9 week old sleeps all day, perky at 23.00!!

[Chepstow1]

Hi there - Please help!! Ds is 9 weeks. From birth he was on a nice 4 hour routine ( was premature and hospital enforced it, we thought yipeeeee.) As he has got bigger, we have moved him onto a 3 hour feeding routine during the day, however he sleeps ALL THE TIME in between feeds and I have to wake him for every feed. If we get 30 mins of eyes open and play we are amazed and sometimes we get no play time at all.

However at the strike of 10-11pm he is Mr Perky and Cute, stays awake until 2am, then back to Baby dream land for the rest of the next 18hours.

Right now, we are waking him at about 10.30ish, but he then wants a 2nd feed at 1am before sleeping until 4 (then I have to wake him for the rest of the day for every feed). How do I get him to get perky earlier??

I have tried everything to keep him awake in the day including feet tickling, baths, etc etc.

Any tips??? People keep telling me to give him formula for his last feed to "send him off again"

[alibo]

uumm, i remember when our ds used to sleep all afternoon. i started waking him for his mid afternoon feed, and found that if we took him out, (but not so far that he zonked out in the car), we could keep him awake for a while. a bath used to make him more sleepy! then at 12 weeks his sleep pattern/cycles changed, which i have since learnt is quite common at 3 months old; and he wouldn't sleep in the day for longer than 30/40 minutes, at the point when he came into a "light sleep". drove me crackers for months!! we started him at that point on a vague gina ford routine: about 1 hour sleep am, 2 hours at noon, and short catnap around 4.30pm. in bed for 7pm, and then woke him for a final feed at 10/10.30pm. he would then sleep till 5am, then eventually till 6, then 7am. worked great for a few months. now he's 9 months and has been teething for 2 months and his sleep at the moment is terrible, but thats another story. hope that helps.

[Chepstow1]

Thanks for this. Keeping him awake is a problem in the day - Ds is seriously like a plank of wood for long spells. I am trying a cool room, nappy only, top and tailing - whatever really to try and keep him awake. Hoping this is just a phase as the 10.30 and 1am feeds (plus another at 3-4am) are killing me. I have been advised that a late night formula feed can help push him through (i.e miss the 1am) - any thoughts on this?? To date he has been breast fed only..

[honeybunny]

Chepstow- if you are happy with bf I'd stick to that. I'm sure its cos he's sleeping so much in the daytime that he's awake at night so a formula feed shouldnt make too much of a difference. Seems you're trying all the tricks I went for... ds2 was a very sleepy babe. Mine used to drop off at the end of a bf, so I'd rechange his nappy, use a cold wet cotton wool ball to wipe his bits (and tummy... so mean) and leave him unclothed for a while. It was sprin/summer time so easier weather wise and fresh air helped too. Toe tickling, jangly toys/rustly things, gentle blow on the face, a slightly cooler bath than normal, and holding out a little longer on a feed all helped.

[MummyToSteven]

i don't think giving him formula for his last feed will make much difference - theoretically breast milk takes about 3 hours to go through the body, whilst formula milk takes 4 hours - so at most you might buy yourself an extra hour between feeds (but it might not make any visible difference anyway).

[Chepstow1]

Thanks you guys - I am happy with bf and thankfully am like ermentrude the cow e.g producing like billeo so don't (right now) feel the need to supplement. I am not anti formula, but like you say, am not 100% happy with the idea of fixing the wrong problem.

Tonight ( and all this weekend) we are going to do total no play, no light, no nothing and see if he gets the message. To date I have done this for the 1am and from there on in, but today discovered that DH has been using 10.30 as a play time (as his misses the 7pm bath slot). I have been in bed for this feed ( he does it using expressed bm ).

Thanks again - have a tops w'end