Newborn sleep pattern?

[LittleMG]

Hi, my baby is one week old and sleeps all day, I have to wake up up for feeds and try to keep him stimulated in all sorts of ways in the day. At night however he is so restless and won’t gon longer than hour and a half without waking for a feed which then takes AGES then he drifts off while I hold him but when I put him down he won’t settle just cries on and off and I keep having to top up his feed. As I’m breastfeeding I’m not sure if he’s had enough? I’m so tempted to give a bottle and formula as I can’t seem to get more than 2 hours sleep in at night. Midwife and health worker are not very helpful they say let it be baby let but surly they must be some way to get into a routine? Thanks he’s my first so I could do with some proper mum advice x

What you're experiencing is completely normal. When they are born, day and night are mixed up as they are used to sleeping during day when you are up and about and awake + kicking at night when you sleep during pregnancy. Babies don't start producing melatonin (sleep hormone) in the evening/night until they are around 6 weeks old too.

If you've had latch check and breastfeeding is going well during the day, it sounds like he could be cluster feeding at night to increase your supply. If he's regained his birthweight by day 10 and you are getting wet and dirty nappies, the best thing to do is put him to breast if breastfeeding is your long term aim. Formula won't harm him but it messes with your milk supply this early which is why it isn't recommended.

Are you able to sleep during the day when he does? Do you have help to do so? After night feeds, can your partner try settle him to sleep? The other alternative that most on here will recommend is co-sleeping so you feed lying down and can drift in and out of sleep. If you choose this, look at safe co-sleeping guidelines so you are doing it the safest possible way.

With my firstborn, DH and I took it in turns to hold her while she slept at night as she wouldn't let us put her down at all - this lasted for the first 10 days then we gradually got her down more and more. I wasn't comfortable co-sleeping at that time and I was finding breastfeeding painful. Ive just had my second and co-slept for the first 2 weeks this time round as I was more comfortable with it (and we couldn't sleep during the day with an active toddler to look after!)

The fact he sleeps a lot in the day is a great sign! My little girl had a similar pattern and in the end I started waking her for regular feeds during the day, would let her cluster feed in the evening and eventually the night time feeds would start to reduce significantly. I think by about 4 weeks I was only doing one of two feeds after her last feed at 11pm. She is ebf and at 12 weeks started sleeping through, a good nights sleep was a priority for me so I focused on feeding her up during the day.

He is still only teeny so focus on feeding and getting your supply up x