6 day old awake all night crying

[flipflopsonfifthavenue]

Hi
DS2 spent last night under the billy lights due to jaundice (midwife referred us when she visited) and he was basically awake between 10pm - 4am screaming. I was allowed to pick him up to bfeed but otherwise has to leave him on the lights. It was heartbreaking.
Anywya he finally fell asleep at 4am and has basically need asleep since then with the excepting of waking/me waking him to feed every 2/3 hrs.
He's been off the lights since this afternoon but not getting discharged u til the morning as have oneast blood test to do.

I fully expected him to sleep all day after being awKe crying for 8hrs last night. For a 6 day old that must be pretty intense and will have taken it out of him.

However now, with virtually no sleep in a week, a touch of the baby blues, engorged breasts and away from DP and DS2 in the hospital ward have convinced myself he's sleeping too much and there's something not normal. Trying to wake him go feed but proving hard. Called nurse and she said all normal this is what newborns do and she suspects he'll be awake again all night tonight, feeding this time to make up for lost time.

And yet and just worry and wish I was at home.

Can someone remind me just how much a week old newborn "should" sleep and reassure me that it's nothing other than the exhausting night he had last night that's making him this sleepy..??

Can't see the wood for the trees at the moment :)

[Queenofknickers]

Big hug from here, congratulations on your baby and, yes, the random sleeping is totally normal for newborns. You need some sleep too - would you let the nurses/midwives have him for a couple of hours? Xxxxx

[Purplehonesty]

Congrats and try not to worry. My two slept all day until they were about 6 weeks and only woke to feed, then zonked again.
He will be fine

[Olivess]

My newborn is 8 days old. She has been sleeping all day (not so much at night) and I have been going silly with worry. I've managed to wake her for feeds but she falls straight asleep again. I think it's ok....thing is my DD1 wasn't like this at all so it's strange to have a baby sleeping all day in the Moses basket.

It's hard to get perspective sometimes though when you're so sleep deprived. Hope tonight goes better.

[aroha77]

Poor you :( I seem to remember my baby's sleep was very random to star with xx

[josephine1986]

Is he still jaundiced ? That makes them extra sleepy as I'm sure you know. Sounds normal though.

Sorry you went through that with the lights , we had a similar experience, it was horrendous.

[dodi1978]

Agree - jaundice will make him extra sleepy, and so will the lights. If I remember correctly from my DS, the bed they are in is also extra warm and cosy so that will contribute to the sleepiness.
So I wouldn't worry - my DS was the same for a day or so after coming out of the lights and then settled into a more normal newborn pattern. So I wouldn't worry.
But I do know that post-birth hormones coupled with milk coming in and sleeplessness is a killer. Try to get some sleep!!!

[Purplehonesty]

How is little one today flip flop?

[Roomba]

Just to add that my DS was just the same when he was in the bili-bed thing, and afterwards. Not even sure it was a jaundice thing, IME many, many babies are pretty nocturnal and have very random sleep patterns for the first few weeks. Things will settle down into a daytime/nightime routine eventually.

It's really hard to do, but grab sleep whenever you possibly can. Every little nap you can get helps deal with being woken up all the time all around the clock (if only I could take my own advice eh).