4 day old baby - is this normal?

[Lindalove]

Hi - FTM here with a 4 day old boy. The good news is he's fit, healthy, has developed a decent latch and is BF- ing well with minimal weight loss in week 1. All things to be glad about.

I expected bsby to be up at night wanting to be fed - but my angel can easily be pretty much semi-awake for 5-6 hours overnight. He feeds & feeds to the point of falling off my boob but as soon as I swaddle, shush & lay down in his Moses basket he wakes up within 10 minutes, 8 times out of 10 and we end up doing the routine all over again.
I have sometimes used co-sleeping when things have been very bad so far but that doesn't always work either - he'll nod off but again wake within 10 mins.
Do I just have to suck this up until he gets a little older? And I assume starts to recognise night from day.
Or are there any other tips anyone can offer?
I am coping by literally sleeping whenever baby does during the day so get 5-6 hours a day in 2-3 hour bursts.
I guess it could be worse but it's pretty brutal!!!

Yes I'm afraid so. He's so tiny and new and he has no concept of night and day. Safe co-sleeping is your friend!

Going through that here too. All totally normal. They can't differentiate betweennight and day yet. Also they cluster feed at night to build up your milk supply. Although 8 day old did do a couple of 2.5 hr stretches of sleep last night. Hit and miss in the early weeks.

Totally normal.

Cluster feeding appears to be pretty much constant feeding! It does seem to be working as my boobs have gone Zeppelin- like.
DH has moved into other room and I guess will be there for a while as he's due back into work in 2 weeks! How do people do this on their own - I have no idea.

It's a killer, the first night home baby fed pretty much constantly from 9pm until 5am. If Dh hadn't of been around so I could nap the next day I would have lost the plot. You'll hopefully find he does longer stretches now your milk supply is up, but at this age no one night is the same, and there will be growth spurts. It's hard but not forever. Waking up to the sunshine helps the mood!

Ah mine did this, it's a killer. She would feed and sleep every 2 hours in the day then be pretty much awake and feeding all night. The midwife called it reverse cycling. In the womb babies often sleep more in the day as your movement rocks them to sleep, and are more awake at night when you are still. It's a continuation of this.
If I recall correctly it only lasted about a week/10 days before she started to switch over. She started cluster feeding from about 7pm-11pm which enabled her to sleep slightly longer stretches at night.

It is not normal for a newborn to be awake for 5-6 hours at any point, day or night.

You shouldn't be expecting more than 2 hours awake between sleeps, 60 minutes would be more usual.

Swaddle and then feed. This will make transferring easier.

I'd also recommend investing in a bouncy chair (minus detachable play arch) which enables simple and easy bouncing to sleep while you sit on the sofa.

Maybe he's not feeding long enough because he's falling asleep. Try playing with his feet while he feeds to keep him awake.
Some babies don't like to lie flat, can you use a blanket under his mattress to raise his head? Alternatively you could try a poddle pod so your baby feels as if he's being cuddled. Keep daytime bright and noisy and nighttime dark and quiet and your LO will get the message eventually.

He's semi sleeping and feeding at the same time... Maybe it's a good call to try and make sure he's more alert while feeding with some
foot fiddling might be a good idea!!!

Aldo the idea to swaddle anc then do final feed before laying him down.....

Absolutely Echo the last two posters. It sounds like he's not getting enough milk at each feed. He shouldn't be awake for stretches at a time. Change nappy at start of feeds, turn light on and change nappy half way through if baby falls asleep. I usually feed baby in just their nappy at this stage to keep them more alert. If they've had a decent feed then it's unlikely that they're hungry if they wake up 10 mins later and even they're rooting that usually just an automatic reflex - so cuddle to settle to sleep and then transfer to Moses basket.

I've managed to get him to sleep for 2 hour stretches in the last two nights by trying to keep him more active while feeding (so I assume working harder to feed) and by using a swaddle/shush system I stick whenever I try to lay him down. If he doesn't go down with 3 attempts I change nappy, feed again & then start again - normally he'll go down within 6 attempts.

Definitely Swaddle before putting down.

You could try putting a hot water bottle in the Moses basket/cot before you put him in too (obviously take it out before you put him in!).

Good luck! Sounds like you're doing brilliantly. Keep trying different things and you'll find a system that works.

It's still taking me 3 hours between sleeps though so think I will automatically change nappy too at the start of feeds to really wake him up. Good tip thanks