hey my best friend had a baby and the baby is about 4 weeks old and she wakes up every 2 hours my friend gets no sleep is there anything she can do so the baby will maybe eat more than sleep more or something ???
alsoo!!! her belly button thingy didnt come off yet is there any thing to make it come off faster or it just comes off on its own helppp lol
2007-03-13 15:55:13 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
The cord will fall off when it is ready. It is not uncommon for the baby to be waking up every couple of hours to eat. This is normal for this stage. You cannot force a baby to eat more and sleep more just because mom is tired. It all comes with the responsibility of being "mom" She just needs to get use to the schedule the baby has.
2007-03-13 16:01:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
Tiny baby's tummy's are tiny and empty fastish. So they do need to eat every two hours. You can help by doing a feeding every night, afternoon, morning or what ever your schedule will let you. This will let mommy sleep longer than two hours. She should be about ready to drop in her tracks by now.
Make sure baby is fed, dry, burped, and comfortable.. not too hot.. not too cool... Do not sprinkle powder on the baby as they will inhale it and develop breathing alergy or colds.. and be miserable and sick babys. If you must use powder, put it on the diaper before you bring it to baby's hindy.
The belly button thing will heal faster if you keep it mostened with Neosporin. It takes time but it does come off on its own in its own time.
Baby's this age survive on formula or mom's milk. Way too young for cereal or any different food. Offer her one half ounce extra each time she is fed.. soon enough she will want all of that.. then you move it up another half ounce.. etc. The older the baby gets, the more it will eat, and the longer naps are.
Mommy needs to nap when she can get one too. Its a long haul but well worth it. This is why children should not have babies. It takes everything an adult can muster up in the 'wee' hours in middle of the night. :)
2007-03-13 23:16:52 · answer #2 · answered by ricketyoldbat 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do not put anything on the umbilical cord. It will fall of on its own (probably soon). Anything you put on it will not make it come off faster but may be a risk for infection.
Do not add cereal to the baby's bottle. The baby's stomach is not ready for this. Adding cereal to a bottle at any age is an aspiration risk.
If possible she should feed the baby more. She also needs a bedtime routine to teach the baby about night-time. She should change the baby, feed her, give her a book/song and cuddle, and put her to bed.
At night time when she feeds the baby she should avoid turning on any bright lights, and keep the room dark as possible. Feed the baby and put her straight to bed. Only change her diaper if it is dirty or really wet. Soon the baby will know that she is supposed to sleep at night-time, and the two hour stretches will start to become longer.
2007-03-13 23:07:03 · answer #3 · answered by Laura H 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Tell your friend to get a shirt of hers that she has had on and put it in the baby's bed like she would a bed sheet. The reason for this is because the shirt has her sent on it and it will help the baby relax. Oh and if she has a heating pad that she can warm up in the microwave tell her to heat that up for not even 60sec and put it in the baby's bed with a blanket over it so that the bed will be warm. I did all of this with my little girl and it helped her relax and sleep better.
As for giving the baby a little bit of rice cereal I would talk to the baby's doctor before she dose that and let the doctor know how much the baby is eating because I can tell you my older brother was put on rice cereal after he left the hospital because he was eating 6-8oz a feeding. so tell her to talk to the doctor about it.
And for the belly button tell her to just keep it clean by whipping it down with some rubbing alcohol every day.
2007-03-14 07:47:33 · answer #4 · answered by JG78 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The child is 4 weeks, its normal for it to still wake up in the night that much, its a growing child. Around 3 months or so it should begin sleeping more normally. You cant make the cord stump fall off faster, itll fall off when its ready.
2007-03-13 23:22:33 · answer #5 · answered by LP's Mommy, RN 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Babies wake every 2 hours... its normal. My son woke that often up until 13 months old. Putting cereal in a bottle will only harm the child.
Tell her to bring the baby to bed with her and nurse it there... they will both get more sleep.
2007-03-14 01:49:32 · answer #6 · answered by Mommy to David 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
unfortunately...waking up every two hours at the age of four weeks is pretty standard! Their tummies are so small they can only eat so much at a feeding and once they have digested it all...you guessed it...they're hungry again!!
Tell her to hang in there, it will get better in no time at all. By eight weeks she should be getting at least on five hour stretch during the night of uniterrupted sleep (should being the key word here!)
Is your friend breast feeding or bottle feeding?? With bottles, she could always trade every other feeding with her husband!!
I breastfed and for me I found it helped to lay on the couch while I nursed my son because then I could catch a nap while he ate!
As far as the cord is concerned...as long as it is not infected and isn't leaking any bad smelling fluids, I would leave it alone to heal naturally. If she is concerned, she should call her baby's pediatrician :)
2007-03-13 23:03:24 · answer #7 · answered by western b 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
At four weeks I doubt there is anything you can do to change the sleeping routine. The baby needs the nutrients at this age. The best advice I can give you is for you to offer to stay the night one night and take care of the baby so your friend can have a full nights sleep. I know I sure would have appreciated it if my friend offered. I dont know what to tell you about the belly button because I dont think your supposed to mess with it, I heard they dont recommend putting alcohol on it these days.
2007-03-13 23:02:38 · answer #8 · answered by jaysgurl28 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
She should just sleep with the baby. Then she can feed her in her sleep. Its how humans evolved to sleep and nurse. In a few months she can start sleeping on a more defined schedule, but for now, she really needs to sleep when the baby sleeps.
2007-03-13 23:27:43 · answer #9 · answered by Terrible Threes 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The umbilical cord will come off when its ready. Maybe you could watch the baby for a couple hours while she sleeps to help her out.
2007-03-13 23:01:11 · answer #10 · answered by nunya 2 · 4⤊ 1⤋