newborn's nighttime sleep patterns

notsobusy

I'm a new mum, he's 5 days old! This is his 2nd night at home and basically he's not sleeping at all. He cried pretty much non stop all night and just wouldn't settle. he is being breastfed at the moment but i do want to introduce a bottle at some stage this week. just for one feed.

Im really worried about my sleep as im epileptic so dont want to have a seizure due to lack of it.

He seems to sleep much better during the day and for longer periods. he's fed every 2 to 3 hours. last night it felt like every hour.

What am i doing wrong? Any tips? Thank you.

Neyite

Congratulations!

It doesnt sound like anything wrong. They will feed frequently as their tummies are so small, and 2-3 hrs is good for a brand new baby. Our lad is 7 weeks and the first couple of weeks he was very unsettled, and no pattern or routine. But that is changing now and he is becoming more predictible. Your baby is too small for a routine yet.

I was worried too that baby slept all day nearly and was up half the night, the first couple of weeks it was at least 2am and as late as 5am before baby would go down for the night and wondering how I would cope with a nocturnal baby or how to correct the day/night thing, but he adjusted - I took the moses basket out to the living room in the mornings, and had the usual house sounds around him during the day, and at night the lights went down and he now usually is down for the night at about 11 and wakes up once during the night, and we are "up" around half seven in the morning- (as in, his basket is moved to the living room and he naps there instead of a dark bedroom). I kept to that, even if it meant dozing on the sofa while he napped and its paid off now it seems.

You need to sleep when baby sleeps - even if thats during the day, and even if you dont feel tired at that point. Baby will probably cluster feed a bit in the evenings to store up food for his night sleeps(thats what ours did), and if you have not slept, you will be wrecked, stressed and at your wits end. So, ignore all the housework and focus entirely on you and baby for the next few weeks.

Our guy cried a lot initially, and I think it was just because he didnt know his surroundings or us, and was getting used to milk for the very first time, but now a few weeks on, he smiles and gurgles and is not startled with the noises of the household.

We thought our fella had a bit of colic, so I was expressing and adding Colief to an ounce in a bottle. I gave him Infacol drops, followed by the bottle, then the breast for each feed, and he changes happily between breast and bottle now. Like you I hope to introduce a bottle feed (expressed if possible) for his 11pm feed that dad can give him, but not until he is a bit more settled into a set routine and taking longer feeds.

Hang in there. But make sure you sleep when he sleeps, and in a few weeks it will be much better.

Moonbeam

Congrats it takes a while for them to learn the difference between night and day and they need to be fed every 3 hours or so for the 1st few weeks.
A bottle at bedtime might stretch out their sleep a bit but best you can do is when baby sleeps you sleep no matter what time of the day it is.
Some babies will start sleeping 6/7 hours t a time from 6 weeks some will be one so there is no definitive answer to when baby sleeps.
I did find getting baby in to my routing helped so putting her down at 11 with a good feed would give me a good nights sleep but putting her down at 8 was worse because when she woke at 5 it was not good for me!

notsobusy

Moonbeam wrote: »

Congrats it takes a while for them to learn the difference between night and day and they need to be fed every 3 hours or so for the 1st few weeks.
A bottle at bedtime might stretch out their sleep a bit but best you can do is when baby sleeps you sleep no matter what time of the day it is.
Some babies will start sleeping 6/7 hours t a time from 6 weeks some will be one so there is no definitive answer to when baby sleeps.
I did find getting baby in to my routing helped so putting her down at 11 with a good feed would give me a good nights sleep but putting her down at 8 was worse because when she woke at 5 it was not good for me!

Fantastic advice from both!! Thank you. feeling a lot better no sleep but feeling better about everything. my friend is going to drop the gina ford book into me to help with the routine over the nxt few weeks.

He panned out for 4 hours earlier. I had to go to the hosp ti get his heel prick test so couldnt sleep :-(

missis aggie

You doing great job mama its absolutely normal for newborn to sleep like that, although may very exhausting its very important to feed on demand. And I wouldn't worry about routine yet its way to early ... you will see improvement very soon.
I understand how hard it is in beginning but believe me it gets easier once you got to know each other.
And my personal opinion is to stay away from Gina Ford, its too early got that and also I do not believe that some one who does not have kids can give good advice... every child and every family is different and will fall into their own little routine
Good luck with everything you doing great

Lola92

missis aggie wrote: »

You doing great job mama its absolutely normal for newborn to sleep like that, although may very exhausting its very important to feed on demand. And I wouldn't worry about routine yet its way to early ... you will see improvement very soon.
I understand how hard it is in beginning but believe me it gets easier once you got to know each other.
And my personal opinion is to stay away from Gina Ford, its too early got that and also I do not believe that some one who does not have kids can give good advice... every child and every family is different and will fall into their own little routine
Good luck with everything you doing great

A huge +1 on ignoring the infamous Ms. Ford!

The firsr few weeks go by in such a blur, forget about routines for now. Just let baby sleep and feed when they need to and keep doing what you feel is right and you will be fine. Enjoy him whule he is still tiny!

Neyite

Another one who says to ignore the books for now!

You will only get upset if you cant get baby to adhere to a schedule in a book (and they dont - your baby is unique!), so why add that kind of stress to your life? Have faith that baby will fall into a little routine all by themselves, and once you start to see that, you can work on gently adjusting it over a few weeks.

My sister who is a mother of 3 and brilliant at it, worked herself up into a frizzy when her first wouldnt sleep according to the book, and her mother-in-law saw the state of her and suggested she bin the book and listen to her child. She did and they were all the better for it.

Time enough for books in a few weeks, but for now, eat well, sleep or rest as much as you can, and enjoy your baby. Mine only weeks later is growing out of his newborn clothes already so time really flies, and you will never have this time with them that small again.

lounakin

Notsobusy, I am also epileptic and was concerned at first but nothing happened! Make sure you sleep whenever your baby sleeps
I was lucky because my baby seemed to know the difference between night and day from the first day and always slept a lot at night but sounds like you have to get your sleep in the daytime! Get people to take care of you and concentrate on your newborn, feed him on demand and he'll be more calm. Things to get much better quick! Make sure you drink loads of water and eat enough or that could also trigger epilepsy as you get more exhausted.
My girl still eats every hour during the day (she's 7 weeks old) so it's very demanding but I find that it's really easy just to give in to her needs as she's too young to be moulded into a routine.

cbyrd

Time to rally the troops do not be afraid to ask for help . . give up housework for the foreseeable future and even if baby doesn't sleep put yourself in bed and baby beside you, pillows everywhere and nap . . You have about 5- 7 weeks before you get any sort of a routine going, unless you are blessed with a sleeper.. when you're tired try to lie in bed and feed baby on your side, this does get easier with practice but it means you can doze off baby can feed and latch off when full.. it can be a sanity saver.. you don't have to worry about dropping him. comfiest chair in the house get a breastfeeding cushion and take the worry out of napping and feeding ..

Congratulations and welcome to the mad house

Hannibal Smith

Definitely steer clear of gina ford! The book nearly killed me! Congratulations op, things will fall into place in no time

liliq

Notsobusy, I 100% agree with what's been said so far... sounds like you're doing great mama! Doinge everything right
The first few weeks are a total blur! Definitely sleep when you're baby is sleeping. If you were advised to go off meds while you were pregnant it could be worth looking to see if the ones you were on are safe during breastfeeding- many are... that might give you a little bit of reassurance?

notsobusy

I'm still on my meds, I was the whole way through my pregnancy. I switched to Keppra from Epilim as my neurologist said it was safe enough for pregnancy and the developing foetus!

He woke up every two hours last night but slept in between and didn't cry, so feeling great today. My friend has lent me the Gina Ford book just to browse through. So going to have a look, probably won't stick to anything she says but I might use it as a guide line!

beertons

Congrats on your new arrival. They have no sense of time at the moment. Our little man was feeding every 90 minutes for 40 minutes. He did this for about 10 weeks. Mrs Beery never gave out. Probably because the public health nurse didn't want to call to the house, and when she was asked on the phone she said it sounded normal. Things will get better. Keep your feeding diary, and note in the nappy changes. That will get your routine to seem like normal. And when you head to the doctors or anything like that, bring it with you and show them. They will advise you if you need to change things, or just encourage you to keep going. Tizzie Hall's Save our Sleep, and What to expect, the first year.

implausible

A bit off-topic, but my friend's daughter's epilepsy disappeared after she had her son.

Apart from that, I'd agree with everyone else - take help, ignore the books, sleep when baby sleeps.

notsobusy

implausible wrote: »

A bit off-topic, but my friend's daughter's epilepsy disappeared after she had her son.

Apart from that, I'd agree with everyone else - take help, ignore the books, sleep when baby sleeps.

That's interesting! i must get in touch with my neurologist. I'm due some tests this year anyway.