i have a 4 week old daughter. can anyone advise on getting a sleep/eat routine?

Question

i have a lovely 4 week daughter but am finding that she sleeps most of the day and from 9pm onwards, she wakes and sleeps every 30mins to 1 hour needing to be breastfed. I breastfeed her but for most of the night she's pretty crabby and needs either feeding or comforting.Any suggestions on getting a routine or easing her crabby moods. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

4 weeks is still very young, my son didnt sleep through the night until he was 5 weeks. I felt like i was endlessly breastfeeding too. Just stick at it, your his mum and you know best. I found they lying a hot water bottle in his cot/moses basket for 10 mins b4 i put him down would ease the transaction from warm mummy to cold cot, he didnt even know! try this in the evening. Also you could try a bath say at 6-7pm this will chill your little one out and she will feel far more relaxed. good luck and congratulations

Answer 2

My daughter is also 4 weeks old, today in fact ! I had exactly the same problem, she would only settle on the breast and as soon as I put her down she would wake up. A week ago we started giving her a bottle of formula at about 11.30 pm and she would sleep for up to 6 hours. I have now bought an electric breast pump and express about 140 mls a day and give this to her in a bottle before bed, it is easier for her to drink this large amount from a bottle and she settles so well. I still give her some formula when she isnt being satisfied on the breast, I find this combined feeding really works for us, and the more I express with the pump the more milk I am producing so she is starting to feed better off me. Good luck and just do what you feel is best for you both. x

Answer 3

I have a three year old who was kind of the same, slept all day and wanted more feeds at night than in the day.

finally with lots of patience she started to settle more at four months and has slept through the night since then.

to get her in to a routine, we made sure she was full at every feed, then at bed we gave her a sppon or two of baby rice and a nice warm bottle and a fresh nappy and tucked her up and she seemed to like it and take to it. Sometimes a bath before bed can make the aby tired and sleep longer. also when our daughter cried at first we jumped up the second we heard her cry so she knew if she cried we'd get up then after the firt two months we would eave her crying for about 45 secs - 1 min and then she would just get tired and go to sleep agin, we got a longer sleep and she didnt wake as often.

babies are very intelligent and know how to get mummy and daddy wraped around heir finger.

it might sem horrible that your getting no sleep but two years will fly by and you'll be remembering back to what seemed like a life time of no sleep but was only a short time.

wait until there three giving cheek and being naughty.......thats more tiring.

Answer 4

A 4 week old baby needs to be allowed to establish her own routines. She needs to eat when she asks.

You may want to try waking her to feed more during the day. You don't say anything about how often she nurses during the day. At 4 weeks of age, I'd be trying to offer to feed her every 2-3 hours. I'd expect her to be eating at least every 2-3 hours around the clock still at this age, mabye more often.

Have you tried cosleeping with her so you can both get more sleep?

Don't expect her to be sleeping through the night anytime soon. Only babies on TV do that. :-) Expect her to need to nurse at night for AT LEAST the first 6 months, probably longer. But as she grows, the time between nursing sessions will stretch out longer.

Answer 5

If u could just crack this cycle ur daughter would sleep through the night .. i personally wouldnt demand feed in the day ... do 4 hrly feeds .. and try and occupy her as much as u can do a 4 week old if she is crabby and wants more food .. try some cooled boiled water .. to passify her .. dont use a dummy as they tend to get dependant on them
Once it gets to nite time u can give her a last feet at 11 and only comfort in the nite untill 6 am .. after a few days ur daughter will get used to this
good luck and congratulations :o)

Answer 6

Hello. I remember being so tired when my little boy was so little and being determined that I had to sort out his sleeping routine so he would have a not so tired Mum to look after him.

Although the book (see below) has had some bad press I would recommend it for ideas and a routine you can copy. I did what the book said at first and then started to do it my own way. He started to sleep through when he was 4 months old but it's worth getiing ideas and stuff now.

We started giving him a bedtime bath at 6pm ish when he was about 6 weeks old. He's really good at sleeping now (nearly 10mths) and goes from 6.30pm to 7am pretty much every night. I am so pleased as I am a nightmare if I'm tired.

Good luck and be patient. In the meantime, definitely sleep when you can. I used to sleep in the evening on the settee when my partner could look after him and wake me if needed.

http://www.contentedbaby.com/FAQ_Sleeping_0-8weeks.htm

Answer 7

I would rather her come to me with this problem, then have her shave. Shaving just increases the growth in the hairs. It like stubble on a mans face. He shaves in the morning, and by the evening her already has stubble appearing. Shaving, as you said waste time, and in the long run is more uncomfortable than waxing. I hope that when my daughter is around that age, she won't even bother shaving, because if you wax from the start of your hair removing days, the longer it takes for the hair to grow back. I can go for months w/o waxing because I've waxed since 14. I feel, as a mom that 13 is a bit young for a bikini wax, but, I wouldn't want my child to unhappy with her appearance, or self conscious about anything. Try asking your mom can you go to a salon and get waxed. Even show her your post. I would let my daughter get the bikini wax, just for the summer time, though. Ask your mom can you get it done for the summer time so you can wear you swim suits. Good luck.

Answer 8

Hi and congratulations. Thought you might be (pleasantly?) surprised to get an answer from a Dad? Seems to me you have to make a choice of either regulating her feeds to suit you or feeding on demand. I fully agree with the ladies that have said sleep when she does otherwise you are going to very quickly run out of steam - but one suggestion that hasn't been made yet - if you have a partner with you - have you considered expressing some of your milk into a bottle and letting him do his share during the night? Some Dad's feel a little left out of the whole breast feeding thing - and there is no doubt that 'breast is best' but in this way baby gets her feed - you get your sleep and Dad gets to feed the little one - just a suggestion - Oh and the other thing to watch out for is colic - don't mean to sound patronising - just trying to help. If she (baby) pulls her knees up to her chest kind of violently or if her nappies are greenish then she might have colic - she interprates the pain in her tummy as hunger and thinks she wants feeding but she needs something to ease the pain - thats something for you to discuss with your health visitor but there are plenty of ways of easing it so don't panic if that's what it is. Good luck and best wishes. N

Answer 9

There are some great answers here you can try if you haven't already. My advice is swaddling the baby whilst sleeping this makes them feel secure. Worked for all my babies slept through the night completely at 6 weeks, 3months and 4 months. Never had less than 3 hours sleep between feeds either. Try it before she gets much older.

Answer 10

I believe "The New Baby and Toddler Sleep Programme: How to Get Your Child to Sleep Through the Night, Every Night (Positive Parenting)" by John Pearce, Jane Bidder, Kenneth Maddock is very good on this.