# My three week old baby has been awake all day - is that ok??



## Louppey

She's been up since 8am, constantly seems to want feeding. Like every half an hour / every hour. She'll only take a little at a time, max 60ml but more like 20 - 40mls each time. 

I've tried rocking her to sleep and laying her down several times but she just starts crying!!

Is it ok she's stayed awake so long?!


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## brunette&bubs

lucky!!!
you will probably get a great night of sleep tonight.

other than that, i don't really have any other advice other than she may be having a growth spurt.


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## aliss

brunette&bubs said:


> lucky!!!
> you will probably get a great night of sleep tonight.
> 
> other than that, i don't really have any other advice other than she may be having a growth spurt.

The opposite is really true for newborns. The more they sleep, the more they sleep. Hate to say it but she's probably going to have a rough night.

No, it's not really "okay" for such a young baby to be awake all day, although it happens and sometimes you can't prevent it. They NEED at least 5-6 hours of day sleep at that age in order to get the proper rest and grow.

Now, when they are in a growth spurt, often their brain can't settle and they become extremely overtired. I would suggest taking her into a very dark room and cuddling/swaddling/bouncing/rocking/swinging whatever you can possibly do. Even wear her and try and get her to fall asleep in the swing. It might take hours. Car ride or stroller walk.

I've been there, mine didn't sleep for 3 months, he was chronically overtired. Good luck!


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## brunette&bubs

^ oh wow, didn't know that!
now I can tell everyone to shove it when they tell me i'll probably have a rough night with such a sleepy baby.


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## aliss

Yep it's a big misconception! When mine started sleeping 5-6 hours in the day (rather than 10 minutes total) he slept better at night! Saved my sanity! Infant sleep cycles are remarkably different than adults which is why the 4 month regression is so bad - they begin to adopt a sleep cycle closer to an adult (but still need the day sleep)


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## Louppey

I had a bad night last night so I'm dreading tonight now!!! I've been trying to get her to sleep all day just so I can get a nap as I'm shattered. 

Hopefully she'll nod off soon but I can't see it. She just seems to be cat napping :(


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## GingerNut

Same here! I didn't realise tiny babies needed to sleep so much - my mother kept congratulating me on having such an alert, awake baby! But she was always unhappy and nights weren't great. When I started just holding her for naps for a couple of hours at a time things improved dramatically. 

You have to remember that they don't automatically do the right thing (do we ever?!), they need to be shown what to do. They're only beginners at this living mullarkey!


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## aliss

Louppey said:


> I had a bad night last night so I'm dreading tonight now!!! I've been trying to get her to sleep all day just so I can get a nap as I'm shattered.
> 
> Hopefully she'll nod off soon but I can't see it. She just seems to be cat napping :(

If she's cat napping and eating like a monster than I'd put it down to a major growth spurt (I think 21 days is a common one?), her brain just can't rest properly. Just try and get through it the best you can :(

While it may not be "okay" in a long-term sense, when you go through growth spurts everything pretty much flies out the window.


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## Louppey

aliss said:


> Louppey said:
> 
> 
> I had a bad night last night so I'm dreading tonight now!!! I've been trying to get her to sleep all day just so I can get a nap as I'm shattered.
> 
> Hopefully she'll nod off soon but I can't see it. She just seems to be cat napping :(
> 
> If she's cat napping and eating like a monster than I'd put it down to a major growth spurt (I think 21 days is a common one?), her brain just can't rest properly. Just try and get through it the best you can :(
> 
> While it may not be "okay" in a long-term sense, when you go through growth spurts everything pretty much flies out the window.Click to expand...

That makes me feel better!! She's constantly dozing off then waking within 5 to 10 minutes! Normally just as I place her in her Moses basket. 

The HV did say she was due a growth spurt at 3 weeks but I figured she'd had it being that she's 3 weeks 2 days. Oh well!

Thanks for your help Hun! And for the advice on sleeping. I'm going to make sure she naps more in future :)


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## minties

Even now at almost 3 months old, the more Thomas sleeps in the day the better he sleeps at night.

At your LO's age, just a nappy change, a feed and a brief bit of a cuddle for 15 minutes can tire them right out.

I didn't know that when Thomas was born and so had an overtired baby that refused to sleep for the first 8 weeks or so.

Now he gets around 18 hours of sleep in every 24 and he's so easy and happy!


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