5 week old turning night into day

[HA78]

My dd1, who I've posted about before, has colic which only affects her in the evening and overnight. I've been seeing a chiropracter and craniosacral therapist the last week, and the colic seems a bit better - less screaming with drawing up of legs etc. The problem now seems to be that she's just up all night anyway. Sometimes it starts about 8pm, other times after her night feed - anytime between midnight and 2 am. Sometimes she falls asleep on the breast only to spring open her eyes when I put her down, or change her nappy (and yes, have tried changing it before feeds too). Other times she's just wide awake, looking like she wants to play. We get into a horrible situation of carrying her around, trying to soothe her, trying all sorts to get her to sleep, and she just fights it. She's overtired, and even 3 hourly feeding through the night doesn't help. Finally at about 7 or 8 am she falls asleep for the next 5 hours after a feed - she's exhausted, and so are we! I'm developing pnd as a result, and need to see my GP. She usually sleeps brilliantly in the day. Can I turn it around?

I think this is normal, my dd was like this for about 6 weeks. she sorted herself out in the end. Sympathies though, as I remember the exhaustion only too well. I am just about to do it again, must be nuts!

Hello sleepless mummies, I too have a 5 week old who sleeps pretty well during the day and is very difficult at night. I've been told that they develop melatonin at 6 weeks which helps regulate sleep patterns (it's a hormone) so I'm desperate to get to 6 weeks. Another good thing I learned with my son (now 3) was to follow a feed/play/sleep routine, with little bubs try not to keep them up longer than an hour, try to separate the feed from the sleep, difficult I when they fall asleep on the boob/bottle, that way you can take advantage of their "sleep window" and it's easier to get them to sleep and stay asleep, rahter than putting them down asleep and they wake up 10 mins later. Put bub down awake, turn on side and pat bottom/back whilst crying then remove hands when bub is drowsy in the hope they will put themselves to sleep, this is hard yakka and needs repetition and infinite patience. For mums who don't like controlled comforting, try Tracy Hoggs pick/up put down method or No cry sleep solution. Good luck!

PS HA78, I too have felt very down, miserable and totally totally knackered with so little sleep and a 3 year old to look after. Hang in there, get help, talk to other people and know that there are millions of mums who feel the same.

i read somewhere that you need to get them out in as much light as you can in the afternoon as that's important for their melatonin levels. also i never pull the curtains for daytime naps, so that she differentiates between the two. as i recall, this happened to us, we were lucky that dh and i worked from home so were both able just to give in for a while and sleep when dd slept. i do hope it settles down soon...

Hi all, just wondering how the mums with young bubs are going. My 5 weeks DD seems to be getting easier at night. HAve found that getting her to sleep in the afternoon means she sleeps through the evening and is easier for the rest of the night, as if sleep breeds more sleep. We did have her awake in the afternoon, getting more and more grumpy, then had an almighty fight in our hands to get her to sleep. Feeling almost half human today, can just about handle anything during the day with a bit of kip at night! All the best to you and your bubs out there.