Sleep Routines

The book Baby Wise saved my life with baby #1 and then worked like a charm with #2. It gives you an organized schedule for an eat-activity-sleep routine. Both kids were sleeping through the night by 2 months with this system. Good luck!

Babies that are 4 weeks old should be sleeping about 80 - 90% of the time anyway. They should not be up all night OR all day. Do you put the baby to bed to go to sleep or rock and try to put him or her to bed??? I have a daycare and I've found that it is a lot easier to just get them in the routine of falling asleep in bed...that way when they wake up when they are suppose to be sleeping they will learn to just go back to sleep instead of thinking they need to be up. Also, don't always just run in their bedroom as soon as you hear them wake-up. That is something they have to learn...that someone is not going to be there the instant they make a noise. Babies can learn things overnite...especially how to maneuver parents, it seems. Figure out a schedule that works for you and start teaching your baby the routine...don't let them teach you. Just remember that sleeping is a habit, that's why the same schedule works the best, and that is why I don't believe in trying to keep babies up for long periods of time thinking this will help them sleep better at night...it usually doesn't. Two weeks is plenty of time to get a routine going. Once you do get a routine going it will make it easier to figure out when they aren't feeling well because their routine will change and that will let you know something isn't just right. I hope this helps..good luck!!!

S.,

Sounds like days and nights got mixed up (but I'm sure you gathered that already). It might take a bit, but he's young, so he should be able to adapt pretty well.

What I can tell you is during the day don't let him sleep longer than a feeding cycle, which is about 3 hours. Wake him up to change him, feed him, even try to play. He won't stay awake very long, but something is better than nothing and as time goes by, he'll stay awake longer. There's a couple books that really helped me.

"Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to calm, connect and communicate with your baby" By Melinda Blau and Tracy Hogg. This book teaches the Easy method, worked wonders with my first. If you use this method, it should help.

The second book is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" By Dr. Mark Weisbuth (sp). Really helpful.

S.,

I see Tammy S. recommended two good books already. Another one that addresses the eating and sleeping routines very well is Babywise. Wake the baby, feed him, keep him awake for a while, let him nap. Three hours after the first waking do it again. In the evening, wake him closer together. Bathe him before bed. In the night feed him quietly in the dark and put him straight back to bed without any interaction. Once he's doubled his birth weight, quit the night feeding.

I had a couple night owls. Doesn't it seem like they're all born in the middle of the night? They got off to the wrong start. Following this advise got us onto a daytime routine very quickly. I hope that helps.

My LO use to do that too. Dr told me when he awakes at night to feed to put it off as long as I could... try and soothe him in other ways besides feeding even if it is only for 15 minutes. Then the child will learn to try and eat more during the day and it will start to shift their sleep. My LO eventually figured out the days and nights, it just takes a bit, but he will get there, not sure if it will be in 2 weeks though=)

Set up a bedtime routine you do EVERY night at the same time. For my son, he gets a bath at 7pm, nurses, read a book and then is put in his crib at 8pm. A routine will single to him that it is time to sleep. It takes a few days for the baby to realize it. My husband and I also used Harvery Karp's "The happiest baby on the block." (It comes in DVD and book format). It is all about the 5 s's: swaddle, side lying, shhh, shake, swing--all leading to restful SLEEP! It is guarenteed to work in 5 days :) It was a savior as our son was completely confused about day and night at that same age! Another thing to do is make day fun by interacting with him/playing and trying to keep him awake. It is really amazing how long you can keep a tired baby awake! And then make night less fun by making NO interaction except what needs to be done: ie. change diaper, feed him, insert pacifier, etc without talking to him or making eye contact.
Hope this helps - Mother of 3-1/2mo old who sleeps like a baby (now)

S.,
Yes there is a solution to this problem and you can fix it. It is not unusal for babies to get their days and nights turned around and you can solved this by keeping the baby up all day and not allowing the baby to sleep all day. What you need to do is set a ROUTINE. such as get the baby up at 8am and set the daily routine that fits, do not allow the baby to sleep long naps, wake up and stimulate the baby through out the day to engage in a daily routine. Do this for several days and follow through. Do the same for evening hours. I find that if you have constant daily routine the baby is more happy and content and they sense the next routine event. Try to give the baby a bath in the evenings it set pattern for the baby to relax and fall to sleep and then they can set their own inner time clock that its bedtime. It takes time to readjust the sleep patterns in little babies, give yourself time in doing so, remember the pattern that is now set is 4 weeks old so it may take you that time to switch. Be patient and things will get better. Good luck. KM

This might sound crazy to you but have you tried "spinning him?" My daughter was the same way, she would go to sleep as the sun was coming up and right around 9 or 10 at night be wide awake. My dad did that with her and it seemed to work, I also told my boss to try it with their baby and it worked for him. They say the baby has their days and nights switched around. You hold him out in front of you and GENTLY and SLOWLY turn him in the air like a somersault. I know it sounds scary and ridiculous, but it works!!

S.,
My daughter started to do that for a couple days. By the suggestion of my MIL, we tried to keep her awake most of the day by playing with her, undressing and redressing her, talking to her, etc to keep her awake. That way she was really tired by night and would sleep through the night. It only took about 2 days of really trying to keep her awake during the day and she started sleeping well at night. She is now 5 months and has been sleeping through the night since she was just under a month old. Hope this helps.
D.

Try to get more calories in him during the daytime hours so he doesn't need as many at night. ALso maybe try to feed more frequently just before bed (cluster feed). Your baby is just going to do what they want no matter what you do sometimes. Both my kids didn't sleep through the night well, I kinda just gave in because I needed my sleep too - I nursed them back to sleep and they sletp in our bed. Whatever works!

During the night wakings, keep lights dim, preferrable, just use a nightlight if you can. Feed him, change him, but no playing, or talking, keep things quiet and sedate. Make the night time boring. Save all the fun stuff, singing, playing, toys, walking around etc. for the daytime. Spend his awake periods during the day interacting with him as much as possible, and encourage him to stay awake for a little longer each time (but don't keep him up til he's exhausted and cranky). He'll slowly learn that daytime is fun time with mommy, and night time is for sleeping.

You already received this advice, but I wanted to say how much I swear by "THE SECRETS of the BABY WHISPERER"! Our son was almost 4 weeks early, and he literally would not sleep for more than 1.5 hours at a time for the first three-and-a-half months of his life. we tried everything. He was our first baby and we didn't have any idea what to do with him. It nearly killed us!

I followed the advice of the Baby Whisperer to the "t", and within a few weeks it changed our lives. He is now four and is an excellent sleeper to this day. So is our daughter, and I followed the book with her too.

S.

p.s. I also read "Babywise" (and about a dozen other parenting books), and I thought "Babywise", although it did have some worthwhile parenting advice, was just too rigid for me. Good luck!

People have already suggested this, but it sounds like she's got her days and nights mixed up. Definitely keep your night-time feedings as calm and soothing as possible. In all honesty, I don't even change my 3-week-old's diaper unless it's absolutely necessary (they suggested that in a few of my books). When she starts stirring at night because she's hungry, I go in to feed her before she gets upset and crying. I have a night light in the room, and I keep her blanket around her while I nurse. I then rock her for a while and rub her back softly until she falls back asleep. During the day, I open the blinds and keep things more stimulating - singing songs, giving her tummy time, etc. With my daughter, it's impossible to keep her awake if she doesn't want to be, but I figure even if I can keep her just lightly sleeping during the day it's better than the deep sleep she should be getting at night.

I'm certainly no expert - these are just things I've tried and have had luck with so far. Good luck!

The baby whisperer book is great. I recommend it also. Waking baby up more during the day will help. They have no clue what your schedule is so you have to show them. Also check to see if baby is exposed to enough light. If you always have it too dim in the house baby isn't going to get use to the day and night cycle. Just like adults their bodies will respond to amount of light during the day. Vice versa make sure its not to bright around baby leading up bedtime. Light can really mess up your internal clock.
Hope that helps,
K.

Hi. I had a child like that and I found that by waking the baby up every 2 hours and playing with her, until she fell back to sleep helped to get her into a routine. It did take a couple of weeks, and you have to make sure that you keep doing it, just remember it all becomes worth it as long as you stick to it.

ok i tell ya this will work if you want it to trust me i have twin boys and they were sleeping through the nite at 4 weeks.....

a strong morning routine get up at the same time no matter what the baby is doing sleeping or not you get up and set a routine thats step one
step two one nap in the morning thats it no more than two hours long

step three nap in the afternoon no more than two hours also

step four nightly routine same time same thing every night

my own routine was up at 7am 9am to 11am nap then keep them up until 1pm and from 1pm to 3pm they nap then they stayed awake until 7pm and in that time until 7pm bath a good nite routine should have a bath before bed that worked for if you have any questions heres my email address ____@____.com email me and ill help you if you needed it

Sometimes nothing comes easy when you are dealing with an infant. Your son is ONLY 4 wks old. He is still trying to get into a routine. Our daughter had the same type of sleep patterns when she was a baby and it went on for the first 3 months. She is adopted and her birth mom worked nights and so we believe alot of our daughters sleep habits reflect that. Did you keep late hours during your pregnancy? Just a thought. She finally got into a sleep pattern that we could deal with, but it was ugly for a while.
My Mom always told us, don't try and force them to stay awake when you want them too, they did that with my brother and he became a very fussy unhappy for baby for while. So you may pay the price again later. Just be patient and loving....he'll get "there" eventually.
Side note: Our daughter is now 10 and she is still a "night" person. She will foever be.
Good luck
A.

I haven't read your responses yet, so sorry if this is repetitive. The method I used was that in the book Babywise. Having twins it was necessary for me to keep them on the same sleep schedule (to keep M. sanity-LOL!). I started around 4 weeks old. They were only sleeping for 4 hours at night before this. The second night after starting this, they both slept 7 hours STRAIGHT!!! AAAHHHH! It was soooo nice!!! Anyways, it wasn't like that every night, but I was amazed at how quickly it did work! They were sleeping through the night in no time!!!

I know there are different opinions on this, but what we did was keep their wake time schedule of a 3 hour rotation all the way up until 11pm. Then we put them to sleep, so that they would sleep from 11p-8am (when I was also going to be sleeping). Then we slowly worked on cutting out the last feeding & put them down earlier. Now (at almost 10 mos), they go to bed at 8:30 & sleep through until 7:30!--I should add that they've been on this schedule since around 6 months. For having twins, I'm a very well rested mom! Of course there are the occasional bumps in the road (teething)!!! GOOD LUCK!!

S.,

At this point, your baby should only be waking up at night 1-2 times over a 10-12 hour period. It will be a rough few days / nights but you can absolutely flip this around.

You need to keep him up during the day. Not all day, just short bursts of 30 - 60 minutes at least a few times a day. Don't let him sleep for more than 2-3 hours in the day without waking him up.

Keep the lights on and the normal noise level in the day. At night, when your baby wakes up, keep it as dark as you can, don't talk or play, just feed & diaper then back to bed.

Good luck,
S.

S. my mom would turn a light on at night in the bedroom becasue I did the same thing. Were you up alot in the evening while pregnant? If you were then that is the routine your baby probably has now. 4 weeks is still very young the baby may figure it out as it gets older.