Hi Ladies,
Gianna has her nights and days mixed up. She is up every night from 10:00 to 1:30 am. Crying fussing and so on. Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep at night and not some much during the day? Or is this just the way it is with a newborn?
13 comments:
Hi! Saw your post pop up on Jen's blog and I SOOOO remember what you're talking about! Just want to encourage you to hang in there. It can be exhausting, frustrating, and elating all at the same time. So, first and foremost congrats on your new baby girl!!!! Every kid is different, for sure, but as I head into having my 3rd girl this December I think one of the best tips that worked for both was this:
Feed-wake-sleep cycle. (Unless your baby has some special needs, was born premature or what-not this helps them "set" their days and nights.) I won't go into crazy specifics, but when you start your day with her (preferrably working towards starting every day at the same time) then feed her a full feeding. Keep her awake (at this stage about 30 min) and then put her to sleep. At night time the main difference is that you don't keep her awake after a feeding. You put her right back to bed. It takes some getting used to, but they soon enough get the idea. Hope this helps and doesn't sound like "know-it-all" advice, cause I sure don't know it all! I'm glad for these blogs and other mamas' input! And hey, if you need any midnight venting support, feel free email! We got your back!:)
Our pediatrician told us that the best way was to wake the baby up every three hours during the day to eat. It's harder than it sounds, because sometimes it was near impossible to wake the baby up, and then I felt like "Why am I doing this?! I'd rather be sleeping too!" So, take it with a grain of salt, but that's what we did and it did end up working. But those first few weeks, they are just on their own schedule and have no desire to conform.
i do think it takes a little while for newborns to adjust. the Feed-wake-sleep cycle is fantastic. we did that with isaac and we also woke him up during the day to make sure he stayed on that 3 hour schedule. it seemed to work for us. the first few weeks are always a blur. don't worry they get better:)
Oh, Julie, I soo empathize with what you're experiencing. You wrote that Giana is crying at this time. Do you think that her crying may be associated with pain or discomfort? Are you distinguishing her cries yet? I ask because our youngest, Simone, had some similar patterns. We later learned that she had a sensitive digestive system which became a hyper-sensitive digestive sensitive system during the late night/early morning hours. Milocon worked well for this. We also experimented with the Towle Method of Colic Management for Babies to aid her digestion. Just a suggestion. I'll be praying God's strength for you, as I know these sessions are trying and seem never ending. :)
Hey Julie--
I am going to second what most of the posts said about the eat, wake, sleep cycle. One of my very good friends is a pediatrician and she said that it is really important for the breastfed newborns to eat every 3 hours (some may eat more often, but at least every 3.) So, there were those times that Jen was talking about that we were waking her up to eat, but I was told that breastfed babies don't get the same glucose telling them that they should be hungry in the first few weeks---so it's okay to wake them up. We were pretty anal, but we tried to keep Emily up right after she ate. People thought we were CRAZY, but you know what---it worked. After she ate, we entertained her for at least 45 minutes....as she got older the 45 minutes turned into 1.5 hours. Okay, I could go on and on about this....if you want to know more of what we did...feel free to ask, I could talk all day about babies.
Hey Julie--
I am going to second what most of the posts said about the eat, wake, sleep cycle. One of my very good friends is a pediatrician and she said that it is really important for the breastfed newborns to eat every 3 hours (some may eat more often, but at least every 3.) So, there were those times that Jen was talking about that we were waking her up to eat, but I was told that breastfed babies don't get the same glucose telling them that they should be hungry in the first few weeks---so it's okay to wake them up. We were pretty anal, but we tried to keep Emily up right after she ate. People thought we were CRAZY, but you know what---it worked. After she ate, we entertained her for at least 45 minutes....as she got older the 45 minutes turned into 1.5 hours. Okay, I could go on and on about this....if you want to know more of what we did...feel free to ask, I could talk all day about babies.
#1 you are not alone. Every mom has been there. What we did with Tan was let him sleep during the day in the living room where it was bright and loud. Then at night it would be quite and dark and we thought that made a little bit of a difference. Also we port him to be at about 11:30 or 12 each night. I think it helped him sleep through the night faster. Soon he slept from 12-4am. That felt like a good stretch for me.
I remember Tanner only want to sleep while I was holding his so I would put a dirty shirt of mine in his bed so he thought I was there.
Try to Tivo a lot of shows. It helped me feel like I wasn't going crazy when I was up in the middle of the night. She will get it but it just takes time. I am think about you!! Good Luck!
My favorite book is Secrets of the Baby Whisper.
EASY
Eat
Awake
Sleep
Every 3 hours repeat.
You time. Just like what other people said don't let her sleep too long during the day. Keep us posted...
I forgot the Y in easY is for YOU TIME! Take a nap or take a nap! Don't worry about anything else.
Jewels - I second all things said here. ways to get them to wake up or keep them awake if they're stubborn: undress them, tickle their feet, wipe their head with a cool washcloth, and if all else fails...run an icecube down their back...cruel I know - and they will yell at you - but it works!! this prob won't work for a while though, newborns take time to adjust - prob a few weeks. hang in there. I can't make it to the post office tomorrow, but I will send you that colic calm first thing Monday morning. luv you!!!
I never quite understood the obsession with sleep when my kids were brand new. It was quite maddening, I thought, that one of the 1st questions people would ask after meeting my babies was if they were sleeping through the night. Aren't babies supposed to be needy? Anyway, my only solution was to pray that God use the sleep I did recieve to revitalize my body for the day ahead. What ended up happening is that the wee hours of the night and morning became my sanctuary and I had the most amazing quiet times with the LORD while nursing (using a boppy of course so my hands were free-- talk about multi-tasking :)) My motto became "I don't need sleep, I just need the Holy Spirit. So I say, pray and God will guide you and give you "abundantly more than you could hope or imagine." PS. She is beautiful!!
Hey Julie! It's amazing how so small a person can flip your whole world upside down, so quickly!! Hang in there - it WILL get easier.
I agree with all the blogmamas who've encouraged the eat-awake-sleep pattern. Your poor darling doesn't know day from night, and while it may be endearing to have her need to nurse (or for you to hold her, or rock her, whatever) in order to sleep, that sweet charm will quickly give way to an exhausted mama ... or at least it did in my case! Exhausted/hormonal/sleep deprived me = grumpy me = not a good wife or mommy.
I also encourage you to wake her during the day to eat & stay on schedule (at least until she has her days/nights in order) ... usually in the beginning they will have one good stretch of sleep (maybe 4 hours or so), so you want to encourage that to happen at night, when you are also sleeping! ALSO, keep the night feedings BORING - try not to turn on any lights if possible, etc. Just feed her, change her (if necessary), and put her back down.
She'll get the hang of it soon. Meanwhile, try to savor these days ... they really do go SO fast. I promise.
Hi Julie! I would say try all these suggestions and if it works, that's great. But if it doesn't work, do not beat yourself up. Lucy had her own schedule and did NOT want to conform in those early days. When people would ask about her sleeping at night I seriously felt like a failure. I finally realized that all babies are different and that I needed to trust my instincts. You know how to care for Gianna better than any person or book but it's hard to recognize that in the beginning. Trust your instincts and remember to give yourself lots of grace during this time - it's hard and tiring but it does go by fast.
Julie..
I know you got a lot of advice but as a brand new mom just wanted to add my 2 cents as well. The Baby Wise/Baby Whisperer concepts are great things to work towards, but in my experience, the baby kind of does their own thing the first few months, so don't stress too much. Madeline was SOOO sleepy during the day we could hardly wake her, then the second month she cried quite a bit every evening/night, then around week 10 she kind of "figured things out" and things have been relatively easy since then. Just wanted to encourage you to try what everyone is saying but keep in mind that it will take time, and it will get better. Madeline 's only 14 weeks and I can honestly say it has gotten easy. She sleeps from about 8:00-6:30, with one "dream feed" in there.
Hang in there and feel free to call me!!
Post a Comment