Bedtime is nearing - newborn help

[Bex134]

So DS is 4 weeks old, he's not sleeping well in the night, max of 1.5 hrs at one stretch.

When he wakes he'll make noises and stir which eventually leads to escalation and a cry. During the stirung he will drop off to sleep for a few mins and stir again. This went on for an hour last night before I picked him up.

Should I leave him to stir or pick up and try to settle off earlier?

Settle off straight away. He's too young to self settle.

Put a dummy in at first stirring. Feed if not settled within 5 or so minutes.

Baby wants as much sleep as possible, sleeping as deeply as possible.

Making sleep hard for baby (by leaving awake rather than getting back to sleep) is never going to be the answer.

At such a young age I would cuddle to a deep sleep. Are you breast feeding? I can't offer bottle advice as I don't know but if breast I would just offer the boob every time they're unsettled when they're still newborn.

He's too young to self settle. I know how hard it is but every 1.5 hrs is normal at that age. My ds was doing every 2 hours til he was 6 months.

Thanks, that's so helpful. I'm breastfeeding so cuddling and offering further feed will be what I'll try tonight.

Yes at so tiny I just picked mine up and fed him straight away. If I'm awake listening to snuffling I may as well be feeding as it lets me get back to sleep sooner. They need lots of night feeds at that age and can't self settle. Mine never cried at night because it just didn't get to that stage.

It's very possible he's hungry and they are of course building their milk supply at that age, but equally it's possible he just misses the closeness and comfort of being close to you. I coslept with both of mine when they were newborn and got more time between feeds as a result - 2 to 3 hours. They also began going for even bigger stretches quite early and when they woke I often fed them lying down so neither of us barely woke. For me it was the best thing I've ever done, but appreciate it's not for everybody. Dd is now 12 weeks, settling well in her crib in our room and doing 6 to 8 hour stretches. Ds was the same, but at newborn age both preferred to sleep on or with us. As soon as they were ready to self settle we began putting them in their moses basket/ crib.