DS has days and nights mixed up..........Help!

[EmmaTMG]

Firstly he is only 17 days old so I know I can't expect miracles yet but during the day he always sleeps beyond the time his next bootle is due, which is 4 hourly or so. However during the night he wakes almost exactly 4 hours after the last one, sometimes less than 4 hours infact.
If I let him sleep during the day he would go to 6 hours, I try to wake him but he is very reluctant to co-operate with my plans.
He has slept for 6-7 hours solid a few times now but it tends to be from early evening until 2 or 3am.
So my questions to you all is how do I "teach" him that day is day and night is night or will he just sort it out himself with time. I can't remember DS1+2 doing this so it's all abit of a shock.
BTW I just have to say as hard as it is coping on zero sleep he smiled today, it wasn't wind as he's already done a great big man burp and as I was chatting to him and stroking(sp?) his face he smiled, I stopped and then did it again and he smiled again, the tiredness is worth every single minute of it. Awwwwww he's just sooooooooooooooooooo lovely.

Three sons...wow! :0

IMHO you've got to be tough - wake him up during the day and stimulate him. Play with him, let him watch the world, feed him, etc. A good way to fully wake a groggy baby is to change their nappy, and if necessary wipe their face and hands with a damp cloth.

Don't let him sleep past his feed time during the day, and don't let him go more than 6 hours during the night. Early pm to 2-3am is excellent! Personally I always felt that a 2 or 3 am waking was easier to cope with because it meant that I would have had at least one decent block of sleep, and might have another. So in your position I certainly wouldn't want him to go longer at night, not just yet anyway.

That was meant to be a

I had this with ds2. I was at my wits end. He was so deeply asleep during the day. i tried everything to wake him, even giving him coolish baths, practically slapping him round the face with a wet fish, but nothing would make him stir. Can't remember how long it went on for. i just rmember desperately trying to wake him 7 keeping him awake as much as poss. & eventually he sorted it out. i remember asking lots of hv etc & no one could give me any words of wisdom other than 'oh, it sounds like he's got his day & night mixed up.' yeah, thanks, I know.

Anyway, congrats & hope he sorts it soon. How old are ds 1 & 2. Arm them with drums?

Monkey, DS1+2 are 4.6yrs and 2.4yrs and are quite possibly the noisiest children I have ever encountered so arming them with drums would be a VERY bad idea( I couldn't think of anything worse infact!) and DS3 has been completely unaffected the huge level of noise they make.....and surprisingly by the shouting I do to try and shut them up
My smallest little man has actually stayed awake after his last bottle so hopefully tonight might be a little better.....fingers crossed. I'm off to bed now to make the most of a proper early night.

Forgot to say that I've tried all you suggestions BoyandGirl and nothing wakes him up, I just try and squeeze a bottle teat betwwen his lips and hope he starts sucking. He sleeps through a nappy change even with cold wipes to wipe his bits, can you imagine anything worse.....someone wipes a cold wet clothe over you backside when you're fast asleep. I'd probably punch them!

Good grief!

I've no idea what else you could do. I've heard that sometimes a newborn can take three weeks or so to 'wake up' and become interested enough in the world to want to wake up from sleep. And some jiust need the sleep - my dd was about 4m old before she was able to stay awake for longer than 1 1/2 hours at a time.

ooh emma - we've nearly got a snap..I'm expecting in 4 weeks, and my 2 boys will be 4.3 & 2.10.

it wasn't so much the sleeping all day that bothered me - it was the being awake all night. ho hum. fingers crossed this one doesn't follow suit. Any improvement?

How's it going with 3 boys these ages?

Well I've been waking, well squeezing the bottle in, every 4-ish hours and it seems that the days are becoming more of a routine as yesterday he atually woke up early for a couple of them. Last night he started snuffling around at about 2:20am which was just under 4 hours since his last one, however he obviously fell back to sleep as the next thing I knew it was 3:10am so and I'll say this very quietly.......'I think it might be working but shhhhhhhhh incase he realises!!!'
Monkey......having 3 boys is fantastic (do yo know what you're having?), it's very noisy in our house when DS1 gets home from school but I just go into the kitchen and put the radio on so that I can hear and let them have a little while to run riot. Some days I can cope with their noise some days I can't but it's nice watching them having so much fun even when the noise goes straight through me.

Opps done it again, I must remember to answr in the same post.

Boyandgirl, thats wierd that you say that as he'll be 3 weeks tomorrow and is starting to look around at things and stay awake for a little while.