my 9 week old always wakes up around 11pm and wants to stay up til 1 or 2am...i give him a bath around 8, 8:30, then i give him a short massage with lotion, get him dressed for bed and then give him a bottle, he will go to sleep and sleep for about 30 mins (somthing else i dont understand) but then i can get him back to sleep with just a little rocking, he will sleep til around 11 then wake up and stays up til 1 or 2, he will then go back to sleep for about 3 or 4 hours, eat, then another 3 r 4 hours, he usually wakes up around 8 or 9 in the morning and will stay up for an hour or two and then take a short nap, he sleeps kinda off and on, but never takes a long nap during the day, what can i do? im completly lost on how to change his sleeping pattern?
2007-03-28 17:23:45 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
Boy, I sure do feel for ya. Both of my kids started out that way too. I discovered that their sleeping habits were most affected by their eating habits. Once I brought some order and predictability into their feeding schedules, their sleeping schedules fell right into line. I've talked with a lot of other moms who will back me up on this one.
Kids have little metabolic clocks just like we do, and they sometimes need a little guidance so they can start eating and sleeping in predictable patterns. This helps them feel better, and it helps you because then you have more order in your crazy life.
For a 9 week old, it's perfectly acceptable to start putting them on a consistent daily routine based on their hunger cues. Example: My 9 week old daughter would have a morning "start time" of 8 am. I'd feed her and keep her awake for an hour. Then it was up to her whether to sleep or not. At 11 am, I'd wake her up and feed her again, and keep her awake to play and be stimulated for a while and then let her doze off. Same thing at 2 pm and 5 pm. Then she'd want to take a long nap and eat again at 8 pm, then stay awake for 2 hours, and eat at 10 pm. Her official bed time was 10:30. Then I wouldn't hear from her again until 5:30 am. That would be a "light snack" type of feeding--sometimes she wouldn't even stay awake for all of it--and then sleep till 8:00 am and start all over.
The power of this schedule is in making sure she eats well at regular intervals, plays, and then sleeps during the day. For some reason, kids who are regulated well during the day sleep longer at night. This includes waking them up to eat if they're not already awake, and not allowing them to sleep during feedings or "snack"--take half feedings more often. The function of having them play or have stimulation after food teaches their body to use food for energy, not as a comfort for sleep. This helps them learn to sleep on their own much sooner.
The "on-demand" feeding crowd will likely throw back their heads and howl that I'm using the evil "schedule" word, but believe me, when my kids had erratic feeding schedules, they were cranky, gassy, spitting up, and up all hours of the day and night. Nobody is meant to live that way! They became happy, great little sleepers when I enforced a regular feeding schedule--and by 12 weeks, they were both sleeping 10 hour stretches at night. This is not uncommon!!
Email me if you need more specific ideas--I'd love to help.
raymond.lisa@yahoo.com
2007-03-28 19:14:16 · answer #1 · answered by GraceandJoy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ahhh 9 weeks i rememebr those days....first off IT WILL GET BETTER....now the truth, thats just how some babies are. My daughter was the same way and also wanted to nurse every 45 mintues or every 2 hours...so we had some long nights. At that age baby needs to sleep alot. In the next few months try keeping the house bright during the day, and play with him alot to keep him awake. Keep with the same routine for bed time. Sooner or later he will get the hang of night and day.
I have a 16 month old and we still have no patterns
2007-03-29 00:29:37 · answer #2 · answered by JUST JOKING 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
His bedtime should be 11pm not 8pm. Let him have his 30min nap after his bath and then let him stay awake. Then at 11pm give him his feed and put him to bed. He should still be waking up through out the night but should go back to sleep.
My daughters sleeping pattern at that age was:
bedtime feed 11pm, wake up for feed at 2am, then again at 6am. Woke up for the day at about 8-9am. Had naps during the day for differing amounts of time at different times.
2007-03-29 01:29:01 · answer #3 · answered by Monkey Magic 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
WOW sounds like my little girl who is now 6months old.
sleeping patterns in babies are very unpredictable I keep reading books but I think that this is how babies start out with lots of mixed patterns. The first year is the most challenging with sleep. Some days my baby has the perfect day of naps and sleep other days she will not go down AT ALL it just leaves me puzzled. My advice is pick two times to put him down and let him cry alittle sometimes crying is a sign that he will fall asleep soon.
Good Luck
2007-03-29 00:35:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would try putting him to bed earlier and BREAST FEED before you do. Breast feeding makes babies more attatched to their mother, which means you'll be able to control them better. I would make a new bed time of about 7:30 or 8:00- he'll probably wake up a lot less. Good luck and God Bless!
2007-03-29 00:29:55 · answer #5 · answered by cheeso 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do have same problem with my third child, harldy get a long, straight hours of sleeping, either day or night . I read this and it helps me to improve in my 3 month baby boy sleeping pattern. Good luck!
2007-03-29 00:29:29 · answer #6 · answered by Redrosy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋