Our newborn sleeps very well during the day but at night, he doesn't. What can I do?

Question

He stays up from 11p. to about 2:30p. Do children usually have a certain schedule? During the day he will sleep for hours but when 11p. comes around, he cries and cries even after he's fed and held. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance!! =)

Answer 1

Our youngest slept like an angel through the night and I think it has a lot to do with "allowing" her to sleep specific times so to speak. We just kept her really busy from about 7am to noon. Playing singing, light dancing or bouncing and showing her colors. She would be very worn out by noon and fall asleep for about 2 hours. At around 2 we started the fun times again until about 5, she would usually want a quick nap then and we'd wake her up @ 5:30 for a sponge bath and feeding, some cuddling and light singing then she would she would fall asleep about 8 for the night and sleep till 7 in the morning. We could change her diaper around 2am and she wouldn't even budge. This worked out so great because hubby and I could still have a couple hours to cool down from the day before heading off to bed.
I forgot to add during night feedings we wouldn't make a sound except a few soothing words when we picked her up. and never turned a light on. Keep everything quiet and hopefully baby falls asleep right after.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Actually this is very normal for a newborn, so you are not alone!!

What i did with my daughter is trying to keep the day time the same way i would without and children....open the blinds and let the sunshine in, talk like you normally would, try speaking and holding him more so that he learns night from day.

During the night keep voice levels down, keep it dark and there's nothing wrong with letting the little one cry it out for a little bit on his own....babies need those few hours a day to let it all out:)

Also if there's any chance that mommy or daddy to sleep while the baby sleep's that way you'll be prepared for those interrupted nights.

Otherwise this is very normal, it's too difficult to even try to put a newborn on a schedule that fits you.
Around 3 months-4 months is a good time to start routines.

Hang in there!!

Answer 3

Yes...this is very difficult. Your breastmilk produces a hormone called oxytocin which soothes the baby, and lulls them to sleep. Good for night time...Bad for daytime. I used to blow gently on my baby's face to keep him awake. Another trick I used was, during the time when he used to fall asleep, I would let him take a nap, and then put him in the bath. Your baby is still so little though, so he will probably take several naps throughout the day. Each child is different, but a 3 week old should be sleeping quite a bit. Take note of when the baby has a long nap, and try to push that nap back until night. Also, just because it isn't night, doesn't mean you can't sleep. You sleep when the baby sleeps. Let the laundry pile up, and leave the dishes in the sink. Good luck.

Answer 4

Hang in there; I've been there! My now 13-month-old daughter did that as well, when she was a newborn. Part of it is that your son, as with most newborns, has his days and nights mixed up, which is very normal in the first month or so. That's why they need us parents to help them turn it around and adjust their sleeping habits; they don't know any better. Try to keep his daytime naps at the same times every day and his feeding times as well. A good rule of thumb that we've found works very well is feeding time, wake time (in which you "play" and just spend time together), and then naptime. Also try establishing a nightly routine, whether it be bath, story, and bed, or whatever. These things may help quite a bit. Also--I say that the schedule thing is only "part of it" because there also may be other variables involved: does he have gas? Is he pulling his knees up to his tummy and does he look like he's in pain? Is he breast- or bottlefed? If breast, then check with mom to see what she's eaten that may have given your little one an upset stomach. Broccoli and other gas-producing veggies are common culprits. If he's formula fed, consider switching to a different brand or getting the kind that's especially for gas-prone infants. Other problems could be early teething (believe it or not; our daughter starting crying with gum pain at around 2 months old!), or this could simply be his "fussy" time of day (or night, I guess!). You can try swaddling him tightly in a blanket; that calms some babies right down because it feels like when they were in the womb. Also try Gripe Water from a health food store; it's usually very effective at relieving gas pain. If it's early teething, a bit of Orajel liquid rubbed on his gums will not harm him. Try offering a pacifier, too. As soon as our daughter figured out how to use it (she was premature and couldn't suck very well at first), it worked well at calming her. If all the above fails to work, then do what we did and take baby to bed with you or sit up and rock him till he falls asleep. Once in awhile doesn't hurt. Don't worry, this too will pass. :) Good luck.

Answer 5

My son is 3 1/2 weeks old. I am getting him into a really good schedule. What I do is I feed on demand. In the day I will take his milk away when he is starting to eat slower and appearing a little bit full. But in the evening I offer to feed him more and longer. I will even wake him up for evening feedings to get his belly full for nighttime. Than at night time I will swaddle him tight and put a warm fleece blanket over his tummy and legs (I never put blankets near his face.. and when I swaddle him for night, I do it with his arms out and swaddle him from his armpits down). When he is warm.. he sleeps really well. I also sleep with him. He had a tendancy, like your baby to wake up and want some one on one time because he was wide awake. What I did was do start some 'time to go to sleep rituals'. I stroke is hair on the top on his head and talk softely. I cuddle with him and breathe on his face. I think the breathing on the side of his face works because we sleep together and so I think my breathing soothes him. He is 3 1/2 weeks old now and the last two nights he has not got up at 4 am! He stayed asleep until I got up. He will now sleep anywhere from 3 to 7 1/2 hours. Those are the things that worked for him.. each baby has their own personality.

Answer 6

My baby girl had this same thing.... she would go to sleep around 7pm-9pm and then wake up at 12 and won't go back to sleep until 5am. I was dead! That was the worst schedule! What i did was kept her up longer by playing or talking to her and touching her face, etc... Once she hit the one month mark, she started sleeping through the night, and still does! All babies are different, but I hope yours gets better! Just try and get her on a schedule... it'll be irritating, but thats what you need to do...

Answer 7

alot of newborns come into world w/ day and night backward atleast both my boys did. what we did was during the day we would let him nap off and on but we tried to not let him sleep over 30 minutes and then got him up and played with him and did this off and on through out the day and at night we had cd w/ ocean sounds that was very calming and he would fall right to sleep. once we had done this for about a week he started getting into the routine on his own. good luck and congrats on the new bundle of joy!

Answer 8

change his sleep schedule keep him up more during the day than at night but as long as he is getting at least 16 to 20 hours of sleep a day. Another thing that might help is darken the rooms a bit during the day that may get him to change his sleep schedule

Answer 9

Dont let him sleep too much during the day. My boy did the same thing. I would keep him awake as much as possible in the day. I would play with him, sing to him, not keep him too warm. Night time rolled around and he was pretty tired. So he slept most of the night. We were consistent with that until he was able to tell night from day. Dont turn on the light at night feedings, dont change his diaper (unless he pooped), dont talk to him... totally boring time at night.

Answer 10

Most babies are born with their days and nights mixed up, because when mommy was pregnant and up during the day, they motion from her walking and moving, was like rocking for baby. Then when mommy went to sleep at night baby was awake.
Try to keep baby up longer during the day. keep the rooms well lit, even in the day. This helps the body to know that it is time to be awake. And at night keep it dark, use very little light when feeding at night.