6 week old who is up for 12 hours

[craigslittleangel]

My DD2 is like two different children in the morning and afternoon. Typically she will wake to be fed around 7/8 and then sleep till 10 have another feed and then wake between midday and 1.30. Then she is awake till at least half past midnight with only a 10 minute nap.

In the morning, she falls asleep on her own, without a soother, or being rocked. You can just put her into the moses basket when she looks sleepy and off she goes. In the afternoon, she must have a dummy in or my nipple. She grazes throughout the 12 hours and has occasional crying episodes. She is clearly tired, rubbing her eyes and yawning, but can not send herself to sleep as she can in the morning or stay asleep. It does not matter if I hold her or put her in her moses basket or our bed, she will wake with a shake of her head after 10 minutes. And it will take the good part of 4 hours to get here there.

My elder DD had colic and I wondered if it was a milder version of that. However, she farts - a lot -in her sleep and burps like a dock worker in the morning and afternoon/evening.

This has only been happening the last two weeks. She has never had a regular pattern, unlike her sister, but I was not initially worried.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Or does it seem a complete abnormality?

[MillionPramMiles]

No its not abnormal, some babies just don't sleep well, even as newborns.
My dd (now 14 mths) from 3 weeks old used to be awake from 8am-8pm without napping apart from the odd 10mins here or there. I tried co-sleeping, tried the pram, the car...nothing worked. In the end I carried her in a wrap sling after each feed (which was almost hourly) and periodically kept putting the dummy in her mouth each time she grisled. That worked for a few weeks though I was exhausted (with no chance to shower, eat or rest).
Have you tried the pram or a sling and a dummy? Just anything to get her to nap a bit at this stage. I started to see an improvement once I started solids and formula at 6 months though even then the naps were short.
It was without doubt the most lonely, tiring and demoralising period of my life so I do empathise. (And a belated thanks to the Mumsnetters who posted encouraging replies to my desperate posts at the time!)

[notanyanymore]

i experienced it with dd2, after being attached to her constantly for 5.5 months i just couldn't do it any more, in the end i had to put her in her bed and leave her to cry it out (not something i like to do AT ALL, but i had come to the end of my tether). fwiw she's 3 now and an absolute dream. i know everyone says it, but it is a 'phase' that they do grow out off. dd3 is 4.5 months, i'm very conscious of having to go back to work in october so i am kind of 'enforcing' nap times. i give her a cuddle and feed then pop her up into her bed. she does shout but i think all i can do is always be calm and loving when i go back to her. I can't make her too dependent on me for cuddles all day long, for it all to suddenly disappear in a few months and leave her (and my sister/mum/dp) to deal with the fall out. sorry, i'm not sure if thats going to really have helped you. but yes, i do think its normal, and no, i don't think it'll last but you might have to decide how your going to deal with it and then steel yourself to follow it through?

[notanyanymore]

oh sorry, just seen baby is only 6 weeks. Her sleeping patterns are likely to change alot over the next few months, its not unusual to go from a happy sleepy baby to one that never sleeps and vice versa. From what I understand, their sleeping patterns change the most around 4 months when they go from baby deep sleep to more adult type sleep with regular deep sleep/rousing patterns. Hang on in there. Sometimes you might just have to put her down and go and have a break, don't feel guilty!

[craigslittleangel]

Another change today. About 30 minutes sleep since 7 this morning.

She hates the car seat, so the car is out unless I can get her in there asleep. The pram has about the same reaction. We have a sling - somewhere in a packing box. I will try that next.

[scampidoodle]

I know it's difficult not to, but I wouldn't worry about it too much and just go with it for now. In my experience babies calm down a lot and these extremes stop between about 8 and 12 weeks.

My DD used to sleep well and barely be awake (just for feeds and nappies) between about 1or 2am and 11am, have a nap in the afternoon and then be wide awake from about 5ish till around 1 or 2am again.
At about 9 weeks she started sleeping earlier in the evening, having proper naps and being awake more during the morning and at 10 weeks we gave her an early bedtime and she was sleeping from 6.30pm, waking around 6am (not sleeping through, I hasten to add) and having 4 distinct naps each day.