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Newborn won't settle as much at night

6 replies

sophiad · 24/03/2013 09:53

Hi all
Still finding our feet with our 8 day old DD. during the daytime she'll sleep and feed, sleep and feed every 4 hours with me sometimes having to wake her for next feed (formula fed). Then once we go up to bed at night she's so unsettled really all night. Will have her feed and then wake up 2 hours later winging and stirring. Sometimes will only last an hour in her basket on her own. Not sure if its the dark and quiet she doesn't like. But seems to change her habits alot once we go to bed. I know she's so new and is finding her way, but any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

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DangerMousey · 24/03/2013 10:06

Hi sophia congratulations on your daughter!

Sounds totally normal newborn behaviour I'm afraid! DS was formula fed from 12 days old onwards, but it did still take him a good few weeks to get his nights/days the right way round. he was very wakeful at night and very sleepy in the day, used to drive me bonkers!

There's a couple of things you could try: get out of the house at least once a day in the daylight with DD if you can (even if she's asleep, it will help her to learn about the difference between night and day).

Maybe try offering her a bottle every 3 hours during the day, rather than every 4?

However, I would say she is so young, you're best off trying to get some sleep during the day when she sleeps if you can....as she gets bigger and more settled over the next few weeks she will gradually start to sleep a bit more at night, and less during the day. And she will start feeding more during the day/taking bigger bottles, and then sleeping for longer periods at night. There might not be much you can do to affect this, you might just need to ride it out for a few weeks.

I think it took until about week 5 for DS to do 3-4 blocks of sleep at night. But even then he was a very noisy, restless sleeper and would keep me and DH awake all night with his snuffling/grunting/whimpering.

In the end, we put DS in his own room (in moses basket) at 6 weeks old, which is completely contrary to current SIDS advice but was the right decision for our family: it meant I could at least get 3 or so hours sleep at the 5 week mark, when DS slept, and pretty much saved my sanity.

Someone told me that things get markedly easier at 6 weeks, and then again dramatically easier at 12 weeks. I never believed it would happen but it did! Hang in there, this too will pass! I found it useful to repeat to myself: "he is a mammal, he will come to learn about night and day!"....and 15 weeks in, he has basically done just that! Much more awake during the day, has a set bedtime every night, doesnt feed in the night anymore etc etc (still wakes up every 90 mins or so, but we let him grumble for a few mins and he goes back off to sleep....most of the time!)

ZuleikaD · 24/03/2013 11:04

It's called reverse cycling - it takes them a few weeks to get used to daylight during the day and dark at night. Don't worry - she'll swap around in a few weeks. In the meantime, comfort her and cuddle her when she wakes in the night and take her out as much as possible during the day - she needs daylight to help sort out her circadian rhythms.

sophiad · 24/03/2013 11:05

Thank you Mousey! I know she's way too young to try to understand things yet. It's more of a case that we have to learn I guess. Can just be a bit annoying when they're so good in the day and restless at night can't it! I'm sure we'll get there soon enough x

OP posts:
mummytopoppy1 · 24/03/2013 15:08

My DD slept all day for 3 weeks then suddenly woke up and got the difference better. I second feeding her 3 hourly in the day or you wont get enough in her to slowly encourage less nightfeeding in a few months.

teacher123 · 24/03/2013 16:50

White noise is quite good, we had a fan on for the first few months in our room (obviously not what we need with the current weather!) also keeping nighttime dark, boring and quiet and daytime bright and noisy. We also had a bedtime 'routine' from the day we came back from hospital. Can't even remember what we did now, but it evolved into what we do now at bedtime and then we just gradually moved everything forward to get him to go to bed earlier than us at about 6 weeks. I was so knackered by that point I used to settle him in bed, eat my dinner and go up and join him in bed. There were a LOT of 7.30pm bedtimes for a while!

Purplecatti · 25/03/2013 09:22

I'd second the fan. My 5 month old has gone from 2 hourly feeds to 5 at night thanks to a loud fan.
Or get a ewan the sheep.

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