Sleep advice?! 3.5 week old

[Tiredmama98]

PLEASE could somebody reassure me that things do get better. I know everybody says it but I just can’t seem to ever see an improvement. LG is 3.5 weeks old and I’ve had no more than 5 hours sleep over the last 3 nights. She’s currently on 4oz roughly every 3/4 hours, but will take about 2 hours to get settled after a bottle, then will only fall asleep on me as soon as I try and put her down she screams and screams where it’s impossible to console her. During the day she’ll settle straight away after a bottle but during the night she is wide awake screaming and crying afterwards. I keep the room as noisy and bright during the day, take her out for walks and then quiet and dark room for bedtime .

This is totally normal and will get better. Taking her for walks outside is very good, I found a good walk mid afternoon helped my son get into a rhythm with sleep...but not at 3.5 weeks. At 3.5 weeks they are essentially feeding and pooing machines. Don’t stress yourself out. Put on the tv, chill, try to rest when baby sleeps in day - don’t keep room overly noisy, let it sleep when it wants to. Sleeping a lot in the day won’t stop it from sleeping at night. Babies don’t know difference from night and day at this stage. It does get better but just roll with it for now.

@Magda16 thank you, it’s nice to be reassured

We found it improves. My partner and I operate a shift pattern. When he's working I come up at 8pm, then he brings her up about 11.30. If it's weekend he might come up later or get up early with her. It at least gets you a bit of sleep. At this stage their tummy is small and they want to be close to hear the familiar sound of your body. I was also learning the best way to hold and burp her and when to pick up.

It does get better. This is your life right now but not forever. Hang in there!

It's so hard OP but it will get better. Make sure your partner is sharing the night shift.

This is completely.normal and whilst it does get better it may continue for a fair amount of time.

When you say you've had five hours sleep per night - what time is your baby sleeping across the whole 24 hours and when are you sleeping?

I slept when the baby slept, I no longer had a normal adult bedtime - are you also doing that? I slept in the day. This only really works with the first baby of course!

This from NHS: Newborn babies invariably wake up repeatedly in the night for the first few months, and disturbed nights can be very hard to cope with. www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/caring-for-a-newborn/helping-your-baby-to-sleep/