How do you get a newborns days and nights on track?

Question

I told you guys I would keep you informed. I had my daughter on Wednesday afternoon. She was 19 1/2 in long and weighed 7lbs 13oz. Well, last night was our first night home and she was awake from about 3pm until 7 then she slept for 4 hours and woke up and cried until 6am off ond on. She was clean and full so I dont know what was wrong. I tried everything. Singing, rocking, walking, talking, rubbing, patting etc... all to no avail! She finally went to sleep at about 7 this morning and had been asleep most of the day since then. I have tried to wake her so she can be alert for the day and asleep at night but she will only wake up for about 3-5 minutes and then she goes right back to sleep. Any suggestions? I think it's too early to say she has colic and I also know it was only night 1 but I'm not sure what to do if anything. (My firstborn was such a good baby from day 1 on so I am not used to this.) Thanks in advance everyone!

Answer 1

baby's are more active at night till around 4 mos you can't do anything to regulate her sleep cycle, this is a survival mechanism
forcing your baby to sleep through the night increases her risk of dieing of SIDS

good luck with your new baby

Answer 2

It's a six week process
Dont move the bedtime backwards, move it forward
get it so it starts at 8pm or 9pm
at 4 weeks, when baby cries during the night, go in every time but slowly stop picking baby up every time. Let baby know you are there
at 5 weeks, when baby cries at night, no picking up every time dont go in every time. let bebay know you are there when you go in
1st day of six weeks
suck it up
longest night of your life
dont go in at night
baby wont die there in the bed
baby will be fine
bear with the crying
it WILL be a long night
you can do it though
I lived this my self


This does more than get you through the night
Its childs first experience that crying does not get it all the time
no
6 weeks is not too younf
you should see my kids (11 and 13 yrs old)
I am soooo proud

Answer 3

I'll never forget my mother in laws advice, don't tip toe around when a newborn is sleeping during the day. Do things just like normal to help get them on track.

Then at night, about 6 PM, start dimming the house, close blinds in the summer, put some music on low, and feed the baby in a dark quiet area in a rocker or eazy chair. Then do bath time, quietly, relaxing...then hold and dry her rub her down gently with a nice smelling cream baby lotion...diaper her and rock her again for a few minutes, then lay her down.

She will probably cry, not be thrilled and ready for bed, but that is okay. When you go in to her, keep it quite, again a dark relaxed atmosphere. Do it each time she gets up at night, quite dark time. Then during the day, keep things normal, make the house bright, take her outside for a walk, when she lays down for a nap, just dim the room a bit, not complete darkness. When she wakes up, turn up the briteness, make her aware that it's noisy time by playing the radio, tv, whatever...then at night do it all again.

If you do this every night, you will most likey have a pattern set by 6 weeks, it's so worth it trust me. We did it with our son, he is now almost 3 and goes to sleep each night at 7 and gets up at 6 each am...

Enjoy your baby and good luck with her...the sleep deprivation will get better, I promise!

Answer 4

FIRST - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!
Okay - here's the thing - newborns will sleep over 20 hours a day - they don't know the difference between day and night. Some babies are easier than others. I had one with colic and one without but I spent nights up with both - more hours w/the colic baby of course. Just be patient - it is out of your control this early. Sleep during the day when she is sleeping as best you can.

Answer 5

My first baby was like that for seven weeks! She would be awake from 11PM to 6AM every night! A friend suggested washing her face with a cold washcloth in the day to wake her up. I wish I could have shipped her to Africa for a while, then her days and nights would have been correct, ha ha.

Answer 6

when u wake up with her at night to feed her.. keep the lights dim and somewhat dark in her room..eventually they'll get it.. my son got it after about a week or 2... but during that time they sleep most the day neway... don't worry about colic until about 3 months... and sometimes babies just need to cry...

Answer 7

well the next few months are going to be tough. you cant really get the baby on your schedule you have to let her dictate when she eats and sleeps. the best thing to do is sleep when she sleeps. eventually she will sleep through the night but until then you just have to tough it out and go off her schedule. some babies are easy and others can be a real challenge. congrats on your new bundle of joy. :)

Answer 8

sids wont occur by putting the baby 2 sleep when it dosnt want 2 sleep all u have 2 do is change her diper feed her and lay her in bed she will fall asleep.if she dosnt u shuld probly take her 2 the docter cuz thats not normal.

Answer 9

it'll be o.k.
i know from my sister drilling it into my head that i need to get all my sleep now, b/c once our baby gets here we won't get any!!

her first born was (still is) a horrible sleeper! her second is a great sleeper.

right now, from what i know about newborns, they just sleep when they sleep and are up when they're up. unfortunately, you get geared to them more than them to you.
once she gets a little older you'll be able to get her on a schedule, but right now, just go with it.
i'm sure once everyone gets settled it'll start to feel all better!

take care and congrats on the little one...how special!

Answer 10

get used to it, the baby could do that until its three. my daughter is three and she still screams in the middle of the night. gets up at one four six etc ha you have a long road ahead of you