Breastfed won't sleep at night, fine in day time! Please help!

[NameChangingShame]

Hello!
I welcomed my daughter into the world a few days ago, and she is perfect!!

Unfortunately she doesn't appear to sleep during the night time unless she is tucked right under me and attached to the boob, once she's asleep we have tried to move her into the Moses basket, sometimes she wakes before this and we can rock her or hold her back to sleep. After a moment or two of being in the basket, she's crying out and becoming very distressed.

She has no issues sleeping in the Moses basket or by herself during the day, this only appears to be a nighttime thing? Co sleeping is not an option, but all advice is welcome. TIA x

Perfectly normal, I'm afraid. It takes them a while to get the difference between night and day at the start, so make sure you are giving the signs, dark and quiet at night, bright and breezy in the day. It'll take a while. Wanting to lie on you is also totally normal, you're all she's ever known and it's home.

As she's breastfed also remember that she's feeding lots to stimulate your milk supply, which is going to happen mostly at night. That will settle fairly quickly and you can help a little by doing lots of feeding in the later afternoon and evening. I hope you managed to get some sleep!

In these very early weeks, baby should be mostly sleeping all the time, night and daytime alike. Life should basically consist of baby wakes for a feed, has a cuddle while being winded and back down to sleep. Repeated 24 hours a day.

What helps a newborn sleep are:

• Swaddle
• Sucking

A swaddle is very important in the early weeks of a newborns life. It recreates the tight, enclosed feeling baby had in the womb. You dont need anything special to use as a swaddle. A giant muslin or crib sheet is fine. It helps reduce external stimulation - remember baby is not used to bright light, noise and having lots of space.

Sucking is also a reflex way baby sooths themselves to sleep. This is either achieved by using a dummy or feeding baby to sleep.

If you've not established breastfeeding then feeding to sleep is OK. But many babies are better with a dummy after feeding (while being winded) because this helps them carry on sucking as a means to sooth back to sleep.

Id suggest something along the lines of:

• Baby wakes
• Undo swaddle
• Feed baby until refusing anymore
• Lift baby upright to your shoulder and wind until burp
• Swaddle baby
• Reoffer a feed (with baby now swaddled), either second breast or what's left in the bottle until milk refused. Feed to sleep if breastfeeding.
• Once finished milk, dummy in and lift baby to your shoulder, whilst in swaddle. Rub back incase of another burp or until baby falls asleep.
• Bend at your waist, keeping baby on your shoulder to lower until crib.
• Put baby down and keep your hand on baby (over swaddle) as reassurance. Tap outside of dummy if baby isnt sucking to encourage self-soothing to sleep.

Wake.. and repeat!