time of the morning so is he hungry? maybe try a dummy?
We had a similar situation develop when my LO would sleep a lot during the day and want to party at night, it didnt take much tweaking to get him to change this....these are the things that worked for us...
Always started the day at the same time..(this was 8am for us)
After his breakfast feed i would top and tail him which would keep him awake for a while
In the afternoon after lunch feed i would do an olive oil massage he used to love this and he was always wide awake but very relaxed, he would then have a nice nap, and in the evening we would give him a small feed, then bath him and then finish his feed upstairs in dim light, he was then swaddled and put to bed around 7.30ish.
We saw results in a few days, he wasnt over stimulated but he started to know the difference between night and day by having a little 'activity' after each feed during the day, he was still getting plenty of sleep but his awake periods were always in the day and not at night!! (at night we would feed with minimal light and not much noise)
I hope you find some things from my rambling that will also work for you
Most newborn babies only go 2-3 hours at night. This is perfectly normal. They only have tiny tummies so can only take small amounts at a time. Plus if you are breastfeeding they digest the milk quicker than a formula fed baby so need feeding more often.
It does get easier in time. My little man will be 7 weeks tomorrow and is going 3 hours at a time through the night, but he is fed, changed and put back down within 10-15 minutes.
I would let your baby lead the way and in time he will find his own routine and settle into it.
At the end of the day nobody gets a decent nights sleep in the first few weeks its just part and parcel of becoming a parent. xx