PDA

View Full Version : 4 week old not sleeping enough?



jerseygirl07067
01-16-2004, 10:46 AM
My DD is almost four weeks old. For the first two weeks she was a dream baby, eating every 2 1/2 - 3 hours and taking good naps throughout the day and night. Fussiness seems to be getting gradually worse every day now. I am BFing and know she is thriving in that sense (good weight gain, lots of wet and yellow poopy diapers). I have read Happiest Baby on the Block and "the 5 S's" have helped somewhat. I am starting to read Secrets of the Baby Whisperer now.

I am having the hardest time putting her down for naps now - it takes a half hour to an hour to get her to settle down for a nap. And that is after feeding her, changing her, and then she stays awake a little while longer with those "melodramatic" pooping grunts. So now almost two hours have gone by! That does not leave much time for sleep!. She is definitely tired, yawning frequently, but needs A LOT of help settling down, if we can settle her down at all. I should say that when I put her in her car seat and go out and run errands, she is OUT like a light. My concern is that then she gets too much daytime naptime, which causes her to fuss/be up more at night. On two occasions we actually let her "cry it out" and she slept for 3-3 1/2 hours! (but I hated doing that soo much)

I also have The No Cry Sleep Solution which I have not read yet. I feel like the books are useful, but there are so many conflicting philosiphies out there which makes me more frustrated!

Any suggestions? I realize every baby is different which is why this is so challenging too. (I am so tempted to go out for a five hour evening car ride - just to get her to sleep)

Thanks,
mary

ericajosh
01-17-2004, 11:26 PM
Mary-
Our DS was a dream the first two weeks and then had the same trouble as your DD. He started having trouble sleeping and fussed a lot. Pretty typical for the first 3 months.

It is really way too early to let him cry it out (most books recommend that you should not start that until about 6 months, if at all). At this point, if the baby cries, it is for a reason (food, diaper change, needs to be held, etc.) I would just continue to try everything to try to calm the baby. Don't try to schedule naps or anything yet, it's still to early.

Perhaps try a pacifier. I BF too, and started using one in the third week to help with the baby's gas pain, which kept my DS up. The pacifier calmed him by giving him something to suck on. Definitely try swaddling. This prevents the baby from flailing and waking herself up. Also, holding him on my chest seemed to help.

These things pass as the baby gets older. He won't sleep a long stretch until a few months from now, so don't drive yourself crazy with sleep books yet. My DS went through a time where he would not nap too. Just follow his lead and do whatever works.
Hope that helps.
-Erica

ericajosh
01-17-2004, 11:30 PM
Also, forgot to add that at this age, their nights and days are still confused. They will sleep a ton during the day!!! Totally normal. I wouldn't worry about too much napping yet. I bet that your DD's schedule will adust on its own eventually.
-Erica

jerseygirl07067
01-18-2004, 11:18 AM
Thanks Erica! I appreciate your advice. Interestingly enough, we had relatives over yesterday and DD was obvioiusly overstimulated and couldn't even go down for a nap, despite using various soothing techniques. So I did decide to try the "evening car ride" as DH and I went to Home Depot and Target for errands. Her car seat was then transferred to the stroller as we walked around Target for more soothing movement. I kept the canopy over her so she would still think it was nighttime. Low and behold, she slept from 9pm - 2:30 am, and then when she awoke, she ate more efficiently and ravenously, and went back to bed for two more three hour stretches, with again another ravenous feeding in between. I was in heaven but I am sure that this is a fleeting thin. At least I got a bunch of sleep last night!! She also seems to have a more happy disposition this morning too!

Mary

Apple of my eye
02-04-2004, 03:51 PM
try changing the diaper BEFORE nursing. this helped with my DS b/c changing after nursing woke him up too much. sure he may sleep in a soiled diaper, but it isn't for long, and i'd definitely change him if his diaper were "loaded". another issue with my son was acid reflux. he didn't spit up but turns out has "silent" reflux which would wake him up when i'd try to lay him down. something worth discussing with your ped.

jniter
01-14-2007, 07:48 PM
I was told by various lactation consultants (I find that sleeping and eating are very closely linked these first few weeks!) that babies just get fussier around 1 month. They also said babies will sleep when they want to and the more tense you are about their sleeping, the less likely they will fall asleep because they feel your tension! We had a dream baby the first week. Turned out that he was sleeping so well only because of jaundice!

She will settle down soon. Our son is almost 7 weeks and is much better now. I was worried about him not getting enough sleep. When I actually counted it up, he was only getting about 10 hours of solid sleep. Over stimulation can be a problem.