2 week old awake all night, sleep all mornng - help!

[Babyblabber]

Hi all,
baby is 2 1/2 weeks old and has no routine yet. Found breastfeeding very hard and have some physio issues so was just focusing on them at first. Now however, sleep, or lack thereof, is becoming a major issue!

He is wide awake and needing constant attention from about midnight to 4/5am every night. He then sleeps like a log between 5 and 10am, with a couple of short feeds in between, and would prob sleep longer if I let him. Then til about 3pm he sleeps really heavily and then the rest of the day is awake and asleep but no decent naps.

The past couple of days I've been trying to implement EASY or even just wake him up more during the first half of the day but it's virtually impossible! Even if I do manage to wake him up he never lasts, feeds for 10mins then is out cold, even falls asleep upright during winding and then nothing will wake him!

Have tried baths, nappy changes, stripping him, massage etc to wake him but nothing really works when he's tired. I dread the nights now and find myself getting really impatient with him at 3am which is totally irrational.

Any tips for switching his nights for day? Or even waking him up during the day?

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hi and congrats on your baby!

It is very common for babies at this age to have no routine and not be able to follow EASY - don't worry, it's not you. (oh, and breastfeeding IS very hard in the beginning for most women - hugs!!! It gets way easier)

Are you able to sleep at the same times as him for now so you can catch up on your sleep too? And do you have a DH/partner around who you can take turns with switching off during his night awake times?

I am going to move your post over to the EASY boards to get you more help establishing your routine. Lots of luck! 

[Vicku]

Hi! congrats on the new baby! we have 3 1/2 week old DD
one thing that can help is to make sure nights are dark with no talking and ver low key even if he's awake. and to have lights and normal noise during the day. it's no miracle cure that will instantly switch day and night, but it will help set their body clock over time as dark helps produce the sleep hormone melatonin and they eventually get thatdays are for activity, nights for sleep. hth a little! these first few weeks are hard! but lovely and go waaay too fast, so for now sleep when he sleeps whenever you can, get as much help asyou can in the night to ive you a break, and remember this gets easier soon.

btw we have a birth club where mums of similar age babies come to chat about life with their babies, it's really helpful and nice Come join us if you want! babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=157777.0

Vick

[Khalam's Mama]

I sympathise with you as my son who is now nearly six months used to be awake every night midnight until 5am and it was a killer especially if I had any plans/visitors the next day and couldn't sleep when he did. I thoroughly agree with above about keeping the night quiet and dark. I did not turn any light on or speak at all in the night and I also started doing nappy change before feeds in the night and after during the day to differentiate or even leave out the nappy change at night if only pee. I found he was much easier to keep awake in the morning if there were lots of people around if I went to as many mum and baby clubs and visited friends with children etc as possible. He also wasn't keen on his bath so i used to do that to wake him up. It got better a little each day and resolved around 6 or 8 weeks. Good luck.