Help with Newborn, overtired at bedtime

[lilysmommie]

I was hoping someone out there could help me.

My DD is 1 week old and for the last 3 nights she has been VERY difficult to settle to sleep. She starts at about 8pm with crying. If we pick her up, she will settle but will wake sporadically (every 5 - 15 minutes) and cry some more. Swaddling helps a bit but not always. Just when we think she is asleep in our arms and put her down in the bassinet, she wakes up and cries again. She doesn't want a soother and I don't think she's hungry. She flails her arms and legs, turns her head from side and goes all red. Sometimes she gets SOOO worked up. She will do this until about 1:30am and then finally gives in and sleeps peacefully the rest of the night.

She sleeps most of the day but she seems to have a long awake time just after supper (last night I think she was awake for about 30 - 45 minutes) which seems long. During the day she's a dream and just nods off by herself without being held.

I would like any ideas on how to catch her and get her to sleep before she gets so overtired. In the evenings, we have her sitting in her infant chair (no lights or vibration, just still) in the living room with us. Should I try putting her in her bassinet in the dark much earlier in the evening? We are trying to put her there now around 10 - 11pm (after her feeding).

Or maybe this is just a normal newborn phenomenon? This is our second daughter and she is sooo different from our first so I feel like I'm starting over again!

Any ideas or help would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks,

Julie

[*Natasha*]

could you post your routine it may need tweaking?

[*Nicola*]

(((Hugs)))

I thought it would be really easy with DD2 but it *is* like starting all over again.  You'll get there!! 

[Elphyrafire]

I'll be curious what your responses say!
I know, you'd think the second time around would be easier but it's not. It's just different.

So what always helped us with DS at bedtime was a tight swaddle- I mean like he looked like a board- get DH to do it. We layed him on his side on my knees and bounced him. His head moved slightly like Jello- very soft bounce. We also used the bouncy chair at times. Also, white noise- SHHHHH in his ear. He went to sleep everytime... even after long bouts of screeching. I got the technique from the book Happiest Baby on the Block, which I recommend, aside from BW, of course!

[mamaosethers]

Hi!  I've posted here in the past, but it's been a long time!  I'm back now because I have a newborn (almost 3 weeks old), am re-reading BW, and am going to need lots of advice and support in the next few months, I'm sure!

Your question is similar to mine...Hannah is a dream during the day but is having lots of trouble sleeping at night.  I read in BW Answers all Your Questions about the Day-Night Dilemna...this is classic, I think, so we're working on it.  I'm shortening her routine to 2 1/2 hours--after all, she was born 3 weeks early, so she just yesterday passed her due date and is probably not ready for a 3 hour routine yet.  But also, I'm wondering if she possibly is dealing with some acid reflux?  Is it possible that that would only show up at night?  She grunts, turns red, and it's very difficult to burp her.  I'm just wondering about AR--or if she's just really gassy and can't get relief.  When we hold her at night, she sleeps.  When she's put in her crib, she wakes.  DH put a blanket under one end of the mattress last night to elevate it a bit...seemed to help, maybe.  We'll see...

Any thoughts?  Thanks!

-sarah

[lilysmommie]

Thank you all so much for your replies! It's taken me a while to get back...life's a bit crazy right now!

She seems to be on a pretty steady 3 hour routine but we're stilll working on getting her into EASY.  It's quite variable right now.  But it generally goes like:


7-8am diaper change, feed, back to sleep
10 -11 am feed, diaper change, back to sleep
1-2 pm diaper change, feed, back to sleep
4-5pm diaper change, feed, back to sleep(sometimes this is where she is awake longer . My DD1 is home from daycare, getting dinner ready etc. the house is more chaotic)
7-8pm feed, diaper change, back to sleep
10-11 pm feed, diaper change, back to sleep
This is where she is difficult to settle. She may fuss until the next feeding.

1-2am diaper change, feed, back to sleep
4-5 am diaper change, feed, back to sleep


The last few days seem to be going better. Swaddling works quite well and after her feeding, I pop a soother in and it seems to quiet her a bit until she dozes off. But if she can't doze off, I cuddle her a bit and it seems to work.

I asked the public health nurse that came to visit about it and she said it's a normal newborn thing and they grow out of it in a few weeks. Also, she felt she may be hungrier in the evening as she is gearing up for a deeper sleep at night. Which made sense because a few days ago we noticed she seemed to be hungry after her bottle still so we bumped her up to 3 oz of formula. She seems much more satisfied after that now.

She shushing also helps when she is really worked up so I would recommend that to anyone too.

Thanks!!

[Purple_Rose]

Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone, my situation resembles Lilysmommie its scary. We have a 2.5yr old daughter and this is our second daughter too she is going to be 4 weeks tomorrow.

Just like ur DD she is very a gem during the day but before her bedtime after her bath is very hard to settle cries, goes red, grunts, has a love/hate relationship with the pacifire. DD2 is breastfed.

This is what her day is like we are not on EASY yet but getting there

E 0800
S 0900 goes down easy - falls asleep in her crib

E 1100
S 1200 needs a paci to fall asleep

E 1400
S 1500 needs a paci/shh to fall asleep

E 1700
S 1800

E 1900 i find it very hard to wake her up here, she seems to be in deep sleep and because of that she might end up sleeping more than a hour
A 1930 Bath/ bedtime routine
S 2000 Bed Here is where she starts fussing and wont settle at all and some days it will last until 0100 however yesterday we got her to sleep at 2330
2200 dreamfeed
*once she settles she then wakes up at 0430 i feed her and she goes back to sleep and wakes up at 0700-0800 depends on her night*

I would love to hear your thoughts in this as i cant stand to see her cry so much.

[lilysmommie]

HI Purple Rose,
It looks like we're in the same boat!! 

Our DD2 has a love/hate relationship with the paci too...sometimes she takes it right away and sometimes she spits it right back at me as if to say "what the heck is that!!!"

Last night DD2 was fussy again so I just held her (which seems to help a lot, hopefully I don't fall into any AP here) and watched TV and tried not to stress about it. I think her tummy was hurting, she had several poops in a row and lots of gas so maybe that was the problem.

It looks like you're getting more sleep though with your baby getting a good long stretch once she settles.....good for you!

Hang in there!

Lilysmommie