[..Christine..]

So Lyla is 10 days old and has started having problems sleeping at night! When we first brought her home- she slept all night and we had to wake her to change her and feed her. Now, she has started waking up all night long- she will sleep for 30 min to an hour and wake up again.

She sleeps all day long for long stretches! What can I do? I try and try to keep her awake but she always falls asleep while I'm nursing (during the day- I undress her completely except her diaper and she still falls asleep!)

She is def a comfort sucker so I can almost always get her back to sleep by letting her nurse or just comfort nurse but I am so tired at night! Then when I go to put her back in her swing she starts screaming.....one of the nurses said to just let her sleep on me??

I'm so new at this!

[Frozendesire]

All I can suggest it make day, day and night, night. So during the day keep it noisy, bright, and active. Then at night, no matter if she's awake or asleep keep it quiet, dark, and boring. Also keep up a good easy to repeat bedtime routine. That's all you can do! They will have their own schedules and ideas. All you can do it try to encourage them to change them.

For the first LONG while I just sleep with my boys on me or with me in bed. I don't fight that too much haha. I just need sleep and need to survive!

[misfitinmn]

I agree with Stephenie. Ben was awful for probably the first 6 weeks or so at night. It was soooooo hard. But right away, once we got the hang of nighttime nursings, I stopped talking to him or turning on lights at night. I would just get him, change him (I left the hall light on and closed the door a bit, so it was a really soft light so I could see), nurse him, and then put him back down. I would say the first 2-3 weeks, for at least a portion of the night, he slept on my chest because I was so exhausted I just couldn't do it anymore.

It's awful while you're in it, and it feels like it will never end, but it will! I promise! Eventually, she will start staying awake longer during the day naturally, and will fall into a routine. I worried so much about spoiling Ben when he was little by swaddling him and napping him in the swing, but he's a good sleeper now...he just outgrew those "sleep crutches" he needed in the beginning.

We used binkies and swaddled. So far, no adverse effects have occurred! He slept for 2-4 hour stretches during the day and at night at that age. You could try that unless you are opposed to it.

[misfitinmn]

(swaddling is the best EVER. seriously. we swaddled for 7 months.)

[..Christine..]

we swaddle her all day and night she LOVEs it- we also use the soothies but she WON'T take it from me! Only Dh or someone else!

[Frozendesire]

Oh Ya! Michelle makes a great suggestion. We only swaddled at night so he'd know the difference between a night time sleep and a nap. I *think* it helped haha.

[ShannonMVT]

We had to let Matthew sleep against our chests, that was the only way we ever got more than an hour or two stretch out of him when he was tiny.

[LaLaRose3]

I am sorry you are having a tough time. I am no expert but I will just tell you what worked for us and for Alice.

We swaddled at night ONLY (unless she was exhausted during day and was outright refusing to nap. It was a last resort for naps) using the Miracle Blanket, which was a godsend! We tried several others, including plain receiving blankets, but nothing worked like the Miracle! We also made sure to let her know when it was nap time or night time... lights dimmed or off, etc. We started a routine for night-nights that included bath, story, new diaper, swaddle, and bed. We played light lullabies (I recommend Golden SLumbers: A Father's Lullaby)- beautiful music, and it always put Alice right to sleepy-land, even in the car during long road-trips! I got my copy used from Amazon for $10 including shipping, and it is WORTH IT! Anyway, I am going on a tangent about night-time, so back to your original question HAHA!

During the day for naps, for the first three weeks or so, she did sleep a lot during the day, and would be up more at night. When I asked the pedi about this, she said it was normal for a few weeks in the beginning because baby is still figuring out her own schedule and figuring out the difference between night and day. For us, Alice had it down a lot better after the first three weeks. She began taking 2-3 shorter (~an hour) naps during the day, and sleeping 3-4 hour stretches at night. Nothing we did for the first few weeks really helped this, it was just waiting it out for Alice to figure out her nights/days and her schedule. We did try to make the difference between night and day apparent... more activity during day, more stimulation, etc. Plus, starting a "bedtime routine" for night-nights really got her to understand this difference over the course of a couple weeks. She began to understand that after bath, story, new diaper, bottle, etc... it was night-night time.

Anyway, sorry this is so long... I am tired and rambling! But I hope maybe something I said can help! I hope that your sweet little one gets her naps and night-nights (can you see that I have mommy language now? lol!) down pat. In the meantime, let your beautiful girl sleep. She is still so little, and those frequent naps are a great time for you to rest along with her! Everyone tells you this, but sleep when baby sleeps!

Good luck!

[**jessie**]

The other girls have great advice. I've followed the night is 'all business, no play' idea from the beginning. Jax has never ever woken up more than twice per night, and for the past couple weeks has only woken once. Our pedi said that knowing day/nights is not instinctual- it's something you as the parent must teach.

First, no lights (only nightlights, candles). No talking to baby at all... only shhh if needed. No rocking or bouncing motions. Only change diapers if there is a bowel movement. If you have to change, then do so before feeding. Basically change, feed, burp and then lay back down immediately. If he cried, I would comfort him by shushing and stroking his stomach/head, but I would not pick him back up. My baby hates swaddling and prefers sleep sacks, so thats what we do. Also, for the past couple weeks we have been allowing him to sleep on his stomach. I'm not saying I recommend that but it works for us and he usually gets a 5 hr stretch sleep in per night.

As for days, I always have some sort of background noise, usu the radio on, even when he is napping. I tried a couple times to keep him awake so he would sleep better at night and that was a disaster. He got overtired and that is the worst. Infants sleep SO much. I just take my cues from him. When he is awake I play with him until he starts showing me sleep cues and then I put him down again. Sometimes he doesn't sleep at all inbetween day feedings and sometimes the full 4 hrs.

A gal in my DDC has had good success pumping a couple times during the day and then bottle feeding at night. They tend to sleep longer with a bigger volume milk in their stomachs and it allows the daddy to do some of the work. Her boy hasn't had any trouble with nipple confusion.

[Angelaosaurus-rex]

The bouncer saved my life!

Jessie, that pic of Jax in your siggie is so adorable. Look at him smiling so early! Jack was an early smiler too.

[IamMom]

What smart women we have here on WTTC grads! All have given great advice. I will just say this: She is only 10 days old...she is not suppose to sleep very long stretches or to know night from day. So she is doing what many normal newborns do.....so don't fret too much.....things WILL change as she grows most likely whether you do anything or not. But helping to guide her this early on toward correct sleep patterns is great! So creating a night time routine and making the house dark and quiet is a great tip! Also, we did not EVER let either child sleep in our bed or on us....very hard habit to break...so its worth a few rough nights to NOT get into this habit. Unless you want to co-sleep and then I have no advice cause I never co-slept. Both of my kids slept in their own pack n play or crib from the get go....now I have to thru the night sleepers in their own beds! Life is good for me!

Good luck Christine! Enjoy these sleepless nights - they will soon be over and she'll be big and you'll be sad she's so big and independent

[Chelnae6]

Until about a month or 2, she'll be on her own schedule so the best that you can do is to figure out her schedule and slowly ease in your schedule in addition to trying out different techniques until you find one that works or until she gets on your schedule on her own with your help.

[ShannonMVT]

Yeah I didn't find any way to get him to figure out his days and nights, I just had to wait for it to happen. My pedi said to try and keep him up during the day (my response was "but then how do I sleep?" plus it didnt really work anyway. The best you can do is like the others said, keep it bright and more activity during the day as best you can and then at night keep it dark and quiet.

[Alison81]

It took E a good month to figure out night from day. We had a couple nights where she'd be up every hour, and it was exhausting, but by one month she was doing at least 3-4 hours at night. But definitely just be consistent with the bedtime routine, and being quiet and boring at night. You got a lot of good advice, so hopefully she will sleep for you soon. I also always say, don't stress over it, the sleepless time is so short lived in the long run.

[..Christine..]

OH MY! We tried the "swaddle me" last night and it worked like a miracle!!! She slept ALLL night- We had to actually wake her up to eat and change! I'm going to buy more tomorrow!

[Mars]

Your siggy is lovely!!

I think Miss Lyla has her days and nights mixed up. Stephenie, Michelle and the other ladies gave great suggestions on helping her make the distinction. I hope something works soon.