Please Help!! How do I get my newborn to sleep at night?

[Joanna123]

Hello,
I have a 13 day old baby boy and for the past 4 or 5 days he doesn't want to sleep at night. This is what happens. I breastfeed him on a rocking chair in the master bedroom (that's where his crib is) then he falls asleep at the breast i pick him up and put him down in his crib and a minute later he is awake and crying and wanting to eat again.....the first night he did this from like 11pm till 5 am......he just wants to eat every time he wakes up......i tried rocking him back to sleep but that doesn't work....he wants boobie....he is fine to sleep in his crib during the day but i guess something is wrong at night......i tried giving him a soother and he doesn't like that.....the second or third night i didn't know what else to do so i put him in my bed and fed him there (he still had to eat like 4 times before he finally fell asleep) and he slept from around 2am till 5:30am......so this tells me that he can sleep at night just all of a sudden he doesn't like his crib.....

I don't know what to do.....he is still just a new born so i don't want to just let him cry in the crib.....plus i don't want him to wake up his older sister......

At what age should i introduce the EASY solution? He is still just eating and sleeping since he is so little.

What do i do?


Thanks,
Joanna

[munzle]

Hi Joanna,

Do you have any of the BW books? It's ok to implement EASY from day one as it takes account of the fact that your little one is so small. At that age you basically feed them, change their nappies, then do the wind-down routine and put them back to sleep! They really can't tolerate much activity time at that age. It sounds like your LO is using the boob to fall asleep, and because that's how he falls asleep, that's what he expects to get back to sleep. I would maybe persist with the soother - it helped both of my 'sucky' babies. You need to use another tool to help him to fall asleep and Tracy recommends using shush/pat - there's lots of information about it on this site (sorry - don't know how to do link!) Definitely don't let him just cry - you're right: he's way too young for that.

[Joanna123]

Thanks for your reply.
How do I do the wind down with him since he is so small and usually falls asleep after/during eating?
Another thing i do is change his diaper first then feed him because i don't want to wake him up after feeding him. I don't want to risk him not falling asleep esp. during the night. Is that maybe not a good idea?

I'm persisting with the soother and so far it's working a bit better. He is still learning how to keep it in his mouth but i hold the soother for him for a bit till he settles down and then i leave and hope the soother doesn't fall out. LOL

I tried shushing and patting his back/bum while he is in his crib but that doesn't work for him. I think i'm getting more success with the soother so far.

Thanks again,
Joanna

[Mrs Coops]

Hi, congratulations on your new LO.

A couple of things stand out here as a possible cause, firstly wind? Babies  can't tell the difference between wind pain and hunger so they cue to feed. Try and get his wind up even if it means waking him up. Or get your DH to do it while you get some rest.

Secondly is he sleeping flat? Maybe prop his crib up so his head is higher than his chest, he may just be struggling to keep his food down. My DS slept fine during the day but had issues with this at night, I don't know why!

Finally he is still very young to be forming prop associations. I relied on 'boobing' both of mine to sleep for months without it being an issue!

Oh finally do you change his nappy at night? I never did with DD, but DS was such a heavy wetter in the early days. I kept it simple though dirty nappy off, clean on, no wipes or cleaning (unless he pooped) to keep the stimulation as low as possible!

HTH. x

[mberry]

When DD was first born, I was scared to keep her awake after nursing because getting her to nap/fall asleep was a nightmare.  But the rewards are huge!  It'll take some time and patience but it will pay off.  Now I have a baby girl that goes down without any fuss.  As far as nighttime feedings, it's okay to let him fall asleep during nursing and to put him back to bed asleep, no need for activity.  Just make sure he gets in a good feed and doesn't fall asleep on you with a half-full tummy or he'll be up again.  This young age is such a struggle for them to stay awake while eating, my DH used to laugh at me all the time as I'd try to keep DD awake.

As far as a wind down, this is what I did when my DD was that age:  after feeding and diaper change, I would sit with her and rock her in her darkened room and hum or sing to her until she was very dreamy eyed and almost alseep, then I'd lay her in her crib.  Gradually I worked toward putting her down more and more awake. It took a lot of time for her to work to independent sleep, but whatever little steps you can do now will make a big difference.

[aidenmc]

I have found with all three of my ds's that they want to keep on sucking when they have wind. With ds3 who is 6 weeks, i find that when i don't burp him properly before sleep it wakes him up. Also, when he has trapped gas he shows all the signs of hunger - rooting, going for fingers, etc. Try burping him well after feeds and see if that helps.