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1 week old sleeps in the day but not at night

2 replies

Noof · 21/09/2018 06:42

So my first child was an awful sleeper - reflux and an undiagnosed tongue tie meant he just learnt to wake frequently for feeds and there was nothing I could do about it.

2nd child is now a week old. First she is NOISY. As soon as she lays flat she sounds all snotty and bunged up, and starts producing bubbles. Normal newborn sleep or the start of reflux? (I am aware I could be seeing reflux when it's not there due to previous experience). But the main thing is she will happily go 3 hours or a bit more in the daytime between feeds, and she'll spend a good part of that in her carrycot. But at night I'm lucky to get 90 minutes maximum. I've tried co-sleeping and side sleeper cot, swaddling and not, putting her on an incline, even letting her sleep on her side because she seems less agitated then, but none of it makes a blind bit of difference to how long she stays asleep. I don't understand why she'll sleep for 3 hours in the daytime, and in fact slept for 3 hour blocks the first 2-3 nights of her life and now it's gone. I had awful PND after my son and I'm getting so anxious about this and what I'm doing wrong that I'm worried about developing it again. Has anyone got any suggestions of things to try or ideas why this is happening? My husband goes back to work next week and I can't see how I can cope with a newborn and a toddler on the 3 hours sleep a night I'm getting !

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
bangourvillagebesttimeever · 21/09/2018 06:48

I always tried to get my DC into a day-night routine right from the off. Down stairs during the day with me, naps in the Moses basket and nightime bathtime and low light and into bedroom. It takes time for you to get into a routine and I am sure you are doing nothing wrong. Keep an eye for reflux though as my last DC had that and it was awful and worse at night. Congratulations btw!

IamThatWoman · 21/09/2018 06:52

Poor you, it’s tough. However totally normal... she is still very tiny! You are not doing ANYTHING wrong! You gave birth only a week ago!

I found going from 1 to 2 really hard (I know have four Confused) She is only a week old, she doesn’t know the difference between day and night yet. Just do all the things you can to encourage her to learn the difference - keep her in daylight in the day, keep her around noise, so she starts to notice difference between day and night. It took mine a good few weeks to learn the difference between day and night - probably about six weeks!

A sling or wrap is your friend getting things done with a newborn and a toddler... also draft in any help you can get for the toddler (relatives, friends, nursery) in order to try and sleep when the baby sleeps.

I remember The Fear when my husband went back to work after our second was born. You will get there. But please get any and all help you can. And speak to your health visitor / GP if you start feeling low again.

Good luck, it really is hard on no sleep!

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