4 week old DS sleeps all day and awake all night.....ahhhh HELP PLEASE....

[mppaw]

Any tips would be helpful as DS struggles to wake during the day. I wake him to feed and change him, but then he goes straight back to sleep..a proper deep sleep. I have a 3 yr DD who does not stop talking and shouting, the TV is on, but nothing wakes him.
ANYWAY, yesterday he did not wake at all, seriously, he was awake for about an hour. I clearly paid for this last night :
DS slept 10:30-12:00
DS awake 12:00-2:30
DD came in at 3:00 so took her back to bed
DS awake 4:30-6:00
DD woke up 6:30

I know this is what babies do etc, but I am struggling to care for DS, DD, DP and run the house.

Any tips re the day time would really help.

Thanks, from 1 tired, exhausted mnutter

Sympathies... it seems as though he hasn't as yet distinguished between night and day.
Where does he sleep during the day? Whereabouts during the night?

I'm not a routine-y type person, but one thing I did do when ds was a little younger than yours was introduce a bed time routine - bath and into sleep suit 6-6.30, then feed then into his moses basket in our bedroom (later cot, now he is in his own room) at around 7pm. This helped establish a difference between night and day, I think.
I guess you napping during the day is out of the question with your dd? Or does she nap as well?

Hopefully someone else will have some ideas.

Thanks Bouncing turtle, have been contemplating a bed time routine but was wondering if he is too young, but do you know what I think I might start it tomorrow. We are going to introduce a bottle tomorrow night (Expressed milk) so DP can help, plus we were thinking this might trigger that it is night time, so I think we will do the bath bottle bed thing as he probably is not too young.
He sleeps in his moses basket day and night, do you think I should keep his basket just for night time and maybe let him sleep in his pram ?
No naps during the day as DD dropped her nap just after christmas !!
She does go to nursery 2 days a week so I am getting some rest then.
To be honest it really has not been too bad with DS, b ut things do seem to be getting worse and the sleep deprevation is really playing tricks on my mind. I start doubting I can do this, We should of stuck with 1 child etc etc.....
Like i keep telling myself, things can only get better...DONT THEY ?

Tell yourself "this too will pass"!

The bottle might help but it might not... I did try that with my ds but he would down 4-5oz of EBM but still want booby!
But it has worked for some people.

Good luck, hope you have a better night tonight - let me know how you got on!

The Baby Whisperer advises not letting your baby sleep for more than 3 hours at a stretch during the day, though I know it can be hard to wake them. If you're not already, make the nightime really dark and naps in a lighter room, and try to expose him to lots of daylight in the daytime. My DD went through a phase of getting her days and nights mixed up too, but it did pass.

Hang in there!

I had this exact problem recently - ds is 4 months old now. I used to get so cross, he would fall asleep at the drop of a hat, then be up half the night. I found that a nappy change didn't wake him enough - he would open his eyes on the change table but be asleep again before I finished washing my hands. My best discovery was....a bath!! I would bath him 5 times a day sometimes. Or just sit him naked in warm water in the sink and sprinkle warm water over his head! I followed the baby wisperer's eat/activity/sleep structure (bearing in mind he was such a sleepy baby and the awake time might only be a few minutes). By 6 weeks we had turned around night and day, and he was waking twice overnight for a feed but going straight back to sleep. At 7 weeks we put him in his own room and he went to one feed a night, and from 10 weeks he has slept through from his dream feed to 7/8am. Looking back its a shame that I spent so much time getting cross that he was asleep, but the benefits now of a baby who feeds and naps well and sleeps through the night are more than worth it. And I have a dd who isn't even 2 yet, so I couldn't be up all night and then look after her in the day. Good luck!

Oh yes, and like flimflamum said, try to feed the baby every 3 hours, if you really really cannot wake him then wait 20mins and try again. Part of teaching them the diff between day and night is that they feed regularly in the day, and not at night. Bedtime routine great idea IMO. It won't work the first day, but gradually it'll get better. I put ds for naps in his cot in the dark so he has good quality restful sleep, and if he comes into light sleep will settle back rather than waking up completely from having been in a light room with me around.

Some really great tips and advice, thanks for this.
Friday night was a bit better, but I think we were both soooo tired that even his grunting did not wake me !!
We have had a couple of good nights. Still not ideal, but feeding and then straight back to sleep. He has got a blocked nose and a lovely old mans cough going on, but once they have cleared I think we are going to move him to his own room so me and him can get some quality sleep and I can start sleeping with DP again.
We are also experiencing some form of colic between 7pm-11pm which is great !!

We have started giving him a bottle of EBM at 10:30pm and will try and figure out when to give him a bath of an evening without interfering with DD's bedtime routine and our evenings.

I know this will pass, plus he is still v young, but never imagined it would be this tough.