Sleep Habits

The best book on scheduling is "On Becoming Babywise" by the Ezzos. It is fantastic. It worked for my two sons, they were both taking regular naps and sleeping through the night by 9 and 7 weeks. Good luck- it will get much easier!

I think he's doing pretty darn good! That is pretty much the same schedule that my almost 8 month old has!

The book, Baby Wise (I can't remember who the author is) is a great book for teaching a baby to sleep through the night.

Now, that said, it really isn't all that unusual for an almost 6 week old to still be quite off on sleep. However, I know your exhaustion and this book really worked for us and for my sister-in-law. You should be able to find it almost anywhere (even used). Good luck.

Sounds like he's doing fine for a 6 week old. The best books I found on kids and sleep is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (I forget the author) or Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Dr Ferber. They might help steer you into the right direction while he's still little. Good luck!

Unfortunately, it is normal for a newborn. Oftentimes, they get their days and nights mixed up. I'd try to keep him awake more during the day and get a nice bedtime routine started if you haven't already (bath, massage, milk, white noise, dim lights, etc.). Also, do you swaddle him at bedtime? My last baby only slept for about two hours at night and was up for the day at 2:00 am! In desperation, we bought the Miracle Blanket (www.miracleblanket.com), and at 7 weeks, she slept through the night. She could easily bust out of the velcro swaddlers. This one really wraps them up good. A good book going forward is "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr. Ferber. It has a lot of good information in there about sleep habits and how much children at each age need. Good luck!

Another recommendation for Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." Excellent book!

Hi M.,
Congrats! This is a hard time with you and your baby getting to know one another...and your baby getting to know the world! I actually found that around 10 weeks, my little girl was giving me the cues to start a sleep routine...and I followed them and that is when she began to sleep well. Until then, I think that they just need to be loved and reassured and fed! If you are not swaddling, try that. She always slept longer when swaddled. Also, I just let her sleep at that age when she was tired and took it from there. As for books, the book "Babywise" and "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child" were great. The second was a bit redundant...you can find articles in parting magazines that give you the main gist...basically watch your baby's tired/sleep cues, lay them down awake before they get exhausted, and have an early bedtime routine. It has worked well for us...but not until a bit older. Hope this helps...have so much fun!

On Becoming Babywise

Great book!

Hi M., Dr. Marc Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is a great book. I highly recommend it. It has lots of great advice and stories, tells you what is the norm for each age. It sounds like your baby is totally normal, but it is nice to have a guide to help with each new stage (every few months is a ltitle different). Good luck!

At 6 weeks old my daughter was still not on a sleep routine. She is almost 6 months old now and she is on a some-what routine now. It takes time. At that young age he is going through growth spurts and that will affect his routine. Give it a little more time.

I have heard good things about "the 3 day sleep solution" I think that is the name. I have not tried it though. Do a google search for sleep solutions for baby. You will get tons of websites and books to help you.

Good luck and hang in there. It does get easier, I promise.

Sounds like you have a lot of the concerns that I did. However, your little guy is still too little to be on any type of schedule, inconvenient though it may be for you. It could be another month or two before he sleeps more at night and it'll be several months before he settles into a routine. His wants and needs are the same at this point (and will be for a long time) so if he wants to eat he needs to eat and if he wants to sleep he needs to sleep. Best just to let him do whatever he needs to do. Don't try to keep him up or force him to sleep at certain times. I know it's not fun, but it's important to let him set his own schedule. You can, however, stimulate him as little as possible at night. Keep lights low, speak very softly and just rock with him or lie down with him and enjoy how beautiful he is. Trust me, you will ache for those sleepless nights when he wanted to play because you will blink and it'll be over. He'll be a toddler and these days will be a faint memory. The best advice I can give, especially because I had a rough time with my first child, is just go with the flow. Never stress about their eating or sleeping. THose things seem to take care of themselves without any intervention from us!

And I would definitely avoid those babywise books!

Thanks for asking the question...I dont have an answer but am looking forward to the responses. I have a 9 week old with the same issues. Goodluck.

Congratulations on your new little boy, M.!! At 6 weeks old, he probably won't be on any sort of consistent schedule just yet. It's exhausting, I know, I have a 15 month old who was up for two hours last night! What I've learned from my three kids is 1) every child is different; 2) some sleep well and some just plain don't; 3) the better they nap during the day, the better they sleep at night; and 4) be consistent with his routine. If you put him to bed at a certain time, do the same thing every night. I would even wake him up at the same time every morning, just to help his little internal clock get adjusted. Don't forget, when you were pregnant, he slept whenever he felt like it -- he didn't have a clock to look at. Now that he's born, he is going to need a lot of time to get his clock timed up with yours. I wish you the best of luck, and at least some decent sleep! Enjoy the time you have with him at night... he will be off to school before you know it!!

That's a hard one. With our oldest, we needed to put her in daycare starting at 3 months. We weren't sure how to get things started with a bedtime routine, but when we started getting her up at around 6:30-7:00, we began to develop one.

She had a really hard time sleeping at daycare until we took her out of the Kindercare (until she was almost 2). When we'd go pick her up, she'd be so tired and hungry - once she was old enough we'd giver her a graham cracker or something to eat for the trip home because she'd hardly eat there too. Once we got home, she wanted to be held non-stop. We'd give her a bath at 6:30 and then start relaxing - I think there's a "baby einstein" CD with lullaby's on it, or we would put on "Finding Nemo" - for some reason that always calmed her down. And she'd fall asleep soon after having a bottle.

Since she was about 2 (she's now 5) - our neighbor has been watching her and her little sister (since she was born). It's gone a lot better since she was getting the attention she wanted. We could actually bring her home, set her down with her toys, and she's actually play with them without us needing to hold her nonstop!

Sorry - sidetracked - long story short - he'll settle into the routine at daycare, and that should (hopefully) help him sleep better at night. Develop a routine that works for you and DH - like bath, story, bottle, quiet/cuddle/relax time, night night time (or whatever works best for you). Be consistant, and after a few days, it'll fall into place, and become routine. Both our daughters are very much into routines. It helps to know "what comes next" (as our oldest says).

Good luck!

Praise the gods your baby isn't up every 2 hours around the clock to nurse!!! You're ahead of the curve at this point. Good luck a sleep routine, my boys didn't find a good one until around 4 months and my second really didn't sleep well until 8 months.

Pretty much anything is normal at 6 weeks. A great book to read would be "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He is a pediatrician who specializes in infant/child sleep issues with over 3 decades of research. He is a nationally known expert in the area of sleep.

What I liked most about the book was the explanation of when/why/how your child needs to go to sleep and to nap, with respect to the child's sleep cues and internal body clock. You will learn to read your child's sleep cues and be able to get him into bed or sleep mode before he has a chance to get overtired (i.e. screaming and crying), and also teach him how to develop healthy sleep habits with your guidance.

There are no dumb questions. Always ask. He's just 6 weeks old he will change 100 times before your eyes.You are just over tired it seems because your a good Mom and go to him when he needs you. Sleep when he does and don't worry about the little things that need done in the house it will still be there when you finally get him on a schedule.Being a new Mom can be totally exhausting, maybe you have a friend or family that can watch him for you for part of a day or something.He sounds pretty normal to me.They are so precious at this age be sure to enjoy it as much as possible and take lots of pictures, they are only little once.He will learn new things every day .

Yes, for a six week old. There is a book out there called twleve hour in twelve weeks. The first six weeks for your childs life are at will. They eat and sleep at will. At week seven you should keep notes on when they sleep and eat. At week eight you can start to manipulate their schedule and work toward getting them to sleep through the night. My older son did not sleep through the night until he started solid foods. I used the methods in the book with my second son and by the end of the eighth week he was sleeping through the night. Good luck.

Trust me it will eventually get better. When my two were that age I was up every 2 hours feeding them so just give it some time. Good Luck.

That sounds normal to me for such a little baby. Usually by 8 weeks they're sleeping for 6-8 hour stretches overnight. But don't expect a "routine" for another few months, I'm afraid.

Do check out Dr. Marc Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". It's an amazing book that really helps you get in tune with what your baby needs, and gives advice for how to correct bad sleeping habits that might have already been established (sounds like you don't have to worry about that). We followed his advice for our first, who's 3, and he has always been a wonderful sleeper. Our 8 month old takes two decent naps a day and sleeps the night for 12 hours. I attribute it to this book. I hate to say it, but so much of the advice that moms give on this website is absolutely counter to Dr. Weissbluth's advice. And not that I'm a supermom, but the way I see it, my kids sleep. Good luck to you!!!

Oh, I just read the swaddling response - our daughter hated to be swaddled, but when we used the Swaddle-Me on our son, he slept 7 hours straight. It's worth a try!

I have a 14 week old baby, and I would recomend reading the Baby Whisperer. It teaches you how to get into a routine with your baby. I had a lot of problems getting her to sleep at ALL through the night at first. Around 8 weeks, when I started back to work, she just started sleeping all night. I think babies just feel more secure having a routine and knowing what to expect. Good Luck.

http://www.ezzo.info/index.htm

First off the babywise book is not supported by the AAP and has been linked with failure to thrive in infants. Please read the link above before reading that book.

Instead, check out "Happiest Babby on the block." or check out http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp.

This is very normal. At his young age it is difficult to change a routine.

You can try to get him out- take to store, visit friends, etc in the morning to keep him awake. Also, play loud music, TV, make lots of noise in the kitchen with pots and pans to try to keep him from sleeping as soundly. Move his arms and legs, keep him a little cooler than normal.

Once you go back to work, make sure your sitter does not just let him sleep all day either.