3 week old - different baby day and night

[polar515]

We have a 3 week old little boy who is a dream in the day - sleeps - feeds - sleeps for 2-4 hour cycles. However, at around 9pm he starts waking and getting really grouchy. He feeds but is really difficult to settle and this continues throughout the night. Even when he seems asleep in the night, he makes lots of grunting noises and kicks about which we do not notice in the day. As a result, we are getting blocks of 1-1/2 hours sleep only in the night.

I am trying to BF but have resorted to the odd formula bottle before bed to try and make him go longer - not that this seems to have helped but I am getting really fed up with BF as I'm always wondering is it that he's not had enough and that's why he's waking

I also wonder if;

I should leave him longer to settle himself in the night when grunting and not go straight to comfort him?

Am I feeding differently overnight which is affecting his behaviour? (although he starts in the evening when feeding position etc would be no different to day)

Am I more aware of noises at night and perhaps try and rush him to settle when I would normally leave him in the day?

When will he likely go longer sleeping overnight? When will things improve?

I know 3 weeks seems no time at all but it feels a lifetime with no sleep and I can't understand the day / nigh time difference.

Help! (my parenting L plates are definitely on!).

Hi there,

It's my experience that babies can be quite nocturnal when they come out! Sounds like your little one likes to do all his good sleeping in the day and then gets feisty at night. You aren't doing anything wrong. I don't think it's easy to switch this around in very young babies, but as the weeks go by you might want to try encouraging him to stay awake a little more in the day so that he will sleep more at night. If you notice a 'core sleep' developing of up to 6 hours, that's the one you want them to have at night! It's hard to remember back but I think I didn't let my 2-month-olds sleep for more than 3hrs at a time in the day. I remember how hard the sleep deprivation was though! Try and nap in the day with baby whenever you can. Good luck!

the advice I had on here was to make sure they get some daylight in the daytime hours - even if it's putting the moses basket by a sunny window (if you can find one in October!). Apparently exposure to daylight is something they need to start telling day from night. And my 3 week olds are now beginning to have awake time in the day, although one of them also has shorter sleep cycles at night than daytime still. Good luck!