Is my baby a vampire or normal?

[VampireBaby]

I think in my sleep deprived haze I vaguely remember the midwife saying it can be normal during her last visit but just wondering if others experienced or are experiencing, this?

My baby is like a vampire in that he will sleep ALL DAY apart from waking for the occasional feed but is awake ALL NIGHT. It's like his schedule is completely the wrong way around.

The problem is though, I'm not sure how to go about making changes to this as once he's asleep, he's asleep. No amount of bouncing around, blowing on face, noise or rocking will wake him. He sleeps like a log once he's gone.

Will this get better on its own? How am I supposed to begin getting him into a pattern if I can't control when he wakes/sleeps?

Thanks,

A desperate Mum who just wants some bloody kip

P.s he's nearly 4 weeks.

Yup. Normal. Remember babies sleep most of the time, so maybe it’s just more obvious that he’s awake at night.

DS rarely sleep either - until he was at school (he wasn’t a napper either). I was exhausted and at one point was hallucinating.

Thank you. So do I just leave it alone then and let him adjust naturally?

DH suggests 'keeping him awake in the evening' but I don't see how that's possible! The kid won't wake up if he doesn't want to no matter what you do 😂

Oh now there are many schools of thought...

I never managed to keep a sleepy baby awake - and if he didn’t sleep when sleepy went ‘mad cat’ and would be grouchy and cranky. And trying to wake him up was like trying to wake the dead.

I just let him get in with it to be honest. When he went to nursery it got better as it tired him out.

It's very, very early days yet. Don't try to fix it, you'll only drive yourself mad. But don't feel you have to be awake if he is at night; if he's awake but content, leave him to it.

Totally normal. Nocturnal little beasts are new babies

2 out of 3 like that for me. 3 sleeps 12 hours a night with 2 feeds and has done since the early days. He does cosleep tho.

It's normal. Mine were impossible to wake and stay woken if they didn't want to. I was advised to sleep when they sleep which is utter toss if it's a second or third baby but do if you can with this one. I got their father to take them 8-12 while I got 4 solid hours then could face the graveyard shift.

Try being bright and noisy and bustly in the daytime and keep it quite and dim at night. Apparently it helps to reset the body clock but I did find that naturally kicked in after a few months with my vampires. Good luck!

My DD is now 9 and was a nocturnal baby. Fair enough to leave them babbling and gurgling away if you can sleep through it and they are content. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep through the squeaks and snorts (she sounded like a piglet).

So on the advice of our midwife I woke her every 45 minutes during the day (apparently the length of a baby's sleep cycle) and I kept her awake for a minimum of 30 minutes. I used to dread waking her as she would cry because she was tired. But it worked.

I remember my mum saying ‘sleep when the baby sleeps’ the laughing hysterically (she had 5 kids) - then telling me that the only way I’d get any sleep was before the birth.

Normal, babies need to do this. Whether your breast feeding or not babies are programmed to feed over night as that’s when women produce more prolactin the hormone which causes milk production. Things tend to improve after 6 weeks. For now you can get him as much sunlight as possible during the day, this can just be putting Moses basket in front of the window and attempt to feed every 3 hours during the day - try taking off his baby grow.

You don’t need to get him into a routine. He will fall into one when he is ready.

Definitely echo sleeping in shifts if you can manage it.

What worked for me was that during the day everything was bright. Naps in front of the window/lights on not keeping quiet. Night time low lights, quiet etc. Worked for me until she was older and had a set routine of 1/2longer naps.

When my eldest child was a couple of weeks old, DH and I asked the health visitor how to get her to sleep. The health visitor kept a commendably straight face. They don’t sleep at that age.

Well at least it appears normal! Thank you.

I think I'm going to try getting him out and about a bit more in the day, blast him with some fresh air whilst the weather is nice. He may sleep through, he usually does in the pram but at least it'll be light and noisy instead of dark and quiet.

It gets better, DS I d say knew the difference properly from about 10 weeks

Fresh air does help. And so does a nightlight

Oh I feel for you op. I certainly don't miss those early weeks. I remember rocking DS at 3am for 2 hours so he would fall back to sleep. By the time he reached 6 weeks or so, he was synched back to normal sleep schedule where he would have 3-4 naps during the day and sleep during the night, not uninterrupted sleep but would fall back to sleep after his feed in the night.