HELP ! How to break the 4-7am constant waking for 5.5 wk

[lovinit]

DD2 is 5.5 weeks and since she was 2 weeks seems to have a really light sleep btw 4-7am , cannot settle unless dummy or nursed back and then iit is a huge effort and only for 15 mins or so till she wakes again at 7am-7.30am .... I am losing sleep, my mind , my confidence and my enjoyment of motherhood over this. I tried to do all the right night/day things and try to feed her as much as poss during day, but she is determined to feed more and better a t night (3 hourly) ...

Pls any experiences and advice ?

[hermykne]

lovinit, at 5 weeks it maybe a little early to try and get her to feed mostly in the day, try to remember shes got a tiny belly that can only take a little at a time til she gets a wee bit bigger, feeding in the night is not unusual at all at this stage, and it may last until about 10wks, despite what any books might tell you! and other people.
just go with it and u may find she'll settle alot quicker, and when shes a bit older u can try to adjust her feeding cycle.

when did u last feed her priorto 4am?

[Yanka]

3-hourly feeds sound just right for such a tiny baby - I know it is really hard (believe me, my DD was an absoulte terror until 8 weeks, DH and I would have to take shifts to be with her as some nights she wouldn't sleep at all - and not because she was hungry).

We stuck it out and now have a lovely 14 weeks old who sleeps through the night and is able to settle herself to sleep on her own.

Hang in there - things do get much better around 6-8 weeks

[lovinit]

Hermykne, prior to 4am feed was at 1.20am . she woke at 3.45 so I made her wait to closer to 3 hours . She has done stretches of 6 hours before but obviously that was shortlived and was from 6:30-12:30am ...

I am so tired I am going mad ... she is actually only 5 weeks tomorrow !

I really hope that things do get better soon ! I do hear that from people but feel as if it will never happen for me ...

Yanka, how did she suddenly get to sleeping through the night at 14 weeks ?!!!

[hermykne]

lovinit
i know its exhausting, frustrating etc but u really have to let her dictate the pace in the early stages, are u under pressure to do anything else - other children, cook, clean etc, if so then round up a troop/s, if at all possible,
could anyone take her for a stroll and let u have an hour or hour/half

try not to expect anyhting close to a routine or a pattern now, its just not normal,
the 6 hr stints happen but it doesnt mean its power for the course,
she'll chop and change for awhile yet

i really have to say, stay in your bedclothes, relax i know its hard and just marvel at her, it will fly, my ds is 1 today and i can hardly remeber those first few weeks, have a dd too.

when shes 6 mths you'll not know her,
have you any books on hand for guidaNCE?

[mogwai]

lots of sympathy

my four week old dd is the same. From advice I've had on mumsnet, I've come to accept there's nothing I can do about her sleep paterns at this stage. I don't find this early bit terribly enjoyable, but it beats being pregnant - which was rotten.

We must soldier on!

[Ellieo]

Lovinit, I sympathise too. My ds is 5.5 weeks and is the same - feeds four or five times a night and seems to wake up around 5am and not be able to go back to sleep. He's never slept at night for longer than four hours. I'm starting to forget what real sleep is like! Can your dh take her for a couple of hours during the night or in the morning so you can get a stretch of sleep? My partner does this at weekends, feeding expressed milk from a bottle, and it just means I can catch up on my sleep a bit. I'm clinging on to the thought that it will get better in the next few weeks... seems like a long old tunnel though, without much light at the end!

[lovinit]

Mogwul, I agree, I am not particurlarly enjoying this phase either ...

Ellieo, how is your little one doing ? Still the same ? I am trying to live with it and not tackle the issue as I always seem to be doing .... DH can't do much as he sleeps so deeply anyways, and I am a control freak and would not be able to rest knowing they were both up. Does your DS feed much better at night than day as well ? DD cannot be woken up without huge effort and time during the day and struggles to stay awake ..it is so fustrating !

[katylou25]

Hold in there guys my ds was really wakeful in the early hours of the morning but has been sleeping through the night from 9 weeks - 8-6.30 and now a t 6 months goes 7 till 7 so there is hope! Although it doesnt last long in the great scheme of things those early days seem to drag on and on dont they!

[vic891]

Sympathies from me too! 11 week old DS sleeps well early on in the night, but is more restless later - often grizzles on and off from 4 or 5ish 'til we get him up - he usually ends up in with us when he's like that. I'm hoping that as he gets older (and needs to wake less in the night for feeds) he'll stay in a deeper sleep for longer - well, that's my dream anyway! May not be any consolation, but I think you get used to the broken nights - I function reasonably well and DS still wakes for 2 night feeds - at 12:30ish and 4:30ish (and then, as I say, often doesn't settle properly 'til we get up).

[Aragon]

It will get better but while you're going through it it's hard to believe this. My DS was dreadful and woke 3-4 times a night until about 15 weeks then all of a sudden he dropped to one feed a night at around 4-5am. Soon after no feeds - I remember being absolutely shattered, drained, exhausted (all the words you can think of). It DOES get better honestly.

DS is now 2.5 and sleeps from 7-7 (except this morning when he got up at 5am (Grrrr).

[lovinit]

Vic891 ... that sounds similar to what DD is doing, except recently she has been wakin at around 9:30 - 11 for a feed, but had been going till 12:30 . That is why I am delibeerating doingg the 10pm feed and waking her up ... Its so hard to know which decision is the right one .

Aragon, thanks for the words of encouragement ... it is hard to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel !

I am at a loss , I keep constantly battling at getting her more settled , but of course , nothing is working .

[CarolinaMoon]

Lovinit, at the risk of repeating all the advice you've had on this thread, what you're going through is totally normal. Newborns are difficult to look after, they are totally draining. In a few months time you'll remember fondly how tiny and vulnerable she was at this age, but right now it's hell.

When ds was that age, I could barely remember what "normal" life was like - everything seemed to revolve around trying to work out what on earth he needed and why he was crying. Six weeks was the worst age with ds, he seemed so unsettled.

Over the next few weeks, she'll settle down and get more "interactive" and that makes the hard bits so much easier to bear.

[Ellieo]

Lovinit, went to the cranial osteopath with ds last week and it seems to have helped - we've had two nights when he's done two four-hour stretches and has gone back to sleep until about 7.30-8.00am. Having said that, last night was a nightmare again - woke four times and wouldn't go back to sleep for about an hour and a half at 4.30am. So I don't know if the cranial thing has made him better or if it was just a blip... He's six weeks today, so I'm just trusting that time will make him better. I have moments where I feel like he'll NEVER sleep through the night even though everyone tells me he will eventually

[beckym]

To repeat what everyone else has said, i know exactly what you are going through. Its horrible at the moment. DS is 5 weeks old, and won't sleep! The only way he sleeps is with a dummy, but even that isn't working anymore. He spits it out after 5 minutes, and there is only so much crying you can put up with in a day. I'm not sure who crys more, him or me. Have to say, reading the advice others have given you, makes me realise i'm not the only one, and has put a momentary smile on my face :-)