7 week old trying to play in the middle of the night

[Bel2992]

Hi everyone my DS is 7weeks old and is trying to play in the middle of the night. He takes his feed and goes down well but is up an hour later and is just messing about. Is there something I am doing wrong? I have a consistent routine. Bath at 6pm and bottle followed by bed around 8pm when he is tired. His feeds are also so irregular. He is bottle fed but sometimes takes 4oz, other times 1oz so its impossible to know when he will next want a feed. Please let me know I'm not alone x

You’re not alone. This sounds completely (but exhaustingly) normal.

Ah, he's only 7 weeks! He doesn't know what day and night are yet! You just have to go with the flow, he'll get the hang of it eventually. You're not alone, this is what most babies are like. It's tough, but keep going and he'll get the idea soon!

I feel your pain but this completely normal.

Babies just don't get day and night time at this age. Something about circadium rhythms?

It's more than likely nothing that you're doing wrong. More just something that you have to go through. Stick with what you're doing and just try to get baby back to sleep each time with no talking, dim lights and zero eye contact.

It's normal.

What I am thinking from my own experience of two refluxy babies is make sure you're not putting him down too quickly after a feed. When mine woke soon after a feed, it was usually reflux causing them discomfort. Feed him, keep him as upright as possible for AT LEAST 30 minutes after he's finished. Then put him down in bed.

He's 7 weeks old! He's not messing about, he just doesn't know day and night yet. Does he need burping? Or is he thrashing about a bit and perhaps trying to work through a poo? Does he need a cuddle? He's ever so little for "no eye contact"... snuggle him in, and get him back to sleep when he's tired and ready. He will sleep longer as he gets bigger!

Do not do zero eye contact! Babies do not have different attachment and social communication needs at night and would not understand this coldness.

At 7 weeks old you should just feed on demand, or offer a bottle every 3 hours if he doesn't seem to be asking for it to make sure he's hydrated.

Make sure he's well winded, sometimes this can take 20 mins. He'll still be getting used to formula in his tummy.

Don't worry too much about daily bath routine just yet, but do think about how you create the sensation of daytime and night for example curtains closed and dark room for night, and bright and breezy during the day. It takes about 12 weeks before they can see well enough and the body's rhythm to kick in.

His he pooing ok? No constipation?

It's perfectly normal. If in doubt...

1. Check nappy
2. Feed
3. Wind
4. Cuddle
5. Wind
6. Repeat :)

Oh give me strength.

Zero eye contact of a night is not coldness. You are still feeding, changing and cuddling your child.

Not engaging with them of a nighttime is not removing your love. It is merely setting them up to understand the difference between playing and communicating or a day to sleeping of a night.

I didn’t say it removes love so no need to dramatically paraphrase.

Eye contact is an important part of social communication and not looking at them is cold.

@Mostdefinitelynot

Oh give me strength.

Zero eye contact of a night is not coldness. You are still feeding, changing and cuddling your child.

Not engaging with them of a nighttime is not removing your love. It is merely setting them up to understand the difference between playing and communicating or a day to sleeping of a night.

Zero eye contact is what you do with your naughty toddler who's out of bed for the 19th time that night for no reason.

Zero eye contact with a newborn is just unnecessarily cold and depriving them of connection and comfort. They're not old enough to know it's nighttime, and "mummy doesn't look or speak to me at night" isn't exactly a healthy thing for them to learn, is it!?