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1week old not sleeping

9 replies

Kafri · 29/12/2012 23:39

I know I'm stating the obvious here....

My 1 week old is really quite good in he day in that he generally feeds, then sleeps well. Once we get to nighttime when I'm thinking 'right I'll settle him and then get a bit of rest myself'. Well, not a chance. All of a sudden PING, the eyesore wide open and there's no settling him at all. Luckily my hubby is about a the min so we're sharing it. He's just sent me to bed while he sits up for a bit. (She says typing his quickly so she can get soe shut eye before its time to swap again). Last night baby was up from 2 thru to 6.30, wide awake with me feeling comatose in the living room with him.

Anyone any advice on my nocturnal little bundle of joy?

Thanks

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wannabedomesticgoddess · 29/12/2012 23:42

DD2 is 6weeks and she was exactly like that until week 4 or so. Now shes in quite a good routine.

We didnt really do anything so Im afraid the only advice I have is that it will pass.

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WaitingForMe · 30/12/2012 11:26

My advice is to get a nice blanket and a box set. DS didn't use his crib in our room for two weeks. I was worried we were allowing bad habits but I read on MN that the first two weeks are NOT your new life, they are NOT the start of a routine, they just need surviving.

A little after two weeks DS was suddenly having an hour here and there in the night in our room. He's now almost 7 weeks and we had two blocks of 3 hours last night. It gets loads better every week that passes.

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SweepTheHalls · 30/12/2012 11:30

Make sure you all get as much sunshine(!) as you can in the daytime. I'm sure that helped to set my ones body clocks!

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jinglesticks · 30/12/2012 15:01

It takes a while for them to learn that daytime is for being awake (a bit) and night time is for sleeping. Try to keep the lights low at night, avoid too much interaction and in the day get some time in daylight and try to interact a bit when they are awake. Don't worry about getting into bad habits at this stage at all. My dd2 was like this for the first few weeks. Now 6wo, she's slept for 6 hour stretches the last few nights and I feel human again!
Good luck

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Iggly · 30/12/2012 15:05

You need to adjust a bit - rest in the day while baby rests. Do not be doing any of this good little house wife madness.

At night, keep it dim, boring etc. in the day, get baby out oncea day around lunchtime so baby is exposed to light. Apparently it helps.

It'll be better soon!

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worldgonecrazy · 30/12/2012 15:05

Don't worry!

Keep things bright and breezy in the daytime. Normal light and sound levels, hoovers, talking, laughter, etc. even if baby is asleep. Then switch to quiet and dark at night. Baby will soon get the hang of things.

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Kafri · 31/12/2012 01:22

Thanks for the help guys. Will give it all a go. Gotta say I'm finding the whole logistics of the baby stuff a lot tougher to grasp than I thought.
Didn't help that I had to stay in hospital for a week go had all the goings on there to cope with as well as a newbie.

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noseynoonoo · 01/01/2013 20:46

A lot of mums will joke that their newborn sleeps more during the day but actually it's entirely possible that this is true for most babies. It sounds like you are hoping that your baby will notice it is night time and then know that that is the cue for sleep. Our bodies know to react in that way due to melatonin. A baby needs to build up their melatonin levels and this takes around 12 weeks so I am afraid to say that night = sleep is just unrealistic - and it's a cruel lie on us mums!!

Up-thread someone suggest making it quiet at night to aid sleep. I think this is actually going to have the opposite affect. Your really new baby has been used to being rocked by you in your womb and listening to your body gurgling and whooshing so I think that total quiet, lying on his/her own could actually be a more difficult environment in which to sleep.

Do you have a [http://www.babycalm.co.uk/pages/parent_classes.html BabyCalm]] teacher near to you? They run a couple of post-natal classes that help you to aid your baby in the early weeks. Might be worth a try.

However, your baby is just really new to this world and you are only just home yourself. It will take a while for things to settle so hang on in there!