How do I handle! I can't sleep at night because he is up ALL night and just wants to be held (which is fine but night time is for sleepin!) how do i reverse this? Did it happen to you..how long did it take?
2007-06-09 04:06:25 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
Unfortunately it is perfectly normal for babies to have days and nights confused, especially at 5 days old. If I remember correctly pretty much all babies start off a little backwards with days and nights.
It will work itself out in time but don't expect sleep anytime soon. Their stomach's are too small to hold more than a few hours worth of food. So even when their days and nights are in sync they will still be up a lot at night.
Did it happen to me. Certainly. With my first boy it was about a month before he got into a routine but was still up about 3 times a night until about 6 months old. With my second boy he woke up 3-4 times a night until he was 1 year old. Even now at 18 months he consistently wakes up at 5:00am every morning.
How did we cope? 1. Mom and Dad took turns holding the baby at night. I got to sleep from 8:00pm until 2:00am but was 'on duty' from 2:00am onward. My wife got to sleep from 2:00am until whenever I had to work. Very hard adjusting to lack of sleep and no time to yourself but its part of being a parent
Good luck
2007-06-09 04:16:13 · answer #1 · answered by Jason T 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't listen to the first few responses - my son was like this and there is a legitimate day/night confusion, I know what you are talking about. I blamed it on the fact that he was born in the middle of the night, and the fact that the nursery in the hospital is so brighly lit and loud all night long!
Anyways - I hate to say it took about 10-14 days for me to reverse it. I just made sure he knew daytime was daytime. When he slept I kept the room brightly lit with the shades up, and kept up a normal amount of noise around him. I'd wake him to feed at regular 3 hour intervals (or whatever your pediatrician recommends for feedings). I'd bathe him or do whatever you can to encourage a 5 day old to have some awake time during the day.
Then at night, I'd do the reverse. I would keep the room dark, never turn any lights on, no talking, just do the feedings and kept rocking and putting him down as much as possible, even if it meant I was getting up 5 minutes later. I wouldn't wake him for feedings at night, however long he'd go was a gift!
Good luck!!!
2007-06-09 08:23:58 · answer #2 · answered by Mom 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my twins are 4and a half months and still have there days and night mixed up the only thing i try to do is keep them up as much as i can in the day time letting them sleep only foe about 15 min at a time if they do sleep. now it doesent always work at first it takes a lot of patience. I know because some nights are good and some are not and the one that are not good the next day i want to let them sleep so i can get a little extra sleep. so try it. it may work for u and it may not.
2007-06-09 04:18:06 · answer #3 · answered by sheree 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I thought this also, in reality it felt like the baby was up all night because I was only getting an hour of sleep between feeding him. My son is 3 wks old and I still get no sleep. He will now sleep about 3 hrs between feedings.
Make sure he is swaddled, my son freaked out everytime I put him in his bassinet, I put a pillow in half of it and now he sleeps well. I guess the space was to big and he didnt feel secure. He also sleep like a champ in his swing or car seat. I only use those for naps though.
2007-06-09 04:53:09 · answer #4 · answered by Skylers Mama 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try keeping him up as much as possible during the day, keep the lights on and tv or music on, and then as the night starts, turn the lights off and put on soothing music, talk softer, give him a nice warm bath. Then swaddle him, nice and tight (not too tight) and lay him down. This always helped my babies. Didn't have one for my first and he was up all through the night. With my second and third, I would swaddle them and turn on a heartbeat machine, and from day 1 I would have to wake them to eat all through the night!! Babies love to be swaddled, it makes them feel secure and their own jerking doesn't wake them. You can get one at babies r'us for $10 from kiddopotamus.
2007-06-09 04:31:18 · answer #5 · answered by Cortney R 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it happened with my son too. it kind of just fixed itself after about a week and 1/2. they say that during the day have the tv on and make it bright, don't try to be quite. at night, keep lights out except for maybe a night light, try not to talk and play with the baby. they also say to try not to let them sleep during the day but if the baby is like my son you can't wake them unless they want to be.
in the meantime, sleep whenever the baby sleeps and don't worry it will fix itself!
2007-06-09 04:12:04 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
it takes time, try to keep waking him during the day, just disurb his sleep, bathe him, change him, do whatever you have to to wake him, and he will get the hang of it, remember he has only been out in the world for 5 days, be patient with the little guy, he is just getting the hang of this, he doesnt know about day and night!
2007-06-09 04:10:47 · answer #7 · answered by sweeTie 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Help my 5 day old has his nights/days confused...?
2014-12-02 14:21:15 · answer #8 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
UUGH! That is awful. My first one was like that, but the other three were not. It took us seven weeks to get her to sleep at night. I was so exhausted. Can you put him in a baby swing and catnap in the same room as it goes?
2007-06-09 05:15:59 · answer #9 · answered by pennypincher 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A 5 day old should still be on the 2 hour schedule. In no way should he be on a night/day schedule yet!
2007-06-09 04:09:26 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋