5 week old has been awake for 10 hours - please help

[Lowkeyloopy]

Just that really. DS slept 5.5 hours then 3 hours last night - he cluster feeds then conks out for 5 hours and midwife said that was ok as he’s putting on weight, lots of wet nappies and feeding well etc. He then had a 3 hour nap this morning when I went for a walk. So probably slept more than usual.

Woke at midday to feed and hasn’t slept since. I’ve been trying to get him to sleep since 2pm. He’s been clustering too but he would normally conk out after the amount he’s had, and he hasn’t.

He goes quiet for a bit, yawns etc, Then wriggles and intermittently “yelp” and grizzle cries. We’ve changed him, burped him, bicycle legs, rocked, walked around etc.

Don’t know what I’m asking for really - tips, your own experiences, reassurance that my baby’s little brain development isn’t being disadvantaged by my own incompetence at being able to soothe my child when he’s overtired? 😔

Do you have a car? If so, take him out for a drive till he drops off. Worked for mine.

One bad day is not going to do anything to his brain development. You're not incompetent and he'll be fine.

Babies are weird.

You are doing a great job I promise!! He’s just figuring life out, he will sleep again even though it may not feel like it!

It could be a growth spurt?

Classic FTM panic I say that in the nicest way possible.

Baby will fall asleep. It is inevitable. Car of buggy may speed it up at this stage.

No damage to brain, that would be evolutionarily ridiculous that a baby would be able to damage its own brain like that. All good. Just very tiring for you. Can you take a break?

Firstly, you’re doing great! And you’re not alone! I’m going to mention a bunch of stuff that helped me that may or may not be useful. Have you let him grizzle in his cot/Moses basket? DS made (and still sometimes makes) noises before he falls asleep. Have you stroked his tummy / between his eyes to soothe him? White noise (you can use a phone app)? if breastfeeding how about lying down on your side together and/or cosleeping? Pram/car/sling?

My first child liked being held at this age but hated being rocked.
My second wanted to be left alone to sleep. Holding/rocking/fussing made everything so much worse. If we put him in his Moses basket he grizzled for a few minutes and then slept. If we held him (which we did at first because that's what we expected after dc1) it took hours for him to settle.
I'm not saying that yours is the same but maybe try leaving him for a bit and see if that helps.

Babies are weird.

This, omg this.

If he's just make those 5 hours and not constantly crying, then he is ok and will sleep when he wants. If he is just lying there content, is feeding as seeing and pooing, what's the problem?

Thanks everyone! My husband was holding him and swaying (in a pitch black room!) while I wrote that post and he finally drifted off… then woke up 50 minutes later. Another short feed put him back to sleep again though and he stayed asleep for 5 hours. We’re awake and feeding now.

So that means I managed to get 5 hours sleep too and so I’m feeling less overwhelmed. I should clarify that I didn’t genuinely think one day of being awake was going to damage his brain! 🤦🏻‍♀️ It’s just when all the books and websites say that babies are incapable of staying awake for more than 90 minutes at this age, and may sleep like 18 hours a day, I felt a bit of a failure.

Definitely going to try to think about about how to help him to sleep during the day though, so he doesn’t get over tired. Looks like I can’t just rely on the boob knocking him out!

Maybe you misunderstood my post, @Mariposista - I have no problem with him being awake and sleeping when he needs if he’s content and happy while awake, but the issue was he was overtired and couldn’t get himself to sleep. He was crying very regularly.

Just rereading posts - thanks again for the kind words about not being alone and doing a good job etc. I think in the slightly dark moments when you can’t soothe your own baby, that’s what you really need to hear, and it helped.

The is really random and I saw it on tiktok of all places but apparently sometimes they are asleep their eyes are just open?!
Apparently when they are calm and still and there eyes quite fixed they can be asleep.

This could also be total nonsense! It was just a video of baby where the mum was asking for help as he hadn't slept in so long and the comments said he was asleep!

I could have written this post when mine was that age. Multiple times she was awake 5-8 hours and I was worried sick because of everything I’d read about wake windows. It happens. Your baby will be fine.

Your post made me stressed because I remember texting my friend when my first did the same worrying I was going to damage him because he just would not sleep.

You are doing a great job. You've been given a highly complex machine with no instruction manual, you're trying to operate it on little sleep and your body is programmed to be upset and stressed when the machine doesn't work properly.

Your baby is lucky to have a mum and dad that are trying to work it out. Hang in there!

At 5 weeks lots of them cluster feed to get milk supply up. I remember DD feeding about 30 times in one day. She then settled down and slept through the night the next night so fingers crossed!

I had a baby like this - I think at about the same age she once stayed awake for 12 hours and I was beside myself - I remember googling to see if staying awake that long would kill her .

Turns out she just doesn’t like or need a lot of sleep (just like me according to my parents). She didn’t sleep through the night until she was 2.5 and even now she fights sleep at night and is up at the crack of dawn. Definitely didn’t affect her brain development though as she is bright as a button. I promise your baby will be fine

@user123654

The is really random and I saw it on tiktok of all places but apparently sometimes they are asleep their eyes are just open?! Apparently when they are calm and still and there eyes quite fixed they can be asleep.

This could also be total nonsense! It was just a video of baby where the mum was asking for help as he hadn't slept in so long and the comments said he was asleep!

My dd regularly slept with her eyes half open.

OP you’re doing a great job and your baby is lucky to have such lovely parents. You’ll figure out his little ways and then he’ll promptly change them all just to keep you on your toes.😀