our 3 week old doesn't sleep at night!

[charlinapier]

Our 3 week old little girl is feeding well and can settle in the day but seems to have a problem sleeping at night. She is able to stay awake for marathons of 10 hours sometimes during the early evening into the early morning! When we go to bed I try to settle her in her crib but she won't go down. Even though we try to leave her to fall asleep she ends up making strange noises and then crying. Despite people saying we should leave her or we should follow Gina Ford's sleep routine the only way she eventually sleeps is through lots of cuddling, rocking, feeding...it is exhausting. Last night she was awake from 3.30pm to 2am, and then she slept for 4 hours. The night before she slept from 11.30 - 3.30am and then stayed awake until 9am! I just can't figure out what to do and am aware that hubby needs to get up for work, although he is pitching in too! If this is how it is at 3 weeks then please tell me to "get over it" and I can probably deal with it but I just wonder if I am missing a trick or doing something wrong - seems crazy that she could stay awake for so long. Is she robo-baby?

Any advice? sharing of pain?

Charli

You aren't doing anything wrong - in my (limited) experience, this is completely normal.

In fact, the only 'mistake' that you may have made is believing that babies are meant to sleep at night like the rest of us!

Things will get better.

she sounds like she might actually be too tired to settle. is she getting over stimulated in teh day?

she will need frequnet feeding and holding day and night

you could try using a sling in teh day,she might drop off whilst being close to you , and your hands are free to do other things

do not leave her to cry at night, she is a tiny baby.

Invest in a sling - something like a wrap or a fabric pouch. This makes the cuddling to sleep much easier if nothing else

Have you tried swaddling?

My ds1 was a nocturnal baby too, and the best piece of advice I was ever given was to remember that babies need to learn HOW and WHEN to go to sleep - they just don't know day from night and won't for weeks yet.

There's a book called the NCT Book of Sleep which I found brilliant.

Thanks so much guys - feeling oh so reassured and now going to just get on with it!

It will get better, your DD sounds very much like my own, she didn't sort out day from night for a looooong time and night times were hell for a while. 7 months on she's still not a brilliant sleeper but it's a lot better! Congratulations btw!
This is entirely normal for some babies, I second the sling idea, we used a baby bjorn and that put her out but it did mean I'd often end up falling asleep in the armchair whatever gets you through it though!
Hope she settles soon!