Day Sleeper

[kylah]

My 6 week old son tends to wake up between 6am and 7am which is fine, has his morning feed and plays or cuddles for another 1-3 hours and then generally wakes or is woken around 12p-1pm for his lunchfeed and will setlle back to sleep until 3pm-4pm. Once he is awake later on the afernoon he will play, eat, cuddle, have a bath and we begin to try to settle him into bed at around 7pm. Is this too much sleep for him during the day as once we try to settle him to bed he either gets trapped wind and wont settle until his next feed or we end up battling him to sleep unil he drops off at around 10pm. Once he has his 7pm bottle he will drop off but wakes up when we put him in his basket, needs constant winding, cries for no reason etc. Any ideas?

I'm not sure he's getting enough daytime sleep. I'm pretty sure babies of this age can only last being awake for about an hour before they get overired which is probably why you're finding it hard to settle him. I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice from others but I've found the Baby Whisperer quite a good guide to how much sleep/awake time my daughter needs. It's also good for advice on understanding your baby's needs by reading body language etc. Try www.babywhisperer.com you have to register but it's free. Look for the EASY routines for your sons age group (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time). It's quite common for young babies to be unsettled and windy in the evenings which is often called colic but it's one of those things that no one really understands. Hope that helps

Thanks for that, I had heard of the dreaded teatime colic/unsettled period that he seems to have. Glad its not just him! Its awful because when he's going through it I'd give me right arm just to be able to get it out for him. I'll look into the Baby Whisperer, sounds good. He's pretty good 70% of the time its just the teatime/bedtime thing we've got to get nailed down.

Hi Kylah, it seems like forever when you're going through it but it will pass. His little system just needs time to mature. Try not to stress too much about it because he may get additionally worked up if you're stressed. I used to sing to get through the crying, it's the only thing that would keep me sane while my ear drums were getting a battering. (Probably upset her more!)
Things for wind:
You could try infacol before you feed him, I used it, not convinced it helped but some people I know swear by it.
Are you bottle or breast feeding? If bottle have you looked into colic bottles / teats? If breast feeding perhaps try and lay down while doing it and make sure he empties one breast before starting the other because too much foremilk can have that effect.
How are you winding him? Have you tried to lay him across your legs so his tummy rests on one leg and head on the other? I laid her on a warm (not hot) water bottle for a few minutes and then a gentle massage in a clockwise direction on the tummy below the belly button.
At the end of the day, I'm not sure whether any of the so called remedies work, they made me feel better because I felt I was doing all I could, essentially it's one of those things they will grow out of so stay positive, it will get better.

another really good book is 'the no cry sleep solution' the author looks at day naps as well as night time.

from my own experience, dd grew into her naps, only ever for exactly half an hour or exactly one hour. that book explained to me about her sleep cycles and how to really go with the flow, follow her cues etc. it really put me at ease, in the face of other mums telling me their babies napped for 2 hours every afternoon.

Re feeding him, I'm bottle feeding and using the anti colic teats. Infacol seems to work one day and not the next so we tried him with gripe water after a feed and that tends to do the trick. Usually wind him sitting him on my lap and do try laying him flat across my legs or arm. I dont know if I'm trying to be too regimented at 6 weeks and expecting too much of him as he changes so much every day. Every days the same give or take 1-2 hours so I dont know if I should just relax and maybe follow his lead a little bit.
Thanks for the advice everyone.

hi i totally sympathise with you both my lo's were really colliky and it feels like it's always going to be like that, but bang on 11 weeks both of them were over it
my health visitor told us to take dd to the docs and ask for some colief we did and it did seem to lessen it quite a bit
i didn't reckon much to infacol or gripe water at all but the colief seemed to shorten the amount of time she was collicy for (if that makes sense)
you can buy it over the counter but it is about a tenner i think

also i had those bottles (mam ones) that have the bottom that unscrews with the valve in it these seemed to help a bit with both kids (still used the anti colic teats)

He's due at the doctors for his six week check in a couple of days so I'll ask about colic relief then, thanks for the heads up. He has Avent bottles that have a valve in the screwy bit at the top so they're supposed to work by taking the air out! Colic preventing my a@$e!

KYLAH - that is exactly what you should do! enjoy him

Think we've cracked it! Forthe past few days been sticking to the normal daily routine, after his bottle at 6-7pm he has his colic, hissy fit, unsettled time etc. and then by 10pm he's practically asleep so fed him at 10pm, put him down in his basket and he's going through until 5am!!! Popping a dummy in when he gets up and this seems to fool his mouth and he sleeps for another hour or so and is up for breakfast shortly after 6am. Some may say for him to still be awake after 7pm is unorthadox but hey it works for him and us!

kylah - well done 6 weeks old and sleeping that much is amazing. I don't think anyone would say 10pm to bed is too late at his young age. In fact, a lot of mums would be positively jealous! You can bring the bedtime back towards your preferred time over a period of weeks so that eventually it is 7:00pm if that is what you wnat.
Congrats!!!

Thanks for the positive comments, I've only recentley joined the site and felt a bit out of place as everyone seemed so clued up with the lingo, I'm clueless! Its really nice to get positive feedback and other ideas, Joes our first child and you just dont who to listen to in the first part, but after a while I've learned to pick and choose the advice and apply what works best for him as thats what matters most at the end of the day.