Day & Night Confusion!

I am sure this question has been asked a million times, but I am going crazy with the way my nights have been. My DS is up all night, in fact last night he slept a total of 3 hours. He is great during the day, sleeping and eating, but at night it is awful. I know they are only 7 weeks, but shouldn't there be more sleep than 3 hours? I could use some suggestions, I will try anything at this point for a few more hours of sleep.

 

I am sure this question has been asked a million times, but I am going crazy with the way my nights have been. My DS is up all night, in fact last night he slept a total of 3 hours. He is great during the day, sleeping and eating, but at night it is awful. I know they are only 7 weeks, but shouldn't there be more sleep than 3 hours? I could use some suggestions, I will try anything at this point for a few more hours of sleep.

 

I honestly remember ( from what I can remember) that it just is what it is the first month ir two. The best suggestion i have is to get as much help during the day as you can. I mean someone to feed you in between naps. That way you can save all your energy for tending to the babies. When they say sleep while your babies sleep, they mean it. I know that later it is rediculous because there are so many other things that need to be done, but in the beginning the best advise I followed was to sleep when they do! Are they on a feeding schedule? at least a rough one? Do you feed them at the same time? That can allow for more rest. Every three hours is pretty good! LOL! I remember getting even less because I had no idea what I was doing!

Hang in there! It gets easier!

 

3 hours is pretty normal for a baby that age. What I did and it's worked well for me and my kids was to keep the room dark at night, do the absolute least amount of work to get what needs to be done. During the day I made sure the room was bright (aka open the blinds) and that I talked and interacted with them a lot.

 

My girls are just 8 weeks old..and that is just about it for sleeping..just the end of last week I got a few 4 hours spans. I want to say the sleeping thing is just about getting better (or maybe I just had a few good nights) but i know i am far from out of the woodwork...but two weeks ago I was about to break so anything had to be better.

Truth be told: Sleep when they sleep.

 

I also kept the days and nights very different with light and interaction. My family thought I was so mean for not letting them talk to the babies at night. I even instructed them not to smile at the babies even if the baby smiled at them. There was no TV . . . nothing that could stimulate them. Another thing I did was change their clothes each morning. I wanted them to wake up and feel the difference and then I would change them again in the evenings. I know it sounds like a lot of work and washing; however, I did everything possible to teach them the difference. We never seemed to have a problem. Good luck . . . you will sleep again!

 

When I had help during the day from my mom, I would be awake to feed the babies and as soon as I was done, I would go nap for 2 hours until they had to eat again. She would play with them and get them to take a nap. I closed my door and turned a fan on so I wouldn't hear them. Just a day or two of that will help you feel a little caught up on sleep.

Just like PP said, I wouldn't look at my babies at night when they woke up. I would change their diaper, feed them and put them right back to bed. I always tried not to make eye contact.

 

We definitely instituted the "dream feed" From the very beginning -- which means you feed the kid, but don't make eye contact, or talk to them during the feeding or diaper changes -- it helps emphasize that night is different from day. I don't remember my guys having too long of an issue with this -- but those days are all a blur.

Good Luck

Teri

 

I was in the same boat until I read about how to do things differently during day or night. It took a little while but it really helped when I stopped talking and singing to them and kept the light off or at it's lowest setting. I made little eye contact (which was hard, but I was so freakin tired I DID it), fed them their bottle and right back into the crib. During the day I made it a point to talk to them and sing and have lots of sun light shining in the room when I fed them. Soon enough they started to change and get the day/night thing switched up. In the mean time, I know EVERYONE says it but sleep when they sleep. If you only get 2 or 3 hours of sleep at night, then take that first and second nap with them and you will feel more human (of course, hopefully they are on the same nap/sleep schedule). GL and hang in there. Those first couple of months are incredibly challenging. YOU CAN DO IT!!!