when will my dd start sleeping through the night?

[pink76]

my dd is 3 weeks old and sleeps all day and is awake and crying a lot of the night. Is this normal and when will it end?!

[TrinityIsGettingABabyRhino]

at this age it is normal for babaies to have day and night mixed up

I'm not sure what you can do though

sorry but bump

Try not to be waiting for her to sleep through as it can get demoralising when they dont

gecko is 26 months and never slept through (every 2 to 3 hours awake)

[LackaDAISYcal]

Perfectly normal , and although it seems never ending at this stage, it will settle down to some sort of discernible pattern in good time. Try and get as much sleep as you can during the day so that the nights are easier to cope with.

Babies are programmed to feed more at night, probably because in our cave dwelling/hide from predators days, it was much safer. Unfortunately no-one has told them that we don't live in caves anymore . Besides that BFing hormones are more productive at night so by feeding more at night they help establish a good supply of milk. Bottle fed babies obviously still follow this basic urge.

and, probably not what you want to hear, but my 24 week old BF baby had his first sleep through (8 till 6.30) last night! But on the other hand, my older two...one bottle fed, one BF were both sleeping 12 hours by eight weeks. Depends pretty much on the baby

[spicemonster]

I woke mine up in the day - didn't let him sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time so that he slept longer at night. It worked

As far as sleeping through is concerned though, that's an entirely different matter.

It gets better in a couple of months. Those first two are really hard - hang on in there

[LackaDAISYcal]

and I agree with TR that willing them to sleep through and getting hung up on it can be pretty demoralising.

[ChocOrange05]

as spicemonster says, its worth waking them to feed every 3 hours in the day so they don't need to catch up on eating in the night - this should help her switch the day/night confusion. good luck!

[pink76]

I'll give that a go, chocorange. She had a good feed this morning and then promptly chucked it all back up on me, the pillows and duvet. Good girl! I found what helped a bit last night was not getting so het up and worried about it when she wouldn't go back to sleep. If I just accept that this is how it's going to be for a few months then this makes it easier to take.

[pink76]

some helpful soul said that they made all the mistakes when there's was little by picking her up when she cried. Apparently I should leave her to wail her head off! This was a bloke who suggested this. Not helpful. Tried to leave her crying for 5 mins but she didn't stop and I ended up in tears too!

[MerlinsBeard]

Babymonster still wakes in teh night often. he is 13 months

[Jelliebaby]

My DD is 11 weeks old and has been sleeping from 10pm to 7am for last 2 weeks. We swaddlle her in a blanket and she just sleeps for hours.

We are making the most of it as I don't think it will last for long.

[pink76]

that sounds like heaven, jelliebaby. just one night of uninterupted sleep would be ace

[Jelliebaby]

It will come in time but I think 3 weeks is far too early for them to sleep through, they still aren't sure what they are doing and I think at that age they are too young to be left screaming their heads off (although some would disagree) I think you should cuddle them as much as possible when they are newborn because they soon grow up.

[pink76]

That's what my instincts tell me, jelliebaby. I almost managed to get a bit of sleep this afternoon but blokes 5 year old nephew decided to have a tantrum outside my room, he's going home tomorow after an incredibly long week! Only stopping at having one child!

[ches]

Our pediatrician said to comfort immediately until 6 months. There's no such thing as "making mistakes." If you find you're in a routine/habit which doesn't suit, then you change it. The older they are, the easier it is to make changes. Enjoy your newborn, sleep when she sleeps. Wake her in the day and let her sleep as long as she wants at night. Good luck!