Any Ideas on Getting Newborn to Sleep at Night?

You received some great advice so far. I would do all of those things but at six weeks there isn't really a whole lot you can do! If you are still having trouble around five months, I recommend the Ferber technique. Hang in there and definitely try to sleep when he sleeps!

He has his days and nights mixed. During the day, change his position, talk to him, wake him up occassionally. He needs to take a few short naps during the day but don't let him sleep too much. Let his naps be in different places than his bed, like the living room and in his swing or the pack-n-play. Try to swaddle him for night time and teach him the difference between day & night. Night time he gets swaddled, goes into his crib, it's dark and quiet. He'll get the hang of it soon. You need to get rest at night. Until he learns, just sleep when he does. Good Luck! R.

Hi C.,
Oh how I remember those days---each month was like O-N-E L-O-N-G D-A-Y!!!
I felt like an on-call worker who NEVER got a break. :) I was always like "What day IS it?"
Get yourself fortified with some coffee & tea and brace yourself! LOL
I think the only things you can really do when they are that young is make sure they are not sleeping TOO long during the day--or not sleeping too long too close to bedtime. But babies DO sleep a LOT.
He may have his days & nights mixed up and I received the advice that to re-set their little internal clocks make sure all day long he never sleeps for more than 30 minutes at a time.
Then at bedtime, he will be ready for a loooooong stretch of sleep.
Establish a bedtime routine and stick to it faithfully so it will cue your son that it's time for bed. Try room darkening shades/soft music on a CD player and soft night light.
Bath/jammies/book, etc. Make sure he has a nice full belly before you put him down for bed.
Hang in there...it DOES and WILL get better.

He sounds like he has his days and nights mixed up. I think all babies have this happen. I know all four of mine had this problem. What you need to do is wake him up during the day. make sure there is a ton of sunlight and bring him outside during the day. It will make him cranky but after a few days of this he will learn the difference between day and night.

Jenn

Hi C.,

At 6 weeks old, it is unlikely that your baby has the ability to sleep through the night. Babies bellies are very small and they need to eat quite often. So not sleeping through the night at this age is very normal. Based on your descriptions, it sounds like your baby may have his days and nights mixed up - if he is sleeping more during the day than at night. You may want to try keeping him awake more during the day - interact with him, wake him up if he sleeping too long at nap time, etc. That will help him to get his days and nights straightened.

Congrats on your new baby!
J.

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I have read a lot of the responses so far and I believe they have the right of it. The only thing I would like to add is really, make sure you have as much sunlight and noise going on in your house as is a normal day for you. Keep the TV on, or a radio and let that sunshine in. Our bodies actually naturally respond to sunlight and darkness. Our brains release a certain chemical at night that makes us sleepy and ready for our day to end. Your baby doesnt understand these signals yet but will begin to get it soon. Dont expect your child to sleep through the night any time soon however. My first child woke for one bottle per night until she was 10 months old. Bed at 7 promptly with a bottle, up around 1am for a bottle then right back to sleep till about 6am. Same exact schedual with my second child except that she cut out her middle of the night bottle at 6 months. It is also very important like one other resonder said to not make bed time fun for your child at all. Love your child, change them but dont talk to them or play or sing. Change/eat/bed thats that, they will fall into the schedual. Good luck.

I had this proublem, what I did was: I took her to places she liked being whith alot of people around. she stayed up alot more durring the day and slowly started to sleep better at night but if u dont do it for a few days then he proubly wont stay on that pattern.

Hi C.,
You need to keep him awake during the day. He's got his days and nights confused! I used "Babywise" for my 3 kids. The book is called "On Becoming Babywise". It teaches sleep training. My kids all slept thru the nite at 6-9 weeks. (Sleeping thru the nite is 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.)
The basic routine is feed-wake-sleep. (Except, of course, for the last feeding of the day, where you put them right to bed.) And keep them SCHEDULED. After you feed him, keep him awake by all means necessary. (Change his clothes, sing, even put a damp wash cloth on his body to keep him awake.)
Trust me, it works. Also, using this method, when it's naptime I would just lay my babies down in the crib and they would sleep. No holding for hours, no rocking for hours.
It was terrific.
Good luck.
L.

Yup, that sounds like a 6 week old to me. My son used to cluster feed in the night - wanting to do nothing but nurse from 10p-2a most nights. I thought I was going to die, but I survived.

Not sure there's much you can do. Wake him for feedings during the day sounds like a good idea, try to keep him up for a few hours before bed time and start a bedtime routine early. But really - he's 6 weeks old, and I think this won't change too much until he's a little older.

J.

Hi C.. Sounds like your newborn is still trying to figure out day and night- very normal at this point. To help my daughter when she was this age we used to dim the lights at around 5:00 pm, the t.v. was turned off so it wasn't a stimulating factor, and we spoke and played very quietly. She still woke during the night and slept erratically and when she was up at 2am we kept everything quiet and dim ( we never turned the tv on or the lights)- we kept this up to help her establish the fact that day and night are different and night time is for sleeping. Eventually she figured it out and began sleeping much better at night- I think it was around 12 weeks old that we noticed a difference.
You could try white noise (we use a fan) and room darkening curtains too but don't expect too much from your baby yet. He's still trying to figure it all out.
Best advice- Sleep when your baby sleeps!!!
It will get better! Best of luck.
R.

Dear C.,
I too read On Becoming Baby Wise and followed the "feed, wake, sleep" pattern and my daughter began sleeping about seven hours a night by 8 weeks. She is now almost six months and she sleeps ten hours straight! The book emphasizes the importance of making sure your child is getting a full feeding every time they eat to avoid developing the dreaded snacking behavior. Additionally, the feed, wake, sleep pattern is vital so your baby does not become dependent on eating to fall asleep. The book also had great advise on how to structure nap time and when to let your baby cry. Routine is so important for your little one. My girlfriend told me about On Becoming Toddler Wise. I can't wait to read it!
Best wishes,
S. J

Welcome to parenthood! My youngest had crazy sleep patterens off and on until she was 18 months old. Try to get him to stay awake. Easier said than done and it sounds like your trying. Give him a bath, take off his clothes and let him lay around in his diaper, tickle him when he wants to doze to long and kiss his feet and blow on his belly. And if worse come to try to sleep when he is sleeping. It will get better. Good luck!

I read the babywise book - the basic sleep, eat, wake - I have had sucess with two babies using the babywise books. My children would sleep through the vacuum also - but they had a pretty low tolerance for light - so I would make sure that during the day, if I wanted them awake - I would make sure I had all the lights on in the room they were in. Good Luck -

Hi C., Congrats on the new baby! Poor boy has his days and nights mixed up which makes for very tired parents! Try to keep him up longer durring the day (even if it's only 5 more minutes!). Let him nap in a bed in a sunny room, make normal noise, and don't keep the house silent at night either. When mine first learned how to sleep at night they went to sleep with the TV on in our room in a cradle beside our bed. If you don't have to work sleep as much as you can when he does...sleep depervation is a real concern for new Mom's. Remember the dust will still be there tomorrow and it isn't as important as you taking care of yourself! He will grow out of this stage, they all do. Just hang in there! Good luck and best wishes!

C.,
Have you tried to swaddle him. That worked wonders for my daughter. They even sell the "swaddle blankets" at retailers like babies r us that make it even easier.
Have you tried a pacificier too?

Keep night time as boring as possible. leave the lights as low as possible, and be as quiet as possible. Don't sing and play with him. I did not even change wet only diapers, unless they were soaked. Keep it all buisness. I am not an advocate for cry it out or anything that makes your baby think that you are not going to respond to his cries, but don't make it fun for him.
During the day sing and play with him, and do all the fun stuff. Soon he will get it that night is not play time and if he needs to eat, he will do it and go back to sleep.

Hi C.,
Congrats on your newborn! It's so funny to think about all the newborn stuff again, because my "newborn" is now an almost-walking one-year old! All the issues you are having now will pass, but while they are here it seems huge. The advice is to read On Becoming Babywise. Some of the ideas in it can seem rigid, so it depends on your personality what you want to do, but I do recommend trying to get your baby on an Eat, Wake, Sleep schedule throughout the day. It is supposed to help them figure out that they are awake during the day and sleep during the night. I breastfed my baby, so he did wake up at night for awhile, but it was just to eat and then go back to sleep. If you try the Eat, Wake, Sleep schedule during the day it should help your baby figure out that he shouldn't be awake for 4 or 5 hour stretches at night. Hope it helps. Sleep is so precious in those early months. It will get better!

Hi C.

My daughter was like that as a newborn. She would sleep for hours during the day, but be up all night. What I did was wake her every 2 - 3 hours during the day to feed her, and it actually started to reverse her sleeing schedule. If he is already waking to eat during the day, maybe you could try running the vacuum cleaner when he gets fussy at night to soothe him to sleep. Or, try some loud radio static or a womb sounds bear.

PLEASE let your husband know that 6 weeks old is way to young to let him cry it out! They are not expected to sleep through the night that little. I takes a few months before you can get a decent amount of sleep.

I had the same issue with my daughter who is now 9 weeks old, so I feel your pain!!! She too had her days and nights mixed up. What helped us was keeping everything lit and loud during the day and then dimming all of the lights, no TV, and quiet voices when it got dark. We tried to keep her awake as much as possible during the day although it was impossible sometimes. We also tried to establish a bedtime routine, but that is something we're still working on.

*Although my dh will never admit that this worked, we did the old wives' tale of flipping her upside down to "reset" her body clock. The next night, she was fine. We're still debating if it was the wives' tale that fixed the problem or just the changes in our behavior.

Keep him up during the day! He has his days and nights mixed up :) I know it's hard, but you gotta do it!

sometimes it is hard when they are that age,they have the days and nights mixed up. do you have a baby swing or a bouncy seat that vibrates? the boppy bouncy seat was a lifesaver when my son was a young infant.they are $50 at target but they will help soothe him. you may have to put him down and let him cry himself to sleep. he needs to learn how to self soothe. let him cry for about five minutes and he will probably fall asleep.

Hello, I reccomend and follow the book called Baby wise. This was really helpful and both of my children slept through the night by 6 weeks. You can start this at anytime so I would try it!!
The book says you need to keep a schedule which mine is every three hours during the day. I follow a sleep eat and play schedule. That way they do not sleep all day and I do wake them at the three hour mark. It is hard at first but I write everything down even when they sleep so I can find the routine. I also try very hard to not let them cluster feed and keep it to a routine. It worked for me and both of my children were sleeping through the night at 6 weeks. I also like having the schedule because for me it easier to go places because I know when the next feeding is.
I have a almost 3 mth old and he is sleeping from 9-5:30 and has been doing this since he was 6 weeks and my daughter followed the same routine and she is 22 mths old. This routine also will teach them to fall asleep on there own.

Good luck and if you have any questions please feel free to email me.

It is just too early C.. Your baby is still tiny. Normal infants have days and nights confused for at least 6 weeks. Docs will tell you they will start to work it out at 6 weeks, but it certinly isnt a switch that flips. You can try to keep him up during the day, but all you will end up with is a fussy infant. Just let him sleep when he wants to sleep and ride it out. It WILL get better. He WILL work it out in his own time. Welcome to being a mommy. My advise is to take naps during the day when he does and say prayers for his understanding of day and night. One night he will sleep thru and you will wake up once an hour to check on him and make sure he is still there. ;-) Its all part of parenthood.
Good Luck!

I am not sure what you have in responses yet, but it sounds like he has his days and nights mixed up. My youngest is now 6 months and just started sleeping through the night about a week ago. That is the longest it has taken my kids to sleep (I have 4). He had a similar situation, except his time to be awake was at 1am to 4am. They eventually work through it. Try and get him on a schedule as soon as you can and make his feedings routine like with eat, play, and sleep, except for at night. It may take awhile to work it self out, but as he gets older and bigger, he will sleep more. This is hard to do, but try to put him down semi awake and let him fuss a bit. I know at that age they tend to fall asleep while eating and you hate to wake him. The only other advice I have is sleep when he sleeps for now if you can. That way, at least at 3 am you are not too sleep deprived. Also, limit how much interaction you have during the night feedings. Hope this helps and good luck!