Awake with newborn, anyone else? :)

[Jellybean2017]

My little boy is nine days old. He sleeps pretty well during the day but at night just wants to be held and breastfed. He doesn't settle in his moses basket at night (but he will quite often do so during the day)

Anyone else up doing the same?! I'm not keen on the idea of co-sleeping but would be grateful for any advice. Baby sleeps in a gro-snug and we have a dream sheep but I'm guessing this frequent feeding and love of cuddles in the night is probably just par for the course at this early stage? 😊 I am napping during the day so I'm probably averaging about 6 hrs sleep in a 24 hr period.

It's worth trying, Very. It's only about £2.50 a bottle and that does 50-100 feeds.

My LO will be 4 weeks on Sunday. He has always slept fairly well from the beginning really.

I used to have the TV on all night - Disney movies on Netflix etc to help me sleep. Now I just sometimes watch something while he had the first boob, but second boob is white noise and dimmer lights to help suggest it's back to sleep time. Probably doesn't make much difference st this age but I figure it's a habit to get into.

Up again for a feed. I feel pretty well rested.

Very my little one is 6 weeks on Sunday. He's not been a great sleeper but also I know he's far from the worst ever. He's loosely been displaying a pattern of sleep for a few weeks now, usually going down around midnight (needs to be earlier for my sake!) and has at least two wake ups. He'd have a decent chunk at the start of the night, then each block would get shorter.

Interested in seeing how we get on today. Will he nap? At least my partner is off work so I can hand him over and maybe have a shower!

Glad many of you have had a decent night.

We started off well, DS slept 8.30-11pm and I got 2hrs in. However since 11pm he has been feeding every 90mins. So if he feeds for 45-60mins I'm only getting a 30-45 min break.

Despite all the feeding he's also not gained any weight in the last week. Midwife and feeding team are happy with our technique, frequencies of his nappies etc but can't say why he's doing this.

It's so frustrating being up all night every night and his weight is a problem.

He might just be stocking up for a big spurt, Panda'

We've had a very good nap day today. I feel like I've barely seen him awake! Thursday was similar to today, then Friday was awful. Both times night time sleep was fine, other than the lateness of the first chunk of sleep. I hope we're not in a 'good day, bad day' cycle!

My partner had the little one sleeping on him this afternoon and I had a two hour nap. As baby started to stir, I took him to feed (at about 6pm) and he's still asleep on me now. Been doing a lot of reading about how daytime sleep is important to stop cortisol levels getting too high, to reassure me he'll be fine tonight!

@Lallypopstick I can't get my 12 week old to nap 🙈 unless we're out and about with the buggy. What are your secrets??? Nighttime isn't bad. Daytime = horrendous!!!!

Laura I wish I knew - nothing worked yesterday! He sleeps really well on my boyfriend, I think because he doesn't associate him with milk / feeding so he doesn't stir on him as quickly as on me.

We're the same, Lally. He occasionally sleeps on me after a big feed, but he sleeps far more often (pretty much daily) on my OH. For hours in fact!

Ha! My DS won't sleep on DH at all. He's really thin and bony, so uncomfortable. Me, on the other hand, I'm all kinds of squidgy. I put him on my chest and he's asleep within seconds and stays there for up to 3 hours.

God I wish I could get napping sussed! Had such amazing intentions of getting loads done 🤣 no such luck!!!!!! She just hates sleep

Evening everyone. Baby K has a runny nose, he's only 8 days old and I'm new to this mum thing so over worrying I'm sure. Do I need to do anything?

If he sleeps in a cot, prop one end up slightly so his head is slightly raised, by sticking some books or something under the legs on one side. Baby is too young for vicks/snuffle babe, but there is saline solution which you can squirt up their nose when they're blocked up. Also a bulb thing which sort of sucks the snot out, but I could never get the hang of that.
You could turn the shower on hot and sit with baby in the steamy bathroom. Not sure whether there's an age limit, but you can get vicks plug ins which are good. The best thing, I found, is a humidifier. But we used one for my last DD and it ended up making the walls very damp.

My OH is skinny and bony too Lady! Doesnt stop my LO sleeping on him thankfully.

Someone's replaced my baby with a Robot. Z has just gone 5 hours without waking up for food, had 2 oz and gone straight back to sleep.

Hurrah for robot baby!

We woke our LO for a bath and a feed around ten, got to bed by 11.30 and we're up at 4.45 again.

Does 2 nights in a row constitute a routine? 😂

Wow, I want a robot baby! My little boy will only settle when he is on me.

I don't know what happened, dd fell asleep feeding at 11, slept until 2 and then fed again and slept 3-6. Hopefully this is the start of a pattern! I'm not holding out too much hope but I feel a bit more human from the sleep!

DS did 10-4, then till 7.30, when the snot woke him up. He's just sneezed in my eye.
Glad it was a good night for some of us.

Good night for me too - he fell asleep at 10, woke at 2, woke at 5, woke at 7 and I fed and brought into our bed, and just woke up again so we're having a feed. I think I've said before, I don't mind the wake ups but I want a pre-midnight bedtime for all of our sakes - mostly for mine!

I'm keen to see how his daytime sleep goes today. Hopefully nothing like Friday!

Well I jinxed myself - he wouldn't go down again after being up from 4.45... eventually he fell asleep on daddy for maybe two hours but now he's awake, crying and hiccuping again.

Glad you ladies are having better nights. Has anyone tried following Gina Ford's routine? Had a couple of friends recommend.

Currently crying in the spare room with a cluster feeding baby. First time he's done it in a while and he would pick the night before my OH returns to work. And the day I've been up since 5am with just a couple of brief naps to keep me going. He's fed every 2-3 hours today which is more often than usual and has been grumpy most of the rest of the time. He's bloody knackered as well. Keeps falling asleep, really asleep. Thought we were done an hour ago and even got him in his basket briefly before he woke up again... no idea how I'm going to handle tomorrow. I'm fighting a real panic over it.

Hi Nina, that sounds really difficult and as you say typical on night before your partner goes back to work. We have had a few days and nights of cluster feeding so I'm guessing there must be a growth spurt around now (four weeks?)

I found it tough when husband returned to work but it's becoming more manageable after two weeks, hopefully you will settle quickly too.

I ended up feeding my baby laying down last night and we both fell asleep. Didn't want to do this but was finding myself nodding off when sitting up. Trying to get baby to settle in his own bed tonight.

Also started expressing some milk today and am hoping husband will occasionally help with feeds once I have a good stock.

Four weeks today, must be a jinx!

I've got my breast pump and all the accompaniments ready, just need to read up on how to use it then get started trying to get some milk stored for later.

I feel really ashamed of myself for finding it all so hard. Total first world problems here. I do have a partner and wider family supporting me. I have a baby that can sometimes be put down and mostly sleeps ok at night. Hell, I have a baby which is more than sone people ever have.