4 week old will not sleep at night

[lghetti]

Hello ladies. This is my first time posting here so bear with me!! My lo is 4 weeks old. For the first 3 weeks she was sleeping through the night, well 8-10 hours. Now, for the past week, she absolutely refuses to sleep at night. At first she was napping in the bassinet in my room but now she has been napping in her crib for the past week with no problems. At night, she slept in the co sleeper the first week and then bassinet in my room for the next 2 weeks.

She nurses for 20-30 minutes, 30-45 minutes A time, then wind down for nap time. She takes a pacifier only sometimes for naps and when she is done sucking she spits it out and doesn't cry/wake for it. 

For the past week, I put her down in the bassinet for the night and she wakes 2-3 minutes later. We do that for almost the entire night. If I giver her the pacifier at night, as soon as she spits it out/ falls out she is awake and crying for the pacifier. The only way we have gotten any sleep is by letting her sleep on my chest which i do not feel is safe.

What can we try? I thought maybe she was hot seeing as we were putting her in footy pajamas and swaddle so we tried just t shirt and swaddle, just t shirt and muslin swaddle, gripe water, ceiling fan on, ceiling fan off, nothing has changed. It is like she just will not let her self fall to sleep. As soon as she nods off, she wakes up.

We have not followed an EASY schedule yet, we are still just practicing the routine.

I will try any suggestions!!

Update: I put her to bed in her crib last night instead of the bassinet in my room. I put her down at 8 after a CF. She would doze and wake 2 minutes later. Sometimes I gave her a pacifier sometimes she went down without it. From 8 to 11 I pu/pd 13 times. At 11, I filled the open space of her crib in a little with some pillows and a blanket. She finally fell asleep at 11 and slept until 5! I fed her and she slept until 9. Hopefully we had a little break through last night.

[lily_layne]

(((hugs))) Nights like that are exhausting. I hope last night was a breakthrough!

My DS did something similar around 4 weeks. He often fell asleep nursing and then I would let him sleep on my chest for a bit afterward and he would stir and twitch every 2-3 minutes for hours and would wake if I put him in his bassinet. One night I just couldn't sit there anymore so I popped him in the swing - he stirred and then drifted off for a nice long stretch.

There's a lot of brain development going on around 4 weeks as babies become more alert (and often more fussy) and that can really affect sleep. Sometimes, these LOs just need a bit more comfort to get into a good sleep. Do you have a swing you could try? She may also be wanting to cluster feed (doze, nurse a bit, doze, nurse a bit and repeat for a few hours) - lots of LOs do in the first weeks and months. A very tight swaddle and white noise can help LOs drift off. Dr. Karp's 5s technique can also work magic (watch the video at http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/video/soothing-techniques-for-baby). DD was always very difficult to get to sleep at BT until I mastered the 5s's - it worked every time.

Just a note that PU/PD as described in the book is for older LOs. I did a modified version with my LOs when they were small where I PU and snuggled/walked until they were totally calm and drowsy and then PD.

Official advice is to not put anything in the crib but I don't think it's fair of me to sound high and mighty and give the official recommendation without saying that I didn't follow it. I did roll some blankets and tucked them under a fitted sheet to make the bassinet cozier for both of my LOs. Both of mine had good neck strength and head control so I was comfortable doing it and I made sure there was a significant space between the padding and their heads. There are risks with putting extra blankets and pillows in a crib - I would just advise you to be informed before you decide what to do.

[Shiv52]

How often are you feeding at night?

[lghetti]

I know putting blankets and pillows in the crib is frowned upon, however II made sure they are not anywhere close to her. I rolled a blanket and put along the long side of crib and put 2 small hard pillows at each end. Perhaps I will try filling it in a little different but I don't feel there is any way possible she could even get close to them being only 5 weeks old. Thank you for the concern though!

She naps like a dream during the day. She goes down easy and sleeps the entire 1 hr 45 min. I usually have to wake her from her naps though.

At night, she will not go to sleep. I put her down for 3 hours most night. I CF at 630, 830, and 1030. She is usually awake from 830 until 1130- 12 every night. A lot of times she won't do the 7 CN either so she will be mostly awake from 630 on, with little 5 or 10 minute dozes throughout.

Since my last post we have gotten on a more structured routine instead of just going through the steps.

E 730am
A 8
S 830

E 1015
A 1045
S 1115

E 1
A 130
S 2

E 345
A 415
S 445

E 630
A 7 bath
S 730

E 830
A 9
S 9 30
From here we try to settle for the next 3-4 hours with 5-10 min catnaps throughout.


Does it sound like she has her nights and days mixed up? Is she sleeping too much during the day? Maybe I should extend A times by 5 or 10 minutes and shorten naps?

[lily_layne]

I wouldn't change her A time or naps as they seem to be going well. All babies have a fussy or unsettled period and hers may be that 9-12 period.

Are you waking when she goes down at 7:30? If you are, I would stop. It may be that she's ready for the night at 7:30 because that would be a 12h day. It may mean one extra NF but she might sleep better.

[weaver]

Just to say that the SIDS advice here is for babies share a room to 6 months.  Please review the advice wherever you are, just to have the information. 

At 4 weeks you can expect some random behaviour. It's a phase, not forever!

[lily_layne]

At 4 weeks you can expect some random behaviour. It's a phase, not forever!

Very, very true.