What can I do to make a 5 week old baby sleep at night? he sleeps all day but at night is awake?

Question

he is awake for a good fours hours a stretch at night.---he is calm but cries occassionally I just wanted to see what advice people have to getting my son to sleep at night and awake during the day----



Thanks alot

Answer 1

He is a baby they sleep, s**t, and eat when they want. You got to know how to sleep like a baby just hope you don't have to work to. Or you can move to Japan where its a different time of day.

Answer 2

You can try to make sure he has more waking hours during the day. If you have noticed he has had a good 3-4 block hours of sleep, try to rouse him. You can undress him for a diaper change, rub his back or even just stroke his hair in the opposite direction it grows. You could also maybe try some of that lavender bath stuff to make him a bit more calm and sleepy and then feed/nurse him to be sure he has a full tummy before bedtime.

He is still fairly newborn, so it may take awhile to get a good sleep pattern down. A tip for night time feedings and changings is to keep the room fairly dark and try not to stimulate him during these times: ie, talking loud to him like you would during the day or pick him up and carry him around till he falls back to sleep again. This way he learns to fall back to sleep on his own and can develop self-soothing skills.

I hope this helps and congrats on your lil angel ~!

Answer 3

He is ay a very difficult age for establishing a sleep/wake routine. It is probably something that you will have to wait out I'm afraid. My son is the same, so I have tried him on novalac sweet dreams formula. This is his 1st night on it, so I can't say yet if it works!
I think all you can do is make sure you provide no stimulation when he is awake thru the night, eg no lights, no talking. Try to keep him in his bed. If he is quite then don't worry, he has to learn the difference between night and day. I would just leave him in his bed and keep checking on him. Good Luck

Answer 4

Is she formula fed? If so, then it's easy to make sure shes getting enough. If shes breastfed then you may have a problem on your hands. Well, considering that she is breastfed, there is no way to know how much she is eating so you need to watch her output. At that age she should have AT LEAST 6 very wet diapers (like bulging wet) and be pooping at least 3 to 4 times a day. If she is doing that then I wouldn't worry about her. I owuld on the other hand worry about your milk supply and/or developing clogged ducts etc. If she is sleeping more then 4 hours at a time you should pump. Full breasts make milk slower. There is an enzyme in breastmilk that inhibitory. Meaning that the longer milk sits in your breasts this enzyme is telling your body to stop makign milk. This is what will decrease your supply. SO be careful with that. Otherwise I think you are fine.

Answer 5

Hello and congratulations with your baby boy.

If you are nursing or bottle is the same thing. He doesn't know that day time is to stay awake and night time to sleep. They don't know. Is probably gonna take you a few day but you can get him to sleep up to 4 hours at a time at nigh time, we do it with our son and he is 6 weeks and a half now.

What you need to do is on the day time feed him every 2 hours to speed up his metabolism, he is still gonna sleep a lot during the day though, and at night time, you need to Cluster Feed him, you do that by starting at about 8:30 p.m. the first feeding, then 2 more feedings every 30 minutes after that and he will be sleeping really good after that. Let him sleep as much as he wants at night time after the cluster feeding, when he wakes up after 3 or 4 hours, feed him, wait 15 minutes and feed him again. Sometimes he will eat, if he does good, and if he doesn't still good, then put him back to sleep and you will have another 3 or 4 hours. When you are cluster feeding sometimes he doesn't want to wake up, so what you need to do is wake him up and feed him.

All babies need to sleep at least 18 hours a day. If you notice, your baby already cluster feeds, but he doesn't know when to do it, he probably does it every 45 minutes to 1 and a half hour during the day. Just change that cluster feeding time and you will be fine. Good Luck with your baby boy and congratulations.

Answer 6

Good luck with your new baby. The truth is, it's tough at this age. Probably the best thing you can do is make sure he gets a really good feeding before you go to sleep. By this, I mean that he should drink your milk (assuming you are nursing) to the very end, which is the fatiest and most filling part. That might help keep him down for a while. Trying to keep him awake during the day won't help at this age, nor will trying to leave him cry, as that is probably harmful at that age.

Answer 7

I used to take my babies to bed with me so that they could nurse or lay next to me in the dark room and then eventually fall asleep. Its not always a great idea to have them in bed with you if you are a heavy sleeper, so its what you are comfortable with. I used to prop myself up with lots of pillows and lay them on my chest and rub their back. Awake during the day... hmmm 5 weeks is still very young, but maybe going outside for some fresh air or play some stimulating classical music to keep their little brains working. Have a schedule! Schedule those feedings the same time each day, and maybe give baths in the morning rather than at night etc.

Answer 8

As a mother of 2 (one 16 months old the other 2 1/2) I hope I can help. The first thing is don't battle with yourself or the baby over the issue...it will get resolved sooner or later (yes the later part sucks).

During the day make sure your baby is getting plenty of light (natural is better). Don't give up your daily outtings. I took mine even as newborns shopping, to the book store, to get coffee. I didn't allow them to slow down my social life (yes, I nursed, one until 11 months, the other 13 months, no I didn't nurse in public either, sometimes I would be sitting in my car with a blanket over me). The point is get them into the habbit of doing things during the day they will start to get use to it. Both of mine even in the womb were up at night and slept during the day, until they started to get use to my routine. By the way they both travel well, even after just 4 weeks old I took them on road trips for the day. Yes, it can be stressful but it will pay off in the end!

At night time, before bed, give your baby a bath, use some lavender soap. Then treat your baby to a gentle massage with some lavender lotion (they make it for babies). SIng a few lullabies, try some relaxing music, rub the baby's back to help sooth him/her to sleep. Keep this routine or which ever one you have started, your baby will pick up on the cues you have set overtime and recognize it is time to sleep. A warm full belly helps too. And, if all else fails, yes I have been in my car at 3 am in tears praying my babe will fall asleep and it seems to have worked, just don't make it a habbit or babe will.... GOOD LUCK! and YES IT IS WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry for spelling errors spell check seems not to be working)

Answer 9

Well unfortunately for parents, and perfect for a rapidly growing baby, newborns have irregular sleep patterns becasue they are just getting used to life outside the womb...And its true the first couple months they just eat, poop, and sleep...Try keeping him awake with stimulating activities such as a musical mobile or if you are in the US try taking him to a Gymboree class(I'll attach the link they work wonders)...what I have found to work best at getting a fussy baby to sleep is swaddling...give baby a warm bath, use some Johnson & Johnson's Bedtime Lotion, put on a onesie, and grab a thin blanket like the one from the hospital and swaddle baby snuggly...gentle talking and rocking when swaddling is soothing and a great reminiscent of when they were growing in mommy...Congratulations on the baby and I hope this helps...

Answer 10

my baby did the same thing, until he stayed awake during the day more. do the sleep, feed, play routine. so when your baby burps after a feed, that should wake him up. you do need to keep him awake for 1-3 hours....he has his days and nights mixed up

my boy stopped having day sleeps altogether from week 3 to 8, then magically started having two naps during the day. and sleeps good at night, wakes only once for a feed.

Answer 11

keep him awake during the day maybe a small nap in the afternoon. feed dinner in late evening and give him a warm bath and a bootle put him down for the night and that should be it. if he wakes let him stay in the crib dont fuss over him eventually he will go back to sleep.