First time mum in need of advice!

[Louise035]

Hi everyone,
I am a first time mum and I have a baby girl who is now 4 weeks and 3 days old.
I was wondering if you could share your experiences and/or offer some advice. After some initial issues surrounding colic, we are now managing those and my daughter now seems to be more settled in terms of getting up wind etc. However, we are having issues with sleep. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting lots of sleep - I know it comes with a newborn - but we don’t seem to be turning days to nights around yet and then she’s fighting sleep during the day.
During the day, we have the room very light, plenty of noise (TV on, hoover etc.) and on the evening, we bath her, read her a story, have lights low etc. She sleeps for the first part of the evening (9-midnight perhaps) but then is wide awake! During the day, she is also fighting sleep. She is crying and crying despite being fed and clean. She won’t even sleep on me sometimes and when she does, even if I wait a while and try to put her down, she twists until she wakes herself up and the overtired problem continues.
Any advice? X

Go with it for a couple more weeks.

Keep doing what you are doing.

Around 6 weeks things settle a little. Around 12 weeks some more.

You just have to work around your baby a little longer. Consider it a ‘baby moon’. Have no expectations of either of you, just do what you can when you can.

Hoovering, hair dryers etc can actually help sleep by creating ‘white noise’.

Try to get out for a walk once a day.

You’re doing really well.

What @0hforfoxsake said with bells on!

It's really hard but you're doing great.

You could try making bedtime 11/midnight so she’s up with you until then. I did that with my babies so I could put the others to bed at normal bedtime and newborn would come with me. If you don’t have to get up in the morning, you could just shift your sleep for a few weeks.

But I really wouldn’t worry about bedtimes for now.

In all honesty just go with it. They're so tiny at this age and everything is still a shock/new to them.
You're doing great. Don't worry about patterns yet they're too little.
My DS only really got into a pattern at about 4 months and I just went with his pattern. He's a good sleeper but doesn't really nap in the day. He is 6 months now and will have one nap a day probably for 45mins - 2hrs depending on where he is sleeping.
Some days his pattern still changes but I'm not to worried just do what is best for them and you. It can be tough sometimes but you got this and sounds like you're doing brilliant

I did this many years ago.
As a single mum I realised it was better for me to have sleep than baby.
So I moved bedtime till when I went to bed.
By the age of two , mine loved their beds, and never ever woke at night, and had to be woken in the mornings.

This all sounds completely normal. I’m amazed she sleeps 9-midnight to be honest. At this age, they tend to take tiny naps during the day and often only on you - they just won’t be put down! It’s exhausting but normal. Around 12 months she will be taking a big two hour nap in her cot but at 4 weeks, it’s often sleep on mummy or nothing. Expect to get nothing done... maybe put your feet up with tea and the telly?
Don’t worry about how much sleep she is getting in total - young babies often go hours without sleep (all my 3 did). The way to cope is to go to bed really early while your husband stays downstairs with her in the Moses basket or whatever, then let him bring her up when he comes to bed. Then you’ve had a chunk of sleep before the nighttime antics begin. He could even cuddle her while watching tv if that helps.
Don’t expect a 4 week old to sleep in their cot much, they just don’t.
It is exhausting but you’re doing great, sleep WILL improve. There’s no need to set a 7pm bedtime yet, she won’t stick to it.

Hello,

Just wanted to say I agree with the above! I noticed a change almost overnight at 6 weeks. Ive always tried to go out in the pram in the day and kept night time activities to a minimum eg no talking at feeds, no changing of nappy unless absolutely necessary and that seemed to help with day and night confusion. My 10 week old started doing 5-7 hour chunks at the beginning of the night for a few nights and we thought we'd cracked it, now we're back to every few hours so there is sometimes no rhyme or reason. It is exhausting! Plenty of coffee and cake, you are doing amazingly. X