6 weeks milestone - does it exist??!!

[chonky]

My dd is almost seven weeks old and still has her body clock completely mixed, sleeping entirely during the day & then being up until 3 every morning (and waking at 5:30, 6:30 a.m). I try everything to keep her awake during the day - but no amount of walking outside, chatting to her, putting her on her gym mat seems to work. I'm getting to the point where I'm v.v.tired, and am trying to sleep when she sleeps, but I can't imagine me sleeping all morning is ever going to change her day/night pattern. Also, as I've just moved to a new area I'm really trying to get out during the day to meet people otherwise I'm just going to end up feeling more isolated. Do all babies go through this at about six weeks, and do I just need to get on with it, or is there something I can do to try & help her switch to sleeping more at night?

my ds had his change at about 11 weeks. Hold in there...it WILL get easier. Bung her in a papoose and just get on with whatever you want to do by day. i tried the sleep-when-baby-sleeps thing, and it just didn't work for me. Do you have a dp/dh to help with the nights? where have you moved to? Are you close to family?

My dd sorted herself out a bit at 8 weeks, seemed like it took forever but thats only a week away from where you are now. Hang on in there it will get better.

I also made it harder for myself by trying to do too much. I know what you mean about getting out and about, it kept me sane. But it wore me out so I ended up alternating it, one day where we went at dd pace and one day at mine and slowly but surely we found a happy medium.

I loosely used the contented baby book as well for an idea about how much sleep roughly and when to have it.

HTH

Chonky, your baby must have been born in April then. My dd is just over 7 weeks old, you should join on the April babies thread!! We are all going through this at the same time and it has really helped me, theres loads of stuff that would have panicked me otherwise.
I can't put dd down atall during the day at the moment and I think a few of us are having the same problem. Like bbensley I am finding that I will go out and do everything I want to do one day and relax the next giving all baby time. But then I'm a first time mum and I don't know either!!

Take heart - they do get it sorted out eventually. Although I never had a nocturnal baby, DD2 was very unpredictable in her feeding patterns until about 3 months when she settled down. (now she's 21 months) Most people reckon the first 3 months is the worst - that means you've only got about 4 or 5 weeks to go!

Thanks for the advice & encouragement. Very good to know that we can't be a million miles away from her switching. Yep - dd is an April babe, I'll join the April thread as it'd definitely be a help to muddle through it with everyone else All the babes from my antenatal group are May babes - who sleep - or still bumps, so I feel a bit of a whinger turning up to my post-natal support group to say that my dd doesn't sleep a jot at night!
We've just moved from London to the Cotswolds, so it's all a bit of a big life change at the moment (a very good one though). My Mum's not far away, and I think I might go & stay with her for a few days to have a hand. My dh has been a complete star, but as he's back at work now I feel guilty when he gets up to help with dd at the crack of dawn. I guess I need to start being less gung-ho about getting out & about and stop trying to walk off my post-natal lard EVERYday

My dd is 20 weeks and I vividly remember 7 weeks as a being fed up with it all week. The novelty has worn off and you are ready for a bit of routine. I thought I would never make it to easter and that the lard would never shift.
I did make it tho and despite copious amounts of easter eggs I shifted some of the lard too

Hi chonky, funny, I used to live in the Cotswolds and am now in London

Do you find dd is awake after a feed or is this when she like to go to sleep? You'll find she has a pattern off eat-play-sleep or eat-sleep-play (my ds was the former).

A few tips I found for keeping babe awake were to strip off clothing or wipe down with a cold flanel (I used to do this when bf though). I also found it helpful to start the day off at the same time no matter when the last waking/feed was, eg. 7am. So even if ds went to sleep at 6am I woke him at 7am, lights on/curtains open and gentle calling of his name. Then it was a feed and play play play. He was usually tired 2hrs after this and the first nap was nearly always at 9am. The day started at 7am every day until around 6mo. The day naps were then every 2-3hrs, about 4 naps a day until 3mo. Then they dropped off gradually and at 7mo was down to 2 (still is at 11mo). It's hard to turn it around but having the same wakeup time really helped us. (btw, this is similar to GF, but we didn't follow her, just fell into it) HTH.

Sorry, last line should have read - this is similar to GF, but we didn't follow her, ds just fell into it naturally, most babies do eventually

bbensley - you have just described me now exactly at 7 weeks. I can't seem to put dd down atall!! She won't let me do anything and to behonest I want to get on and do stuff now. As I said earlier we are going through this on the April thread

I don't know whether it really is six weeks (my memories of six weeks are bf every 40 minutes and that magical head expansion till they turn into cherubs not newborns) - but "the magic night" does exist and does happen - in the end. For me, both times (two kids), very annoyingly it was when dh was doing the night.

Wonder why all the books refer to the first six weeks? I even have a book with the title 'Guide to The First Six Weeks' - haha
DD was a bit better last night, dh managed to get her to take a bottle last thing which meant I got a bit more kip. Going to aim for the same wake-up time, just finding it hard to summon up the energy to get up at 7am, as I'm finding that my bodyclock is changing with dd's. Definitely going to try the cold flannel tactic too.
Have thought about giving a bottle of formula last thing at night, as HV has suggested that this might help. However, I'm worried that this might make dd refuse b/f, and that seems to be the one thing we're getting right at present Has anyone found that a bottle of formula last thing helped to settle their baby?

Some babies are sleepier than others. My DD slept a lot during the day when she was really new, which was a novelty as DS seemed never to sleep at all until he was 12 weeks old.
The only tip I can give you Chonky, is that I never let DD go longer than 3 hours without a feed during the day. Like Karen99 I always start my day at the same time no matter what has happened in the night (7.30am for us ... ). I could never get DD to stay awake for longer than an hour or an hour and a half at the most at 6 weeks but I always woke her for feeds during the day. Then at night I let her go as long as she wanted between feeds.
It makes sense that if she is sleeping long hours between feeds during the day your DD will be hungrier at night and will be making up for it and so wanting to be awake/feed at antisocial hours.
Hang on in there ... it does get better