sleepy baby

[hoochymama]

my week old DD sleeps all through the day and then is awake and feeding for much of the night. I know this is probably normal for this age, but my questions are:

have you found this changes to sleeping at night and feeding during the day naturally?
and
how can I encourage this change in the future?

DD was a good weight at birth (8lb 3oz) and is a good feeder (when she's awake).

I try to keep her awake during the day after a feed, but I'm lucky if she wakes every 5 hrs during the day for a feed - I try to wake her say every hour or so, but completely without success. I also try and keep her awake after a feed, but nothing works and I think that if she's falling asleep then she needs it, esp at this age.

I read some books (e.g. Gina Ford) which say 'wake your baby at 7am' and think....how??!!

Anyway, if anyone has any top tips on how to gradually change night owls, pls share them! Thanks
she's just opened her eyes...! dashing off to feed...!

Very,very normal to be like this for the first couple of weeks. 4th time round we still forgot this! She will change herself, for now just go with the flow, on demand. To help her on her change, make day feeds 'noisy' and bright (curtains/blinds open, tv/radio on, chat to her etc). Make nighttime feeds, dark and quiet with as little fuss as possible. You will get there, the first few weeks can be very tough when you're so tired. Good luck and congrats!

I have a 5 week old who did this at the start

What worked for me is encouraging him to have regular feed/activity/naps through the day, then a set bedtime routine of bath and feed (with dimmed lights and gentle music playing) at night.

Have not read GF but can thoroughly recommend Baby Secrets by Jo Tantum. If nothing else, read it for research as there are bound to be a few snippets or tips that are useful if not the routines etc.

Your baby will be zonked out in the day which is why it's hard to wake her. What baby Secrets does is set out a number of routines based on baby weight and age which run in 2, 2.3, 2.45, 3 hour etc "cycles".

Incidentally Baby Secrets recommends waking babies by gently blowing on their face, gently stroking their feet, and by saying a clear "Good Morning!", putting on the cot mobile as a cue etc.

I followed a routine to the letter for a week or so and then relaxed it to DS's pace (ie following the principles but not exact timings or clock watching).

It works brilliantly and the BEST thing is that DS is rested and peaceful and calm when awake. He is alert and takes a real interest in what's going on because he has had regular naps etc.

The Baby Secrets book was so useful as it explains how much sleep babies need and how to pace it, you can then adapt the principles to your own DCs pace.

DS now sleeps from 11.30 - 7am, waking up for a night feed at around 4am, which is generally 30 mins then he goes straight back down again of his own accord. He doesn't even cry for food, he just fusses & thats what wakes me, because his feeding has been well spaced through the day he isn't screaming hungry in the night. DH isn't even aware DS has woken and fed most nights, which gives DH the energy to do a full day at work and take over at evenings and weekends so I can have a break. It's pretty good.

HTH

thanks to both of you! that's really useful, will have a look at that book

I found both of mine swapped over and understood about day & night quite naturally with no input from me at all. I would just try to make sure your dd gets plenty of daylight, so take her out and about as much as you can.