Day/Night Problems - 5 week old

[NewfBaby]

Hello. My 5 week old is a great napper in the day but I'm having so much trouble at night. At first she would wake up once, nurse, then just stay awake for 2 hours, looking around. She didn't even seem to have sleep cues at night, so I didn't know when to put her back down. Over the last few days it has been getting worse. Basically she wakes and never really goes back to sleep for a long time. She is not uncomfortable - just AWAKE! She doesn't cry or fuss. She'll start to fall asleep, then jolt, at which point I go in and pop in the pacifier (she has a VERY strong sucking need). Here is our recent schedule (approximately):

6:30 Wake up, nurse (takes 20-30 mins)
A
7:30 Sleep
11:00 Wake up, nurse
A - at this point I try to get out of the house, so she is napping on and off on erands for a few hours
1:30 Sleep
4:00 Wake up, nurse
A
5:30 Sleep
9:00 Last night had to wake her up to nurse!

At this point things go off the rails and every night is different - but feedings seem to be coming closer together (every 2-21/2 hours) plus the difficulty getting her back to sleep. An early growth spurt?

Should I be waking her more often in the day? I guess I should start cluster feeds - do I wake her up? (We'll start the DF next week at 6 weeks).

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks

Kathleen

[Colin Macs Mom]

Hi Kathleen, congratulations on your new little darling!! 

It sounds to me like you are off to a great start! At 5 weeks, she still has a lot to learn about the world and especially things like sleeping. When they're born they're literally a blank slate - as parents we get to teach them everything about everything. What you're going through is totally normal, so stick with it and you'll see great results as she gets older. The jolting is normal - she doesn't know yet how to transition through her sleep cycles, so you can help with that by sticking by her and putting a hand on her chest to support her through those jolts until she is able to handle it herself.

LOs get a huge growth spurt at 6 weeks, so the increased feeds are likely related to that. She should return to normal soon with that, but until then feed her whenever she needs!

Edited because I forgot to say that when beginning EASY with very little one like yours, it often takes a bit of time for them to get the hang of night vs. day. During the day, we teach them that they have A time after eating, but we don't do this at night obviously. It can take some time for them to get the hang of that.