2 week old restless at night - any tips?

[Lizbiz89]

My 2 week old has started to become really restless at night in the last couple of days. He falls asleep on me well and then when I put him down he becomes restless. He doesn't cry but he just doesn't settle. I don't have this problem in the day. He's actually spark out in his carry cot as we speak. I know he's very tiny so I can't expect a great sleeper but I was wondering if anyone had any tips when their babies had their night and day mixed up?

I might be blessed with a slightly better sleeper than some but I did;

• low light at night
• limited background noise to lullaby’s/ classical or muted tv
• stayed upstairs
• put into grow bag

After a few weeks of this, baby seemed to become more aware of night vs day... or atleast slept better at night BUT this was after 7-8 weeks. And I didn’t even try to implement bed time before 11pm for the first few weeks, think I got 11-2am as my longest stretch at 3-4 weeks old.

Good luck and congratulations

Have you tried swaddling? My baby was (still is at 8 months) a fidget and with the morro reflex we found swaddling him really helped to settle him

I'd recommend swaddling (we used a sleeping bag called the Grosnug from Mothercare which is suitable for new babies). As my DD has got older she now seems to associate her sleeping bag with bedtime/nap time.

You could try a black-out blind/low light and keep sounds quieter of an evening/night so they begin to recognise a difference between day and night.

I have read about babies settling better with the use of a Sleepyhead as it can make them feel more secure, but they're quite expensive and your baby may not take to it. A friend imitated them by rolling up a towel and placing it beneath the sheet in the cot. I didn't use a Sleepyhead personally but some people swear by them.

Thanks for the replies. I've got a sleepyhead which seems to have the opposite affect for him. He prefers sleeping in his carry cot which makes me think whether I should just put him in that when it's bedtime. I've got a growbag which I haven't yet used so I might give that a go. He does sleep from when I go to bed to about 1-2 in the morning which is the longest stretch, then it just goes downhill from there. Seems really restless the most of the night. Hopefully it improves soon so I can a little bit of 😴.