encouraging sleep??

lucky L

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dont get me wrong i love my little boy so much and understand that he's still young so sleepless nights are expected but the feeling of dread that bedtimes nearly here is starting to kick in...
Louis is 3 wks old and seems to have got into the habit of waking up, getting fed, finally settling back to sleep then waking 2 hours later right through the night. This has left me feeling pretty exhausted.
I'v starting swaddling him which seems to help settle him and i dont think he can be cold.(wears long sleeve vest/baby gro/cardigan and 2 blankets)
Anyones else's 3 wk old like this and any advice on encouraging him to sleep for longer periods at a time? even 4 hours sleep at a time would be a treat!
 
Hugs hun! - It may be he hasn't yet learnt the difference between day and night. It is really tiring. It might be worth trying to keep a diary of his sleeping and feeding patterns perhaps - and try and make sure he gets more feeds during the day. Do you know how long he goes between feeds and when?

Is there any way your mum or OH could take him for a couple of hours so you can get some sleep? My OH used to do that quite often in the mornings when i was just exhausted and it really helped refresh my batteries. Also - sleep during the day when your LO sleeps - leave the housework etc if you can. xx
 
I had the same issue with my LO at that age. Sometimes they learn to understand the difference between night and day and sometimes they don't. My brother was 8 months old before he started to sleep through the night. My mom was so exhausted all the time. My LO finally slept through the night around 7 weeks and still has his odd nights where he will wake 3 or 4 times. It takes time. I know how exhausting it can be.
 
Are you BFing or FFing?

Some nights Hazel wakes every two hours, but some days she feeds more regular than that... in my experience babies are just sometimes hungry that often...

But if your FF than maybe you can hope for more like 4 hours :shrug:
 
thanks ladies!
nice to know i'm not the only one.
he's formula fed n wakes for a feed about every 3 hours during the day.
OH is going to get up with him tonight so hopefully tomorrow i'l be feeling fresh and cheery!!
xx
 
To be honest I would personally say it's not unusual for a 3 week old to b wakin this frequently, my LO certainly did right up until about 10 weeks or so. He know can go a 5-6 hour stretch but will wake 2 hourly after that.it really is just a case of bein patient, I don't know of any way of hurryin it along...if I did I would be a very rich woman!

Incidentally: my LO is FF so I don't think the rule that FF babies sleep for longer stretches always applies.

Sorry I can't b of any help but do take the above advice to get as much help as possible through this time as lack of sleep is truly exhausting... But try and keep in mind it won't be forever!!

X
 
I agree with JoJo, it sounds about right to me. Abby was a 3 hour baby. She woke regular as clockwork for a feed every three hours. That usually meant being up for about 45 minutes, sleeping for 2 and a quarter hours then up again. She did this until she was about 3 months old. Then she began to sleep for longer stretches at night. But we did make sure her day and night were totally different. Night feeds were feeds only with minimum fuss and only a nappy change if she really needed it. Day feeds had an element of play to them as well.

We would bathe her in the evening and put her to bed upstairs at about ten o clock. In the morning, when it was time for day to start, we took her down stairs, dressed her, played with her etc.

Mr Foo did the occasional night feed, but as she was breast fed it was easier for me just to take her in with me and give her a feed.

Are you making sure you sleep during the day too? I spent the first few weeks catnapping whenever Abby slept. It was a real help!

I hope you had a lovely sleep last night, and that it had you all refreshed!
 
Jack is BF and usually wakes up every 3-4 hours at night to be fed - he is 8 weeks old.

At 3 weeks I think it was pretty much every 2-3 hrs.

Ocassionally we get the odd 5-6 hours like last night where he was fed at 10 and did not have his next fed till 3.30. But he made up for that by waking up every half an hour from 4am - 7am:)
 

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