My 2 week old thinks she's an Aussie! (sorry long post)

[ninja]

Hi, I know that it's very early to expect a baby to have any kind of routine, however my dd just doesn't want to sleep at night (actually she's following her pre-birth routine as she kept me awake 3 - 6 many mornings!)

She sleeps brilliantly during the day - I have difficulty persuading her to be awake for more than a couple of hours a couple of times a day if that. She hardly ever cries - sometimes a little whine to tell us she's cold or wants to feed, (which she does every 2 - 3 hours - so I'm not worried about that).

Nighttime completely different - the only time she's quiet is when sleeping on dp's chest. She wants to be awake and even when she seems to be sleeping she is SO noisy - grunting, groaning, straining, squeeking, whinging (but not crying) - I'm not kidding she is a little minx! Her feeding at night varies - sometimes it can be for a very long time, sometimes I get the feeling it's more of a comfort feed just to have a suck, but she can take a longtime to latch on at night and then get a little bit upset. We've had her in the bed at night as she does seem to be better than in the moses basket - marginally, and it's easier to feed her.

At 2 weeks I'm not expecting miracles, but I just feel sorry for the poor soul being awake at night - it must be so boring for her. Will she make the change herself?

I think it is supposed to take about 6 weeks for babies to learn the difference between night and day this was so like my 2nd son I was so grumpy I had an 18 month old as well and couldn't seem to catch uo on sleep.It did sort itself out in the end you just have to go with it.I had to move him out of our room in the end because he was so noisy and we were all keeping each other awake at night.It dose seem like its never gonna end while your in it so sympathy to you.

Do you try and keep disturbance to a minimum at night? If she does not have a dirty nappy try and avoid changing her at night (she'll soon let you know if that does not suit her). Just feed her and try and put her back down. Keep lights low. She will soon start to differentiate between night and day. That doesn't mean she will sleep though The main thing is to make sure that you are getting a sleep in the afternoon yourself. New mums forget to do this, often getting on with other things while the baby is sleeping. When she sleeps, you sleep.

It's strange how quickly you forget but I can recall going through the same stage with my DS.

I agree with Mears the importance of "minimum disturbance" at night - low lights, keeing voices and other noises as soft as possible and getting into a routine with bath, feed, bed asap.

Also reverse this during the day - i.e keep noise levels as normal so your DD learns that day time is bright and busy.

Hope to catch you at a future Liverpool meet up. Keep going - you're doing a fab job!

I had to put ds in the lounge room as he made so much noise at night. I never knew they made so much when they slept. We used to keep the blinds open during the day and the tv on or vaccum or whatever else needed to be done and then all noise in the evening to a minimum as the other mums have suggested.

It's amazing how quickly you forget isn't it. I was lucky though as ds seemed to know the difference from before he was even born and I wasn't kept up much in the evenings.

Good luck with it all. Hope it works out OK.

Message withdrawn

Ninja, I agree with Bloss. I know it's hard work, but if you can try to keep here awake during the day a bit more and like others have said, keep night-time feeds very low key, and hopefully she will soon begin to sort out her days and nights. I know what you mean though about the noises, grunting, groaning, ds is very much like that, he initially was in a Moses basket in our room, but at about 3 days I moved him into the spare bedroom at the other end of the landing because I couldn't stand all the noises! Very different to dd who we had in our room until she was 6 months.

It takes ages for newborns to get their bodyclock sorted, I think it is just as much a case of being patient as trying to force her to stay awake. I know that DD was IMPOSSIBLE to keep awake in the early weeks, so I'm not sure that Bloss' suggestion would work for everyone in your situation.

I'd agree with the noise and quiet approach. I used to let ds sleep downstairs during the day so that he'd get used to the light and noise of the vacuum, tv outside etc. Then we would have a subdued night time - dimmer switch on low, no noise and no nappy changing unless necessary ( I did for a while though to wake him up to feed longer at night!). With dd it was less necessary to do this because we were in an apartment an the noise could carry more easily to her room unless we shut the door. Mind you she was, and is in danger of becoming again, more of a night owl - dh used to sit in front of the tv during the night with her to begin with, but possibly her wakings and need for this were due to undiagnosed reflux.

I'm sure your newborn will get the hang of it in time but good luck in the meanwhile,

Thanks for all of that - I've taken the advice about not changing her during the night (not a hard one to implement! and she's never complained yet about a wet or dirty nappy) - She does sleep through anything in the day, washing machine constantly on, hoover, violent films etc!! and she's quiet as a mouse.

Bloss I have been at least trying to stimulate her more when she's awake (rather than letting daddy do his great trick of falling asleep with her!) during the day - I this seems to make sense to me, and she does seem to be waking more during the day - now to get night sorted.

Thanks again, it's just good to know that it's normal and will get better.

They're worth it tho aren't they

They are worth it Ninja. Keep us posted on how you go.

well she's sleeping better at night - but when she's awake she's now turned into a bit of a grizzler (see my next thread re: wind!) I guess it's all part of motherhood