Night time with 2 week old

[Sackofnickles]

Baby sleeps beautifully throughout the day, feeding roughly everything 3 hours but sometimes I do wake him up to feed as he is not yet at his birthweight.

He wakes for a feed at around 11pm and will not go back down. He is constantly at the breast until around 5am when I finally get him back to sleep.

At first I had it down to cluster feeding but it's been like this since day one now and I'm really concerned about the fact he's awake for 6 hours straight. By 5am the poor thing is really, really tired.

I feed him and let him fall asleep on me but he always wakes back up a few mins after I put him down and it's rinse and repeat.

Has anyone got any advice? I'm getting absolutely shattered.. a couple of hours sleep in the night would be so welcome.

Can you buy a different bed mattress that is a bit firmer? There's a good choice in IKEA that aren't too expensive. A worthy investment, if it means you can sleep!

I'm really considering it, it's just the expense and the fact that when I do actually sleep my mattress is bliss!

Maybe you could get a single firm mattress (cheaper), put it on the floor next to your bed, feed him to sleep lying on there and then get into your bed (if you are still awake when the fees is over).

Hey OP

I have 2 DS's. DS1 is 2 and DS2 is 4 months. Both breastfed. With DS1 I was so so strict on not co-sleeping as I was terrified of SIDs. To be fair he is a great sleeper in his own bed now probably because he was never allowed in bed with me. When DS2 arrived in March I had every intention of being the same however, looking after a newborn and a toddler brought on a level of tiredness I had never experienced so now he usually is in with my from when he first gets up during the night. This varies in time but I actually love it. I love feeding him while lying down and I get so much more rest myself with him in bed with me. Partly wishing I did this with DS1

Babies are born nocturnal and it takes a while to sort it out. The best way to help this is lots of daylight, noise, and fresh air in the day. Then keep night time quiet and darker. It gradually improves.

From what your saying, his sleeping is good it's just all in the day at the moment. It's hard at this stage.

Co sleeping isn't for everyone, it's not for me.

@MumOfBoys16 exactly.

I'm just concerned how long he's awake for at night too, 6+ hours sometimes.

If you swaddle you'll find he can't really roll onto his side. My dd would roll onto her side at this age but couldn't do it swaddled. She only managed to roll swaddled when she was 7 months old! Might be worth trying. Also he probably doesn't have his days and nights sorted yet. Both mine were the same at this age. Sleeping well in the day but not in the night! They do right themselves with time though and start to give you longer stretches at night and then the day sleep becomes less predictable! I know it's said all the time, but I would just try and sleep as much as you can in the day to get through the nights. I personally didn't commit to anything in those early weeks and just slept when I could. It gets so much easier I promise. With my first it was at 6 weeks and my second more like 12 weeks but it does get better!

Is he awake because he's in distress about being put down? If you sit up with him all night and feed responsively does he settle on you? I am weeks in and watching Netflix all night most nights. It means baby gets all the rest they need and I am learning to sleep in the day. It won't last forever. They learn day from night soon.

@DarkestBeforeDawn

I co slept with my last DC, total game changer for getting some rest but agree with PP, essential to do it following safety guidance.

Me too.