Author Topic: Can’t settle 6 week old at night.  (Read 1653 times)

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Offline Snowywhite

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Can’t settle 6 week old at night.
« on: June 13, 2018, 15:45:09 pm »
I’m finding it impossible to settle my 6 week old at night. It’s always taken a while but it seems like as her awake times get longer, it’s getting worse.

She’s ususally down for the night at 7/ 7.30pm and does a nice long sleep until about 1am. Then she’ll wake again about 4am. It takes me about 90mins to settle her after these wake ups. Often I can’t settle her at all after the 4am one and have to let her sleep on me from about 6am.

She’s breast fed with ebm top ups so feeds take a while but I feel I should still be able to get her fed and settled in around an hour.

I’ve tried a dream feed but she still wakes at the same time so I’ve abandoned for now.

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Can’t settle 6 week old at night.
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2018, 08:21:02 am »
Does she/will she fall asleep breastfeeding at night?  You don't have to keep them awake after a night feed like you would in the day - just feed and plop back in bed.  Sorry if that's not the issue you're having though!

What are her awake times and naps (very roughly) looking like in the day right now?  Does she display any signs of discomfort when you are trying to settle her back down?  Or is she just wide awake?

Offline Snowywhite

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Re: Can’t settle 6 week old at night.
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2018, 12:12:21 pm »
I can’t seem to feed her to sleep overnight. As soon as I put her down, she’s wide awake.
I think she might be struggling with wind as she does a lot of writhing around and grunting even when she’s in my arms. I end up spending ages winding her which is adding to the time taken.

This is what our day generally looks like
Awake 8ish
Nap 9.30-10.30
Nap 12-2
Nap 3.30-5
Bedtime 7.30
Wakes at around 12/1am and 4/5am

These awake times do seem quite long but I’m usually trying to settle her for a good 20-30 mins before she falls asleep. This is especially true before bedtime when she just wants to feed. She does sometimes need to be resettled in naps.

Last night we were up from 12am to 2am trying to settle her.

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Can’t settle 6 week old at night.
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2018, 14:52:44 pm »
Have things changed at all in the last few days?  Every phase at this age can seem like a lifetime I know!  But often things change without you necessarily needing to do anything.  Given she's so little I'd hesitate to read too much into routine - we all know babies 'should' handle certain awake times (often around an hour max at this point) but it's not uncommon for little babies to stay awake longer/struggle to settle and not really do what we expect!  It may just be one of those things to ride out for now :)  The only small thing I notice is that she only has 3 naps - they are GREAT naps!  But many babies this age have 4 or more (so more awake periods/time in the day) and that could possibly have an effect on the nights.  Would she do a catnap around 6/6.30 and a touch later bedtime do you think?

Offline Snowywhite

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Re: Can’t settle 6 week old at night.
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2018, 20:14:35 pm »
Thanks for the reply. You’re right. Things have already changed! She’s still taking a while to settle at night but at least we have fewer night wakings now, so I don’t have to have the battle multiple times a night!

I get confused about whether she’s hungry, windy or tired so I’m never sure whether I should be feeding, winding or putting her down. Possibly I’ve overfed her or let her get overtired after spending too long winding her a few times.

I could try the catnap and later bedtime, although I do quite like having both children in bed at 7ish so DH and I can eat a meal and have an adult conversation!


Offline jessmum46

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Re: Can’t settle 6 week old at night.
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2018, 22:30:36 pm »
Oh yes I understand that!! If it’s working for you don’t change a thing x