Newborn - ftm- please tell me it gets better!

[Beansmeansheinz]

Absolutely love my little boy, he’s gorgeous and was very much wanted. He’s only three days old and is currently cluster feeding (I think) as my milk has just come in and he seems to want to feed almost constantly particularly at night. We have a chicco next to me which he hates - doesn’t matter how I arrange it, he won’t stop crying when he’s put in there, I don’t like to leave him to cry so he gets picked up. The only way DH and I will get any sleep is co-sleeping but I know it’s not adviseable and I would hate for anything to happen to ds. He also cries when he soils a nappy, which happens at least 5 times a night. This is all brand new to me, please tell me it’s all normal and will get better?? We have a Poco baby hammock on the way so I’m hoping he prefers sleeping in that I don’t think I can cope without sleep indefinitely.

Yes! First couple of days / weeks myself or DH took turns to stay awake with DD.
That’s totally normal.

Things got gradually better and she was sleeping 5/6 hours by 6 weeks and 7/8 hours by 8 weeks.

Every baby is different though so can’t promise your baby will do that, but it does get better.

Dd is how 14 months and sleeps through the night (except for when teething or sick)

Completely normal at 3 days old and I was pretty much in the same position as you. Co-sleeping got me through the first two weeks but it wasn’t something I wanted to do long term. After two weeks we bought a Sleepyhead and he settled in it straight away and he started sleeping three hour stretches in that, then five hour stretches by 8 weeks. There’s a lot of debate over the safety of sleepyheads but it really was a life saver for us as I was so sleep deprived. Things will get better, the cluster feeding is completely normal and at such a young age and your baby will just naturally want to be as close to you as possible. Google the fourth trimester. Keep going mama, you’re doing a fab job.

My DS was exactly the same with his next 2 me crib. We ended up using a Moses basket and he slept so much better. I think he liked being able to feel “walls” so to speak, a bit of security for him. It wasn’t long until he was sprawling about a bit more and we moved him up to the next 2 me crib.

He’s now 6mo and sleeping much better- the lack of sleep is so tough, what got me through was actually accepting that I wasn’t going to get any (sounds daft but any I did get kind of felt like a bonus haha). Stay strong!

Have you tried a dummy?

TOTALLY normal for 3 days old. Congratulations!

My DS cluster fed the first 3 nights. I thought I might die from lack of sleep. By day 4/5 it was less ridiculous. Still up every hour or two but actually slept in between feeds.

A 3 day old baby is not going to want to sleep in a cot. He wants to be on his safe place/mum that he's known for 9 months.

For the first few weeks we did shifts. I did until 1am and then handed over. There's no point in both of you being shattered.

That said i can remember being so tired i did a nappy change while asleep and only realised in the morning when i found the nappy in our bed.

It got a lot better

Totally normal. Try a sleepyhead. They're great and well worth the money

Swaddle and make the Moses basket or Chicco feel cosier