newborn has days and nights mixed up...help!

[mamaesi]

Can anyone suggest how to change my newborns sleep schedule?

Only 4 weeks old so I know its not easy, but she sleeps in cot, in buggy, in car seat, in sling, anywhere for 4 hour stretches during the day.

Then around 10pm...it starts. Breastfeeding every 1.5 hours, fussing, crying if anywhere but on breast or on my chest. Will not sleep anywhere but in arms and I am exhausted.

I wish I could just go with it, but I have a busy toddler so I have no chance of sleeping during the day. Any suggestions?

yes. also tried putting the buggy cocoon in cot. nothing works

Is she dressed in a sleepsuit all day? My DS was the same until I realised that if I was putting him in day clothes and then sleepsuits at night plus daytime sleep wae in the moses basket/sling... with light/sounds and night sleep was in cot in dark he started to 'know' the difference between day and night.

Good luck

My baby is 3 wks old & I'm having the very same problem. If I figure it out I'll let you know. Hopefully some more advice will be posted.
I think she sleeps better during the day because our morning is quite 'busy'...I have to repeatedly put her down so I can shower/ eat/ tidy a bit etc...she seems to sleep a lot better after all these chores have been done and again after dinner when I've had to repeatedly put her down so I can cook.

At night though she's up in arms a lot...isnt kept waiting at all. I'm going to try giving her a bath tonight to try tire her out a bit.

Yup, same here with 3wk old. She's totally nocturnal it seems! Sleeps like a dream during the day wherever you put her, car seat, buggy, basket etc but I'll think I've settled her in living room at night in basket, skulk into the bedroom, lights out, tentatively put ear plugs in and get comfy.........then the whimpering starts which escalates to a full on screechathon if you don't get to her quick sharp!

I tried warming basket with hot water bottle, didn't work. I've downloaded some white noise which I need to try out tonight, which you can play on a loop. I'll let you know. If it doesn't work I'll maybe cosleep, although I still feel bit uncomfortable about that for safety reasons but I'm aware of the dos and don'ts.

Maybe we're getting our hopes up too much at the mo as they're so young and most people report improvements after few months? But even if she slept in 3hr stints it'd be an improvement. You can't always "sleep when the baby sleeps" during the day when you've things that need to be done.

exactly chimichanga...I am not expecting a full nights sleep...just three or four hours like she does during the day!

last night she did ok sleeping in bed with me...it was better than sleeping on top of me or on my breast...

but today has been fast asleep...so am expecting a bad night. is it too early for a dummy?

I may get shot down in flames for saying this but I read the gina ford contented little baby book and it helped me. I didn't take it completely to heart but it gave ne a rough idea of how much sleep they might need in the day to sleep better at night.
For example suggested sleep routine for 4 wk old is roughly
Wake 7am
Sleep 8.30 ish for and hour ish
Sleep 11.30 ish till 2
Sleep 4-5pm ish
So max daily sleep is about 5 hours. We used to wake our DD up a bit more during the day to slowly move towards longer stretches at night. You can't make babies sleep of course bit it gave me an idea to work from
All babies are the wrong way round when born time wise as they are awake when you sleep in the womb and then when
You were moving they got rocked to sleep. They will switch round slowly anyway as they will find all the things going on during the day more and more interesting. Hope that helps....

They naturally figure it out at about 6 weeks, make sure they get plenty of daylight as it helps trigger the right brain chemicals. It helps with jaundice too.

It's really tough going with a toddler isn't it, doesn't last forever though, promise! They feed more at night cos that's when your hormones for milk production are at thier highest, only lasts for the first few weeks tho. Can you breastfeed lying down and doze while you're doing it - provide you don't smoke etc etc.
if all else fails, when baby is settled during the day and sleeping, put the moses basket next to you, stick toddler in front of cbeebies for an hour and get a kip on the sofa.
hope things get better soon x

I had the same thing. I can't remember when things started to get better, maybe about 7 weeks ish. My DD now goes down for sleep usually between 11 and 1ish, with usually only one or two night feeds. I made sure nights are dark and days are bright and noisier. I also woke DD for feeds every 3 hours during the day.

I dont think its too early for a dummy but will she take it??!! Mine wont! Bringing her into bed for the night seems to help...until big brother joins us and its all a bit of a squash & a squeeze. Hearing that things improve from 6wks helps. She's started smiling now which also helps...little bundle of joy! :)

Do you cluster feed early in the evening? Rather than letting baby start it up at 10pm, how about you do it earlier in the evening to encourage her to "fill up".

Also, and I'm not being patronising but 4 weeks is really tiny and your DD is not even used to being outside in the big wide world yet, let along have any clue about what's going on.

I haven't used one but many mums here swear by slings.

I used to let my DD sleep as much as she wanted in the day (because I didn't have a clue and no-one told me otherwise) and then I was suprised when she wanted to party from 3am onwards every night.

I am now a big proponent of starting to structure days around feeding and naps as soon as you feel ready. And you can shoot me down in flames for saying this but it's an odd coincidence that so many people who have no routine are still complaining about their 9 /12 /18 month olds not sleeping, whereas people who do follow some sort of routine frequently find their LOs are sleeping through within a few months.

sorry but I am just not a routine type of girl. the routine stresses me out even more!

I never did routine with my other child and she slept like a dream...well except months 7-9...but then went back to sleeping amazingly again.

I do like the idea of trying to start the cluster feeding earlier, however gain its difficult with a toddler as I need to get her bathed and in bed...

Last night was better. Dummy kind of worked, only briefly before being spit out, but it kept baby from wanting to stay on breast/on my chest...she actually was in cot and in my bed...but had 3 hour gaps instead of 1.5 hours..

I guess I am just getting better at functioning on no sleep.

Some info here article. I think they do work it out but you might need to help a little bit. The Millpond Baby and Child Sleep Clinic give free advice here sleep forum which you might find useful.