4 week old baby not sleeping?

[RosaM12]

First time mum. I have a 4 week old baby, who I’m breastfeeding.
From what I’ve read, their wake windows should be between an hour and an hour and half. However, he can be awake for up to 4/5 hours.
This can be for a mixture of reasons- seems gassy or just does not want to be put into Moses basket.
We’ve tried all the tricks for transferring- swaddling, heating the basket etc and I’m pretty okay with him contract napping, especially in the day time.
I’m hoping the increase in gas is just a development thing & im hoping to be more mindful of what I’m eating.

But, what I really wanted to know is- is it normal for a 4 week old to be awake for so many hours?
is this just a phase or are we going to have a baby who just doesn’t like to sleep!?

Is that during the day or at night?

Both! Yesterday, he woke up at 8am & didn’t go to sleep til 12pm. Then last night, woke up around 9pm & didn’t settle until 1:30am

He is still very little. Have you read about the fourth trimester? He is basically still just focused on growing, eating, sleeping and pooing and not much else. I would go with the flow and he will sort himelself out in the next couple of months. Try to keep night time dark and quiet so he gets the hang of day and night being different but he is proabbaly too young to really understand that yet anyway.

It may just be his normal, mine was like that super alert etc

At 4 weeks he’s still very much in the 4th trimester and just wants to be close to you. At this age if he’s not wanting to be transferred to the Moses basket and it’s keeping him awake then keep him on you for now and try again with the Moses basket in a week or so.

None of mine were ever put down in their moses baskets and went to sleep! Not at 4 weeks, not at 12 weeks, not at 9 months!!

The baby probably just wants to sleep on you, so you need to find ways to maximise your sleep so that can happen as much as possible.

Is he showing signs of being tired during that time? If so, maybe he needs assistance in falling asleep e.g. rocking.

It’s normal. Don’t panic. My first didn’t sleep unless he was in the car, pram or carrier until he was 10 months old. I used to baby wear him in a carrier while I did the housework and he would snooze happily against me.

What you eat cannot cause gas in a baby, only if they have an allergy and are reacting to the allergen in your milk

He did not the manual

At this age start teaching him the difference of day and night. Dim lights, peaceful environment and a routine leading to bedtime (which at that age was around 10pm). Slowly start building routines for naps. My son has NO sleep cues. He would also stay awake 4-5 hours. I was shattered!! So I started “forcing” naps by taking him for walks 1/2 before his naptime so he could fall asleep in the pram, or rocking him for ages until he fell asleep. After a few weeks it became easier for him to nap. To this day (7yo) he has low sleep needs (and suspected ADHD).

will he go to sleep on you/at the breast? If yes, just let him do that. Mine never ever ever slept in a Moses basket

He did not read the manual

This might seem like I'm patronising you, but I promise you I'm not. But did you realise that some babies need a hell of a lot of help to sleep? I only say that because before I had my first child I didn't realise how difficult some babies were to get to sleep. My 2nd has been a breeze compared. It won't be that he doesn't like to sleep, it's just that he needs more help. Whether that's cuddles, feeding, movement etc. My first would NEVER sleep on her own in a moses basket or cot until she was about 9 months old. My 2nd, conversely, Icould put down and she would just... sleep?!! You just have to keep trying things to see what works for you as a family while he learns how to sleep. They are all different. But no, he shouldn't be awake that long and it will make the next nap time even harder as he'll be even more tired. You need to work a little harder at getting him to sleep I'm afraid

Baby is still very young OP. However DS was like this until I tried bottled feeding tin milk and he was a lot better.

He's still dinky, my babies never ever slept in the crib/cot/moses basket at this age, they just snoozed on me and I would chill watching tv or pop them in a sling and Potter about the house, or push them round the streets in a pram - whatever they prefer really (we've all seen the adverts woth tired parents driving babies around). I think if they wake when you transfer then just find a way to get the naps and sleep in first, then worry about where and when and how it happens. They've spent 9 mths in your tummy, it's a massive shock to the system when you try and put them down, biology kicks in and they feel at risk. It's worth reading up on the 4th trimester. Some babies are easy sleepers and happily do go off wherever, I've had one of each and they just are how they are! Once he's a bit older try and fathom a routine, things like having a warm bath and a feed settle them once they're a bit bigger, but at this age, if he falls asleep on the boob, then pop some netflix on and chill, if he sleeps in the pram, leave him in it and keep walking or pop it in your hall and nudge it with a foot. Sleep routine and enough sleep are tricky and you have to be creative to get them into a pattern first!

If you're nursing in that time, baby might be napping then? It can happen simultaneously I believe.

I had a really rough time with sleep with my little boy! The first 16 weeks can be wild, especially if you have a low sleep needs baby - after that their sleep matures and there’s a bit more predictably. Please don’t pay too much attention to wake windows or worry about over tiredness - there is literally no evidence or studies that prove this and each baby is unique. I used to think “oh he’s been awake for two hours, I better start rocking” and I’d be driving myself mad trying to get a baby to sleep who wasn’t tired! I’d let your baby contact nap as much as you are able to at this point and worry about transferring later - I didn’t have much success with transferring until around 5.5 months.

Honestly don’t worry about wake windows (no science behind them anyway), or sleep metrics. Just use a carrier / pram / cuddle in the day dont even try to put baby down. They’ve barely been outside your body, of course they don’t want to go in a cot