The voice of experience needed please on baby sleep!

[RugbyWidow7]

We have a nine week old boy who is wonderful but we are really struggling on the sleep front. Whilst our peers seem to be settling into sleeping longer through the night, we're still struggling. The pattern is as follows:

7.30pm - 1am
2am - 4am
Awake for the day

I cover this during the week and my husband is getting up at 4am with him on the weekend and then going back to bed for several hours when I get up at 7am. This obviously doesn't make for a great weekend. Whilst I know the first sleep is great and we're v lucky he does this, we could just do with him going back down at 4am, until 6am perhaps.

Is anyone able to give us advice on pushing him through that bit longer. I also have him on hungry baby milk as I don't bf at night and he's v sicky - as this formula is thicker it seems to help him keep it down. We also tried doing a dream feed at 11am, but it didn't change his sleep patterns at all and just made me more tired as my (now normal and absolutely essential) early 9.30pm bedtime was pushed back to 11pm. It would be so nice to be able to start going to bed a bit later! [hsmile]

Thank you!

Can I ask why you don't bf at night?

What happens if you put him down later in the evening?

When does he have his first nap of the day?

Just wondering what happens when you try to put him back to sleep at 4am?

That is a very early start.

It sounds quite normal for such a young baby, to be honest, so wouldnt worry unnecessarily. Have you tired a good, long breastfeed when he wakes at 4am? Maybe lying down, so that you can doze while doing so?

Hi rugbywidow,
I totally feel your pain and posted on here in the middle of the night. My lo wakes up every three hours without fail tp be fed. He will only sleep more than twenty minutes while lying on us!
We have started a shift pattern and i go to bed at seven in evening and dh takes him then just waking me at ten for a feed. At midnight he goes to bed and i start my shift. Not ideal for a happy marriage but i keep telling myself this wont last forever.
How much does ypur lo weigh? Someone at a baby group told me that there was no chance of them sleeping thrpugh until 13lb. My lo is 10 weeks old and only 7lb 10!
Good luck. Let me know if you find the secret!

Hi all, well there are numerous reasons for not bf at night including that it's been painful for me throughout and i just couldnt face it at times, though I have tried.

He naturally gets extremely tired around 7/8pm and doses off so we try to put him down just before so he falls asleep in his moses basket. We have tried to keep him awake to push the sleeps on but couldn't. He always wakes btw 1/2am.

At 4am he is wide awake and won't even settle in our bed - it's as if he wants to be upright and not on his back any more. I try to keep him upstairs until 6/7am with a combination of playing / distracting and me trying to doze.

I always give him a bf again at 5/6am but perhaps i should try this at the 4am NowNowThen?

Perhaps it's a matter of time? Do you think he's too young to expect more?
Thanks

as he seems to have his longest stretch in early eve would you consider going to bed too, then?

bring him into bed with you at 4am? obv if you/DH smoke/drink then safe co-sleeping might not be achievable

oh, sorry, x posts re co sleeping

yy try a bf 4am

Hi Alex, yes we're also on a strict shift pattern. Not great for the relationship!

Our lo is 12lb 4oz so nearly there if your baby group are correct! He feeds every 2 hrs during the day though so I think he's just hungry with a tum that just can't hold as much as he wants.

I'll cling onto the 13lb theory now! [hsmile] thanks and good luck!

Ok. I would just take him into your bed at 4.00 and bf him. Then you are at least lying down and resting, and he may well go back to sleep if his tummy's full. Or if it's too painful, give him a bottle.

At this age, I think you should always try milk beforee anything else- they've only got ting stomachs and he may well be hungry.