Sleep- one hour at night

[Exhaustedmummyb]

Hi,

Baby is 3 weeks old and for the past few nights, he's only slept in chunks of 1 hour. He'll then wake up and feed for 5 minutes and fall back asleep for an hour. When it gets to around 5am, he'll sleep for 2.5/3 hours before waking up and he'll do the same through the day.

Is it that he's got his days and nights mixed up? Is he waking at night for comfort rather than milk and should I give him a dummy?

He sleeps in a moses basket next to my bed. We've tried him in a next to me crib but he cries as soon as you put him in it.

I just need to know if this is normal newborn stuff or something I'm doing wrong.

Thanks

Bless you, you're having a rough time. Unfortunately (or fortunately, you're not doung anything wrong), this is just baby things. 3 weeks is so, so little and there's so much to learn about the world. Keep responding to the wakeups, but make them as boring as possible - no speaking, change and feed quickly and don't play. Save that for daytime.

He will get it eventually, but until then I'm afraid all you can do is try and nap yourself!

Everything that Toddle says plus add noise and light to your daytimes.

I know it's cold at the moment but when it's warmer get him outside in the daylight, even if it's for 5 minutes around the garden.

Daylight should help him distinguish day and night but they often have them the wrong way around at this age.

Another thing to try is using a TShirt DH has worm as the sheet in his Moses basket. This will give it a comforting smell and should, hopefully, get him to sleep a little longer at night.

If you're BFing, have you tried a few breast compressions too?

There's absolutely nothing in your post to suggest there is anything amiss but there's nothing wrong with encouraging them to take a little extra milk

It's really normal. You aren't doing g anything wrong at all.
If you are breastfeeding, prolactin production is much higher at night so this is why night feeds are important. He is still establishing your supply.

If you are breast feeding this is normal

So normal. Are you breastfeeding? It will improve over the coming weeks. I agree with PPs, get some fresh air in the daytime. A morning walk can really help them with their circadian rhythm. Rest when baby sleeps during the day, even if you can’t sleep yourself. You’re doing great.

Normal, if you are breastfeeding you need to keep feeding at night. You could look into cosleeping if you breastfeed and don't smoke etc as you can feed lying down and sort of sleep through the wake ups.

Thanks everyone!I am breastfeeding, good to know this is normal.

I've been taking him for walks and making sure night feeds and changes are quiet and dark so hopefully won't be too long until he sleeps for a tiny bit longer through the night 🤞

You could also try and cram in a few feeds during the day. I'd perhaps wake him after 2.5 hours in the day and offer a feed.