Newborn (4 weeks old) awake for 4 hours before bed

[lisvix]

Hi,

The last 3 nights we've had an issue where our newborn baby won't sleep between 8 and midnight and ends up getting herself overtired. She usually only has periods of 45 mins- an hour of being awake. We are sure not to overstimulate her so have no idea what has caused this sudden increase in awake time!

This makes getting her to sleep very difficult and we try to smooth her to sleep when it gets past the hour mark of being awake but it doesn't work. She's usually great and can be soothed to sleep by feeding, but these last few evenings have been extremely difficult and we can't get anything to work.

Does anyone have any tips for getting her to sleep?

Thanks in advance!

Is she feeding during this time? When you say newborn, how old exactly? Also, where are you putting her to bed?

Mine both went through this. Lots of bouncing on a ball, whilst feeding and watching box sets, got us through 😬

This is pretty standard witching hour OP. Usually lasts about 4 hours every night during the fourth trimester! Hence I'm still up. Mine lasts 8-12 or 9-1am every night atm.

Baby will be sleeping during the many feeds in that time even if just in light sleep so don't worry about it from that perspective.

Witching hour / purple crying. Lasted from about 10pm to 2am for my little guy for quite a few weeks. However, he has severe cmpa and reflux which I think was a factor too.

By the way, if the crying gets overwhelming and stress levels are high, remember you can always put baby safely in a crib for a few minutes. I found this time the hardest time of baby's first year. Continuous crying is no fun for anyone.

At 4 weeks she's so tiny still and so it could be anything - it could be colic or wind, or just not really having an established routine yet. My baby at that age changed her routine week by week, or at least it felt like that - we thought we'd nailed it and then she'd decide to move the goal posts on us. They don't develop a circadian rhythm until 2-3 months, though we tried to encourage it with the whole quiet evening/low light kind of stuff. We definitely noticed a big change after about 8 weeks when she got herself into a routine. I know every baby's different though. Sorry if that's not much help, I guess I'm just saying it will get easier

Yes, this is normal. My daughter was the same. Unfortunately for me she was awake all day and then would take hrs to settle down at night.

Tailed off about 11 weeks. Turns out she didn't know day from night

The joys of parenting!!

she is not a new born, she is a month old, the days when she will only be awake for a tiny window have gone, and the days when she has any idea of the difference between day and night are a long time in the future. What do you expect?

Honestly, this is par for the course with a 4 week old. You really need to relax and just take your cues from the baby. She's calling the shots now, as is normal.

Also there is a helpline, cry-sis, if you need it x

Sounds like the witching hour(s)
DD stopped around 10 weeks

Ooh no, don't ring Crysis, they recommend leaving my baby alone in her room to cry it out and to drastically cut down on breastfeed. At 4 weeks it's absolutely fine for her to not have a bed time, snuggling on the sofa and feeding are OK.

@lisvix

Hi,

The last 3 nights we've had an issue where our newborn baby won't sleep between 8 and midnight and ends up getting herself overtired. She usually only has periods of 45 mins- an hour of being awake. We are sure not to overstimulate her so have no idea what has caused this sudden increase in awake time!

This makes getting her to sleep very difficult and we try to smooth her to sleep when it gets past the hour mark of being awake but it doesn't work. She's usually great and can be soothed to sleep by feeding, but these last few evenings have been extremely difficult and we can't get anything to work.

Does anyone have any tips for getting her to sleep?

Thanks in advance!

Totally normal at 4 weeks. My girl was the same and much better at 12 weeks. Hang in there!