hi all, I just had my baby on tuesday the 26th, but have a question about the sleeping habits. He nurses during the day and falls asleep pretty much right after, but at night it is different, he will nurse like 10-15 minutes, then sleep for bout half hour or so, then want to nurse again and this goes on all night.

What I am wondering if anyone has this problem and how I can change it, I am getting no sleep at all with this situation of mine. I cannot seem to get him to wake up to nurse for another 10-15 minutes so he has a full feeding, I change his diaper in between breasts, but it does not help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Hi Hugs,

The first week is extremely difficult. My guy is 4 weeks old and it is getting a bit better. He did the exact same thing your baby is doing during the first 10 days or so. I will give you the advice everyone gave me but was hard to follow. If you can, sleep during the day when you baby does. I know, easier said than done but even an hour here and there will make you feel better.

Second, if you can, keep him up for a while during the day. We did this by giving our little guy tummy time for 5 minute stretches. Also, you can keep him awake by taking him out of the swaddling blanket if you are using one. If my son had his way, he'd be wrapped up tight and warm all day and sleep the entire time. I try to wake him for 15-20 minute non-feeding sessions. He has started sleeping more at night now.

As for getting him to nurse longer at night, again I reccomend taking off a layer of his clothing. The nurses in the hospital taught me this trick. It keeps him awake for 20 minutes to feed, which is what they said was about hte right amount of time during the night.

Hang in there. You little guy's schedule may change a lot in the first few weeks. Sleep when you can.

-Jen

The new ones have a hard time figuring out night and day...and almost all of them seem to sleep well during the day and are up all night. The 1st month of DD's life we called her "party" because once 11pm rolled around she was UP and wanting to party all night.

I too suggest taking off a layer (or all) of his clothes. Also tickle the hands and feet. Nursing very often is common when they are brand new. At about 5 days of age mine litterally nursed for 3 hours straight one night. Every time I took her off the breast she cried and rooted. Once she was back on she was happy. I thought I was going nuts.

And yes, sleep when the baby does. Forget laundry, cleaning, everything. Go into survival mode. Eat, drink lots of water, and sleep. Everything else will have time later. Congrats on your new little one. And repeat the mantra "it will get easier"

Breast feeding is a full time job. One thing my mom did and I know my one aunt (has 13 kids) did too, is they would let the baby nurse and they would sleep. Basically leave a breast out for the little one and leave him on it. This way in the beginning you get sleep and they get what they want. Then after awhile switch sides. My mom did this and my sisters would be able to wake up and suck when they wanted to. It sounds not easy but they would lay on their side in bed and the baby next to them. They would stop eating when they were full but then when they wanted some more sips they would not have to root very far for what they were looking for. Most times it would just stay in there mouth. Once your baby gets older it will be a matter of weaning them off this. Plus he will be more ready for a schedule. And more then likely on his own start sleeping longer. We bought our little guy a swaddling blanket and he went from getting up every 3-4 hours to most nights going 6 hours. He is 7 wks now but the first 2 wks he was up exactly every 3 hours.

I know every 2-3 hours is normal, but not every half hour to hour, I do take his blankets and what not off, and I even use a cool wash rag and wipe him down, he cries and wakes up, then I put him back to nurse, he nurses 5 minutes again, and back to sleep, only to wake up again in half hour or so. I know its frustrating in the beginning lol, and I don't want the baby in bed with me, I don't want to break that habit later lol. I can't sleep during the day, I have a 4 1/2 yr old and she does not nap anymore, so that is out lol, I will just have to wait and see what happens. Thanks for the advice guys.

I didn't read the other posts here so I may be repeating and if I am, I hope you'll forgive me for that.

Congratulations on your new baby!

This is a common problem. During the day keep lighting and noise levels normal. Sing and talk with your baby during feedings and diaper changes. At night keep it dark, quiet and boring. Don't even change the diaper if you can get away with it. When you put him back down after a feeding at night try putting him in his carseat, in his swing, on his side on his tummy, in bed with you or swaddle him. Most babies sleep better and longer like that than they do flat on their backs in their cribs.

It does get better so hang in there!

Nancy

thanks nancy for the advice.

I don't tip toe around him at all, I never did with my dd either, he slept through about 45 minutes of fireworks last night lol. and we were close. I hate going somewhere and seeing people shush other people or siblings because the baby is sleeping or whatever. About not changing him if I don't have to, well that won't work either lol, cause in order to get him to finish feeding I have to wake him up by changing it, and I don't think I have had a diaper yet not have poop in it since he has been born lol. but I think that is cause he does not get it all out at once, so it is a little at a time, I mean he could have a amount the size of a quarter, all he has to do is fart and he poops lol, its kinda funny but at the same time stinks lol.

I thought I had it better last night until 4am this morning. He ate real well at about midnight, then went off to sleep, he woke up about 4am to eat, started out real well, I said maybe we can change this around anyway, yeah right lol, he ate from the first side with no problems, took 10 minutes or so, and was sleepy, so I changed him, he woke up enough to eat from the other breast, about another 10 minutes, great right, not lol, just about the time he was asleep and done eating, he farted with poop lol, so back to changing him, now awake again, I put him back to breast, 3 minutes later almost asleep, pooped again, grrrrrrrrr, changed him again, put him back to breast, falls asleep after a few minutes, yeah finally, lay him in his crib, 10 minutes later wakes up again, I could not get him to stay asleep in his crib for nothing, so I bring him into bed with me, nurse again, falls asleep, I leave him there for bout half hour, then move him to his own bed, wakes up 10 minutes later, finally I was sooooo tired, that I put him back to nurse, and let him stay in bed with me just so I could sleep. I have him in a long sleeve sleeper, with 2 receiving blankets swaddled around him, he likes to be warm at night. Finally got some sleep.

He is a baby that needs to suck on a constant I guess, he came out rooting and sucking his hand, right away, I did not want to do the pacifier thing, but this poor kid cannot get himself to sleep on his own, unless he is on the breast pretty much, I don't really wanna get into that habit, so I was thinking about getting a pacifier just for night time, or when he is having trouble falling asleep and see what happens with that.

My dd never had a pacifier, I did not want him to either, but I am not sure if I can change his habits already.

Thanks for all the advice.

My daughter was born the 27th and does the same thing although her it's almost an hour before she wakes again sometimes shorter. but it's at about 6 every morning she just does not seem to want to latch properly and she cries for the longest time. my boyfriend gets really frustrated when this happens. I'm hoping it gets better soon though i have no problem during the day but it's at night that all seems to change. we don't talk to her at night. so i understand fully what you are going through too.

just be careful cause the frustration will go through her, in a way I cannot explain, like if you are getting frustrated while trying to latch her on, she will know it and have a harder time with it. I have totally noticed that if I take my time and have patience, the feedings go much smoother. If I am the least bit rushed or tired and antsy about it, it takes longer and does not go as smooth.

But now I will tell you about last night. What a WONDERFUL night lol. All went so well, I was so proud of him. He ate at about 10pm, was done and sleeping in bed by 11pm, and so was I lol, then he woke about 2am, nursed, got diaper changed, back to sleep, and in his own bed, woke up again about 530am, again, diaper change, nursed, back to sleep, til about 9am or so, I was so thrilled with how it went, I hope more nights go this way in the future.

Good luck with your little girl.

Hello Hugs! I finally had my baby, a little girl, on 4 Aug. Hurrah! I came over to this board and read this post and just laughed out loud because this is what my girl is doing too. I could literally have written your post myself. I feel so much better just knowing that this is normal. Obviously I haven't got any advice to give but I'm very grateful to read everyone else's!

Spanish

lol spanish, it does get better, it has for me, and he is getting his nights and days figured out better now, but it seems like 6am is where it is worse then the rest of the night now, now he goes 2-3 hours, but 6am it is light out and he must think, time to be up lol, good luck with your little girl