3 week old and sleeping

[cgwx]

Hey All - wanted to ask for some advice incase anyone has better ideas or ideas i haven’t thought of.

Had my third baby 3 weeks ago, other 2 are older 7 and 11. So its been a while since i’ve done the newborn thing. My baby will sleep fine in the day. Gets to a night time and all hell breaks loose. I don’t understand her, we are doing nothing different to what we do in the day. Constantly dropping the dummy, but then screaming because she wants it. She keeps flapping her arms around yet doesn’t want to be swaddled with her arms in she moves them out her blanket pretty much immediately. She is constantly moving her legs and body. She is in a great routine (i know routine from the get go is key) and was easy to slot her into a routine when our other children also have routines. Shes feeding really well. Shes in a sleeping bag for bed instead of swaddled because she doesnt like it. Shes fed, burped and changed before she goes down. I giver a cuddle and whatever to soothe her for 10 mins after.

What am I doing wrong? I feel like its taking me over 2 hours to settle her down at night and then by the time I’ve done that shes awake again an hour & a half / 2 hours later for a feed and its the same process again then. Yet in the day she drops off no problem.

losing my damn mind because i dont know what i’m doing wrong 😩

thanks - C x

It’s 100% normal.

Nothing, she needs to feed that often, she's top young for a routine

Currently sat up trying to wind my 3 week old. He is super fussy the last few nights and tossing/turning/ gripping! I try to wind him but he rarely lets it go! Not much of an issue in the day and will sleep fine but at nights it's been awful trying to settle him - if it's not one thing it's another! My 5 year old was the same from what I remember so just holding on for better nights!

Remember that all babies are different, and that your newborn may be different to how your other children were. Hang in there and keep trying, I’m sure soon enough that you’ll figure your little one out.

xxxx

You're not doing anything wrong, babies just don't understand day and night.

There's some limited research that suggests babies might be more active at night because that is when your milk production is at it's peak.

Basically during the day your cortisol levels go higher, when cortisol is high, prolactin and oxytocin are low, but at night your cortisol levels decrease due to the lower levels of environmental stimulation so your prolactin and oxytocin levels are higher, that means more milk.

More milk means a chubbier healthier baby, but it does mean less sleep for you. It's sadly just survival instincts.

Sounds standard. It just got worse and worse for us, peaked around 5-6 weeks, then started getting better.

You’re not doing anything wrong. If she wakes, feed her-she’s hungry!

Thanks everyone! Ive had 2 hours sleep she absolutely thinks night time is party time 😂. She just will not settle under any circumstances. My other 2 kids are SEN and while the one has meds to sleep and sleeps through, the other isn’t on any sleeping aids and will sometimes wake in the night or he’s up early. Like 5:30am early. So that isn’t helping i dont think. But it is what it is i can’t do anything about that. But just adds to the tired club situ! Xx

If it’s any consolation mine is 7 weeks old and is exactly the same. I have no routine at the moment day or night and I never know what to expect. I’m so drained as it’s so different to my 1st baby. I also have a 6 year old…it’s hard isn’t it

Can you and your partner do shifts? Someone doesn't 8-2 and the other does 2-8?

That way you're both getting 6 hours at least?