Any tips for getting newborn to sleep at night?

[Thoughtful1]

Can't get Isobel to settle at night. We now have no noise and a dim light. We are trying to get her to be awake during the day and she feeds every 2/3 hours.
my boobs are so sore now where she is on them all night. She also appears not to be hunger driven at night but more wanting comfort.

is a dummy the next step?

 

[Sparklisam]

My LO had a dummy the day we came out of hospital as he was definitely a comfort sucker. Our choice to use a dummy as I know they are not always recommended especially that young. But it definitely helped with gaps between feeds. However he doesn't use it to settle to sleep he's only interested if he's getting a bit hungry x

 

[Gemsy]

I use a dummy with Freddie, as he is a comfort sucker. He actually goes down very well at night - I've been following the same routine at night since he was born, and he seems to know it is time to sleep. BUT - he is very prone to getting overtired and overstimulated during the day, and I use a dummy to get him off to sleep then, and it works really well. He'd be constantly on the boob trying to comfort himself otherwise!

 

[Alexandra84]

I'd first check that all else is well. Is the too cold/hot, is her nappy clean and dry, are her clothes comfortable, reflux etc. my LO would not come off the breast if she was uncomfortable (in which context comfort sucking made perfect sense...) it our case it turned out that she hated wet nappies even if it was a little bit wet. So I had to quickly change her and feed her for another few minutes and then she would pop off and sleep for a few hours.
I think it is important to try to find out if there is any cause to the comfort sucking first before resorting to a dummy fix .

 

[madmillie92]

Yes! My LO was using me as a dummy and making himself sick drinking more than he could take, now if he's feeding for more than an hour I pop a dummy in and he's fine! Was very much in the anti-dummy brigade before, now I love them! No more 4 hour feeding sessions at 1am or sore nipples hehe x

 

[JJ Mum]

I just co sleep and give him a cuddle, he hates being flat , but has to really. He sleeps more in day than night and feeds 2 hrly at night.


Baby will get there

 

[BunnyN]

LO never liked the dummy. Music was the trick for getting her to sleep. Most newborns will be up several times in a night though. LO fed every two hours day and night for a while.