Swapped night for day..

[happyhelen]

Hi, We have a gorgeous 2 week old daughter (7lb9oz at birth) who has swapped night for day - she was napping up to 5 hours in a row in the day and then staying awake all evening (up to 6 hrs!!) over stimulated from all the visitors we had in the first few days.

To rectify this we have put her on EASY and after 2 persistent days are starting to get our evenings back which is great.

However we are having great trouble getting her to wake up after only 2 hours sleep... the EAT is almost like a dream feed.. winding her almost wakes her up then 45 minutes after we have "woken" her she wakes up properly just as we are trying to start the wind down routine... we manage to shush pat her back to sleep but its exhausting as we are always fighting against what she wants to do...

Are there any recommendations to help?

thanks

Helen

[* Paula *]

Hi Helen,

Congratulations on your baby girl and welcome to the boards

At this age it is quite normal for your lo to have her days and nights swapped, she is still adjusting to being outside of the womb.

At this age EASY is not a true easy, it is really only getting your lo ready for when she is a little older - around six weeks.  The main thing about EASY is consistency.

I would make sure that you feed your lo every 3 hours and if she is napping wake her up from her naps for a feed.  You say that she is quite hard to wake, perhaps when you get her up you could wipe her face with a warm damp cloth to wake her up a bit more for a feed to ensure that she is totally awake for her feed, then change her nappy after her feed - this is the most amount of A time she will need and then she will be ready to go back down for a nap.

Here is some info that might be of some help to you.....

Getting Started on EASY

Starting EASY with a New Born

Hope this helps.

Paula

[rebecaq]

I totally agree with Paula. She has given you some great advice and reading material.

Congratulations on your baby!!

- Beca

[happyhelen]

Thanks - am chuffed to bits with her at least most of the time!!

THanks also both of you for the good advice... I'll persist with the waking up during the daytime every 3 hours.. but will try not to get hung up on getting much activity out of her... or making her wake up properly on the evening (as she just doesnt go back down and lots of dream feeding seems to work okay so far)

I think that because she wasnt waking properly, she hasnt been feeding properly and then needs top ups again before she can get back to sleep... last night was a vicious cycle.. but when she did eventually sleep it was a really long one! hopefully going to get her feeding properly on easy 3 hour routine from now on!

Hx

[rebecaq]

Helen,

I also wanted to remind you to keep nighttime as low key as possible.  I used to keep a nightlight in the bathroom so I had just enough light to not fall on my face when getting ds out of his bassinette, nursing him or changing his diaper. I also NEVER masde eye contact or spoke out loud.  The only noise that came out of me at night was SHhhhh or a big fat yawn!! LOL

Hang in there hun, she's still getting used to life on the outside! 

- Beca