Asleep in the day and awake at night...

[sallys]

Hello

My 3 week old has got in to the routine of sleeping most of the day with a few hour / hour and half periods of being awake, he will then have a bath and feed at about 7 and go down till 10. I will do another feed (I am breastfeeding) at 10 (which usually he is really dozy for) and then he sleep through till 2am. At which point he wakes and is then completely awake from 2-5am.

He doesn't have trouble sleeping, it is just how do I try and shift that awake period to some point in the day rather than in the early hours of the morning?

I have tried waking him up in the day but if he doesn't want to be awake then it is impossible!

Any pointers gratefully received

S

 

[mamichuli]

Hi hun, I am so sorry to hear that LO has got into this habit...poor you, you must be exhausted. I am afraid that what you are describing is not abnormal, a lot of babies do this and i am afraid it is a question of riding it out. The best thing you can do is to give little or no stimuli, keep the area where his cot is dark and if he cries, try to comfort him by rubbing/gentle touching until he calms...hope this helps...

Lisa

 

[Xena]

When Lydia was a baby she was exactly the same. Up all night wanting to play - screaming blue murder if we tried to put her to sleep. And then zonked out all day.

We tried everything to put her to bed earlier and it never worked. She would ALWAYS fall asleep around 7 or 8am. If we tried putting her down at 6.30am , or 6am, (to try and pull her clock backwards) it she refused to like down and sleep.

In the end we had to be REALLY drastic about it. We pushed her clock forwards. Kept her awake for an extra half an hour in the morning, so then she got up half an hour later. Did that for about 2 days, and then pushed her forwards another half an hour. Repeat, repeat, repeat, until EVENTUALLY she got to a normal bedtime.
That worked for us, she stuck to it. BUT in the meantime it was soooo hard doing it. At one point for example we were all waking up at 6pm, having breakfast at 7pm, lunch at 11am, dinner at 4am, and then Lydia would fall asleep at some time after that. Totally and completely backwards.

DH was not working at the time though, and I was on a year out from uni, so we just bit the bullet and went for it. If we had been working though it would have been really difficult.

By the time Lydia was sleep-trained she was 8 months old - just in time as DH started a new job around this time.

If you want to try it, it works, but it's drastic lol

 

[NICCI]

my 3 week old is exactly the same!!!!! it soooo tiring!! ive been told not to try and enforce a routine just yet and just ride it out!! i have tried a few things but none of them work yet!!
sending u these

 

[sallys]

thanks all!

I think riding it out is best for now...so frustrating as if he would just be awake that much in the day then I could have tons of sleep

Sx

 

[Jade&Evie]

Evie was nocturnal until she was about 6 weeks then suddenly she seemed to realise day and night and at 7 weeks she slept through from 10pm til 5am! Now she naps for an hour or two in the day and sleeps from 7pm to 7am

Just go with what she wants for now- she'll soon find her own routine and let you have some kip xx

 

[purple13]

lots of newborns have upside down sleeping patterns - it takes them a while to figure out that we like to sleep at night and stay awake during the day. just keep the house light, bright and noisy during the day and dark and quiet at night. and sleep when she sleeps - make the most of any sleeping at all, cos it might not last!!