Newborn - not settling at night

[Del3]

Looking for reassurance more than anything - is this normal and will it get better?!

My second boy is 2.5 weeks old and is so unsettled at night. He is up throughout the day, pretty much an EASY routine. I give him a bath at 6.30 and then sleep at 7pm. We go upstairs to bed together. He then wakes at 9.30, 11, 1, 3 and 5 basically. And each time he is so hard to settle, on and off breast. I think he is windy, we’re giving him infacol but I give him lots of winding and nothing happens. He’s not being sick when burping either. Then back on the breast to try and settle and he just comes on and off crying. My husband tries to settle too. Eventually he does but doesn’t go into cot, he just stays in bed with me.

I feel so exhausted, with my 23 month old too. Does anyone have any advice or reassurance that this will get better and is normal? I don’t remember it being this hard...

Bump

This is normal. He just needs to slowly swap night and day,.

It will get better. Promise it will, just cannot promise when.
There seem to be lots of reasons for fussiness at the breast, for us it was very fast let down and oversupply. Try a look at kellymom website?

Just do what you need to for now to get thru, hang the washing and cleaning, and ready meals and takeouts are your friends for a bit.

Get your husband to take the baby for even twenty minutes even if he screams, so you get a bit of not-being-touched time, or time with your toddler.

It sounds normal op. My son (now 13 weeks) was like this for the first month. He then started going 3 hours at night instead of two , he can now settle for 6 hours in his cot.

As others have said , just focus on getting through it. Make sure you get time for a bath and keep meals and housework to a simple standard.

Thanks all. Is there anything else I can do?!

Have you tried BF lying down so that you can rest when he's feeding? Then if he falls asleep you don't have to move him.

I had 2 under 2 (21mo gap) and I was a lot less tired then just with DD because I always fed lying down overnight so nobody woke up too much. And a mandatory nap for everybody 1-3 when DD naps!

Thanks! Yes my little one still naps 1-3 so trying to nap or at least rest! I have tried lying down breastfeeding but I’m not sure I like him “snacking” and not really properly feeding.

Depends if you see it as snacking or just taking what he needs at that point. Like I prefer to sip water throughout the day but DH prefers to drink a pint in one go and not drink again for a few hours.

I would definitely recommend feeding lying down for nap at least. DS is now almost 13mo and there's hardly been a day in his life that they haven't napped at the same time. I know it'll end at some point but it's been such a life saver knowing I'd have that 1.5-2 hours rest every day.

His sleep pattern is totally normal for his age. Babies need to feed frequently as their tummies are tiny. It isn’t even abnormal for a baby of six months old to be waking every two hours through the night. Some babies sleep through but a hell of a lot of babies don’t sleep for long periods at all. I’ve had babies in both categories of sleep and with the poorer sleepers you just have to remind yourself that they are just babies and it will get better at some point.

Yep deffo normal, LO just hasn’t learned about day vs night yet.
Try to help him with this by making sure he goes it in daylight a bit in the morning. Keep all daytime naps in well lit rooms with normal background noise.
At night don’t change his nappy unless a poo, don’t speak to him , keep things quiet and dark/dimly lit.

I did all this with my LO who is now nearly 6mo and within 3 weeks he’s always slept at night 7-7ish ( obvs wakes for feeds but is settled and goes straight back down, no crying or fussing etc unless after his
Jabs ).

It doesn’t sound like he is windy , it just sounds like he doesn’t want to be asleep cos his body clock isn’t set yet .

The frequency of waking at night sounds perfectly normal, if tiring! The fussiness might be normal and settle or it could be a tongue tie or silent reflux. The KellyMom website is a really good place to look for information on both, think someone has already mentioned it above.

He's not snacking at 2.5 weeks his stomach is tiny, he needs lots of feeds. The early weeks are hellish, it does get easier!

Co-sleep, feed as soon as he makes a squeak and one day this will be a distant memory.

Thank you! Why do you say feed as soon as he makes a squeak? Interested! Thank you

That’s a great idea! I could do it whilst my toddler naps. Thanks

My dd was the same until 6-8 weeks when she worked out day and night. Also a 7-7 baby with feeds during this time. All feeds with eyes closed, i dream feed at night and during the night get to her before she wakes upset (usually this is just once).
Make daytimes very bright and night times very dark and quiet, no eye contact.
I thought it would never get better, then it did
(And then apparently it all goes wrong again!)

Thank you, very encouraging! I am feeling a bit better today about it

@Del3 frequent feeding will increase your supply - eventually this means you'll make more and he should stay fuller for longer.

At 2.5 weeks he should be feeding pretty much constantly anyway.