Night time problems

[Colleen1988]

Does anybody else's child stay awake for long periods in the night?
I put my 4 week old down to sleep last night at 7pm be was flat out until 10.30 he had a feed but then was awake until half 1 had another feed and slept til 4.30 then woke only took an ounce of food and slept til 5 where he had 3 oz and slept til I woke him up at 7am!!

How do I stop him being awake for long periods in the night? any advice would be appreciated?

I'm waking him up at 7am so I can try and structure his feeds throughout the day as he had a habit of just snacking and the health visitor advised me to try the 7am wake thing xxx

 

[kitten2014]

hiya agree with the 7am wake thing but dont get too rigid on it, it could be 30mins either side to allow baby to complete a sleep cycle, our lil miss now wakes up p[retty regular times but at one point wakeup was anywhere between 6.30 and 8am as didnt want to wake her lol...

how are her naps during the day? she may need to shift some of that sleep to nighttime, if I remember also at 4wks old they could still have day/night confusion and so daily outdoor activities with lights on curtains open during the day will help them reset their clocks, I often had to do this at around 8wks old and found if she had been outside during the day she was better at night....

also when she wakes does she cry or just babble/look around amuse herself? Our lil miss still has times during the night where for 15-20mins she'll babble and blow rasberries and then fall back asleep...all part of development....

otheriwise could just be something to work through and eventually she will settle down...

 

[kitten2014]

sorry just realised you said he, replace all my she's for he's lol...baby brain still...

 

[Browneyed Girl]

Will be following this with interest as my lo has the same issue - he was awake last night between 10pm and 2am. I also have the same issue with snacking especially in the morning xx

 

[Colleen1988]

He wakes up crying for food... I'm worried im getting him into a bad habit by cuddling him back to sleep, he won't go on his own at night! I Always have everything bright in the day, don't get out for a walk every day but try to! I just don't know what to do! xxx

 

[Colleen1988]

Will be following this with interest as my lo has the same issue - he was awake last night between 10pm and 2am. I also have the same issue with snacking especially in the morning xx

Ive used a dummy a few times in between feeds to make him go abit longer because I know he can happily go 3 hours in between feeds and that seems to work with the snacking thing usually. Xx

 

[Rooster30]

Extra feeds during the day? I tank my daughter up during the day to get her through the night. My son used to be up for long periods during the night too, even after a feed. We eventually learned how much milk he needed during the day to sustain himself. Does you LO self settle for naps/bedtime?

Personally I do not have a set wake-up time in the morning, but that's your prerogative. I'm very lucky with my daughter though as sleeping in doesn't affect her bedtime later.

 

[Colleen1988]

Yeah he usually does settle well for naps but for some reason today he hasn't... I don't know whats going on with him xxx

 

[kitten2014]

colleen, all you can do is ensure he has opportunity to sleep day/night and im sure he'll figure the rest out...do you have a nap routine as such whereby you help wind him down? We do this for our lil miss as she gets so wired up during playtime that a singsong and song face grabbing/pinching time helps wind her down and she knows this means its naptime...worked wonders for us, we also have a bedtime routine that never changes so she knows the difference between final nap and bedtime....

im sure you're probably already doing this but just thought would check...at the end of the day if he seems fine til bedtime not too tired and eating/putting on weight fine then it may just be a phase he's going through...I cant even remember what she was like at that age as it was go with the flow every day lol.

 

[Colleen1988]

I don't have a nap time routine but we do a bedtime routine, bath, bottle, bed, low lights and quiet room etc!
His naps tend to be after a feed in the day, I can't keep him awake after a feed if he wants to sleep, but sometimes he has a feed and stays awake! He stays awake for 3 hours at a time in the day, ive read that this age they should want to sleep after 2 hours at he most but not Isaac he stays awake for ages and has long naps so ive started waking him from naps at feed times in the day as I was just leaving him to sleep which is maybe why he's awake for long periods in the night?? I don't have a clue what I'm doing, I'm just doing a trial and error thing now! I'm just so bloody tired though, it's hard work xxx

 

[kitten2014]

Bless ya its all trial and error, know how you feel, every baby is different...

Two things I would suggest as I have learned from experience (not necessarily right but recommended in many places) try and separate feeding and sleeping...even if this is blowing on face/talking while feeding, giving him 10mins sat on your lap to let it go down (I get tv on for this or have a toy in front of her) and then at least 10mins playtime on a playmat so when he goes down for his nap he's not been 'fed to sleep'...believe me the amount of things ive read about people having issues later on with separating this association it is good to get a headstart on it...sometimes its the only way like at bedtime or if the timings work out wrong (i.e. due a feed but also due a nap) but try and space it out a bit...

secondly, don't wake to feed in the day, he will wake when he's hungry (unless your dr recommends it and/or you have a silent reflux baby)...this way he sets his own routine with feed/sleep...the only time would recommend to wake during the day for feeds is to try and tank him up so he doesnt need feeding at night but our lil miss was 4 months old before she started dropping her two night feeds...also try and encourage the longest nap to be midday/early afternoon, after 4/5ish they should be shorter naps to aid in a better night sleep (altho our lil miss sleeps fine regardless of length of last nap but it makes sense...)

3hrs is a long time to be awake but if this works for him dont change it! I struggle to get things done out and about as our lil miss goes anything from 1hr 15mins (usually first thing or after short nap) to 2hrs max...if I kept her up 3hrs she'd be asleep on the playmat lol...

 

[JJ Mum]

Colleen, Griffins 4 weeks and the same! Im not going to try anything to move him, ill just be led by him and he will adjust in the end, as they will constantly change as the get older so no disapointment when he changes pattern each time. I do like a bit of routene in my life tho, but im just winging Griffin

 

[Sugar10]

Harley is the same, seems to be awake late night until early hours some nights! Last night was awful he would only go 2 hours in between , and he goes longer than that through the day. And settles easier through the day too. Think he may have it abit backwards. But it's hard to get a routine at this age, and I find it hard with other children in the house too. It will get easier! I think you're doing everything right so don't worry too much Xx

 

[JD.Deedee]

I don't have a nap time routine but we do a bedtime routine, bath, bottle, bed, low lights and quiet room etc!
His naps tend to be after a feed in the day, I can't keep him awake after a feed if he wants to sleep, but sometimes he has a feed and stays awake! He stays awake for 3 hours at a time in the day, ive read that this age they should want to sleep after 2 hours at he most but not Isaac he stays awake for ages and has long naps so ive started waking him from naps at feed times in the day as I was just leaving him to sleep which is maybe why he's awake for long periods in the night?? I don't have a clue what I'm doing, I'm just doing a trial and error thing now! I'm just so bloody tired though, it's hard work xxx

That's because you got a new born baby.. My son is two and recently adapted to his own routine.. If he doesn't nap I might be lucky and he sleeps about 12-13 hours through the night.. Babies do sleep a lot but they tend to sleep whenever they want.. Day and night isn't something they know and it takes a while for them to sort it out.. Also a new born baby is never never going to stay awake majority of the day and sleep all night.. It also wouldn't be healthy.. It's healthy for them to wake several times throughout the night and it would be dangerous if they didn't (this is scientifically proven just as that early weaning also doesn't make them sleep through)

 

[Pumpkin9]

The only thing I'd say is that 4 weeks is very young to be expecting him to not be waking for periods at night so don't worry about it. When my son was that age his bedtime was 11pm and then he probably woke once or twice for a feed in the night. If I'd have tried to put him to bed at 7pm it would have been a disaster, but then that was how he was. I'd follow his lead - babies have an uncanny way of settling into their own routine, follow his cues and you can't go wrong

 

[Colleen1988]

He was so good last night... He went to sleep at 7pm, woke at 11pm and went straight back to sleep after a feed until 4am, had another feed then stayed awake for half hour and fell back to sleep til 7.30am but then from 7:30 he's been awake til 1130 and is only now napping! Why does he stay awake so long in the day if they are not supposed to? xxx

 

[kitten2014]

some babies are just like that but dont forget he's just tanked up on lots of sleep for the first time so encourage it and take him outside/out and about and then hopefully he'll be equally tired tonight...fx he's not switched his day/nights...I always put our lil girl down every hr n half but only when I see her yawn then rub her eyes...sometimes she wont rub her eyes til 2hrs 15mins so watch his cues...he'll tell you lol...

 

[Gillyboos]

Our girls sleep well in the day, 3-4 hrs solidly but at night they were waking up every 1.5-2 hrs (but at staggered times so I was getting hardly any sleep), I tried feeding them more, dummies etc but what worked for me so far this week was swaddling them. Now I feed them at 11ish and they sleep until 3.30am then don't wake again until 6.30/7am. X

 

[Colleen1988]

I'm not to good at the swaddling, he always manages to get out of it lol... I'll have to practice more lol xxx