How to encourage newborn to sleep at night?

[bells2810]

I have a 5 day old DD, who is formula fed. For her first couple of days she would feed every 3/4 hours and then sleep until her next feed throughout both day and night. Over the past two nights she’s stopped taking as much milk during the day, and sort of snacking and having 1/1.5 ounces at a time, maybe every couple of hours, and then cluster feeding at night. Last night I fed her 7 times in 6 hours throughout the night, she wouldn’t sleep or settle between feeds, so I’m hoping there’s something I can do to encourage her to feed less and sleep more at night!

The support worker who came to visit us today said i should try and encourage her to stop snacking and feed larger amounts, spread out throughout the day, so that she isn’t as hungry at night time.

Does anyone have any tips/tricks for how to do this? She was feeding really well and regularly for the first 3 days so I’m not sure why she’s suddenly got into this new pattern.

Sorry, no advice for the feeding but just to say that the first few days they are often recovering from birth, so they'll be sleepier. After that the need to grow kicks in and they often begin cluster feeding like this.

I'm not sure there's much you can do at this age but make sure she's warm and comfortable when asleep, you could try swaddling and white noise.

Daytime alertness will improve at 2 weeks and at 6 weeks they learn the difference between night and day so sleep will improve slightly then.

Congratulations btw, you're doing well!

Cluster feeding in the evening is totally normal if you read up on it.. You just need to go with it in my experience, it doesn't last forever..
I wouldn't be try to interfere with feeding at this stage but go with what they want..
They're often sleepier after birth, it never lasts but it's nice while it does!

Given DD is 5 days old I’d just roll with the cluster feeding for a bit. You’re supposed to feed on demand whether breastfeeding or formula feeding so I’m surprised the support worker gave that advice. It’s also really normal for babies to be nocturnal at this stage (I understand it’s primal). I know it feels like forever away but if it were me I’d introduce a very short and simple bedtime routine at 6-8 weeks which could include a nappy change, clothing change and a song.
Congratulations. You’re doing great.

The support worker who came to visit us today said i should try and encourage her to stop snacking and feed larger amounts, spread out throughout the day, so that she isn’t as hungry at night time.

^ this is absolutely shocking advice. Newborns learn the difference between day and night over the course of the fourth trimester. Not first week!

Your job is to adapt your life to meet your baby's needs, not change how you respond to your newborn and try to over feed in the day so you get more sleep. You should feed on demand.

Congratulations on your baby. Your support worker is terribly uniformed. Look up paced feeding. Watch some videos on you tube about normal baby behaviour. Go with the flow.

No, sorry, you are being totally unrealistic.

She doesn't know what sleep is, she doesn't know if she has done it or not, she doesn.t know what night is, she doesn't know what "encouragement" is she doesn't know if she has fed a al ot of a little, nothing you are talking about makes any sense at all to a new born

S|he is 5!!! days old! it will be months before she has any instinct about what night is, and years before she understands the concept of "sleep"

Of course you can't encourage a newborn to sleep through the night!

Babies are often sleepy the first few days.
It's normal for babies to wake for feeds at night. I'm not sure what you were expecting.
Your support worker is utterly wrong.
Is there any reason you have not chosen to breastfeed? It's so much easier to manage.
If you want to carry on with bottles, take care to prepare feeds properly with hot, boiled water, cooled and stored in the fridge. Have you got enough bottles to always have at least two clean and sterilised at all times?

Mine would only sleep with me. She would not settle in her Moses basket. I know co-sleeping has its risks but that is what we did and how we managed. I breastfed though so at least I didn't have to get up in the cold and prepare bottles 7 times a night. That must be properly exhausting; I feel for you. It will get better.

The tip is that there is no trick in the book to get more sleep. At this stage it should be feeding on demand or minimum 3 hours. Especially until baby has gained back to their birth weight (at least that what is recommended here in Australia).
I think your expectations are a bit high and that your support worker is ridiculous!

It's a little early for prolonged sleep unfortunately. The first few days are usually easier as they are recovering from birth. Make clear distinction between day and night. So keep low/no light at night just feed and resettle into crib. During day do normal day stuff and lots of interaction (when awake) . Over next handful of weeks baby will start to learn day and night. And you can develop a bedtime routine- bathe pjs, story , bed. And nap times in the day. Cluster feeding is very normal, read up on feeding cues to try and feed baby before the crying starts. If your struggling with sleep try to tag team I slept7-12 every night while dh had baby and then just grabbed what sleep I could as baby would be up 2 hourly throughout the night

Oh and baby's have very tiny stomachs I wouldn't expect a new born to have more than a couple of ounce in one go.

Sorry but you're being massively unrealistic. She's 5 days old, she doesn't even know day from night. It's completely normal for a newborn.
They can't take much than a few ounces so no you can't just force them to take more. Is this your first baby?

We are a couple of weeks ahead of you - congratulations on your baby and best of luck! It's very tiring, it still is but we have got into more of a flow now so it's not so bad.
Perhaps you could use the instant bottles if you are using a formula that makes them - we used the aptamil infant bottles that have the teat included so you can have these ready in your bedroom and they can be open for an hour so it might help the cluster feeding.
It's expensive but hopefully she will settle into more of a pattern for you to use powder formula/prep machine etc.
Good luck 😊

Do you normally go around asking new mothers why they have chosen not to breastfeed?

Yes the OP is expecting too much for a newborn. But the feeding method she has chosen has nothing to do with this post. She's chosen to formula feed. It's not, and never will be your place to question that.

🖕 she's not breastfeeding because that's her choice ffs.

Babies won't sleep at night for long stretches for a while yet but some advice I was given was get them out for a walk daily. Sunlight will help to kick start their melatonin which is what is needed to get their night and day the right way round. Keep night times dark and quieter than daytime. So let them nap with curtains fully open in the day. (Unless they refuse to nap like this then scrap that. Naps are V important)
Cluster feeding is normal but also soul destroying when you are beyond tired. It will get better. By 2 weeks ish she will start getting the hang of night and day.

In the nicest possible way, the support worker has given you some ridiculous advice. If your baby was 11 weeks or 4 months old then maybe she's have a point, but I'm afraid this is very normal behaviour for a 5 day old baby.

You just have to ride it out I'm afraid. Cluster feeding doesn't last forever.