3 week old won't go back to sleep after midnight feeding

[dp-tn]

We have a 3 week old (6 weeks premie and 1st child) that is an angel all day but every night after his midnight feeding (anytime from 10-1) will not go back to sleep for 2-3 hours.

We have tried giving additional feeding time, swaddled, unswaddled, check diaper, adjust/takeoff hat, cry it out, etc, etc, etc.... everything we know to try.

Mommy and daddy are not night owls like our little guy.

Any suggestions??:shrug:

[firsttimemama]

first, congrats!
what you are describing is quite normal for that age..he may have his days & nights confused.. he is way too young for cry it out, in my opinion.. he would still be inside you if he weren't a preemie.. can you sleep during the day some? do you have a lot of support? the first three weeks with my son were very tough.. but I noticed it was getting easier at 4 wks, and especially at six.
are you working/going back to work soon?
I recommend Dr Sears book called The Baby Book

hang in there - this is hard work! my first child is 6 months.. it does get easier! enjoy that little baby.. they grow sooo fast

[SnuggleBuggles]

It's really normal 3w old behavior. I think the goal is to just try your best to get through the first 6 weeks and accept what the baby dishes out. After that things tend to get easier and make more sense. (Don't forget about the 3&6w growth spurts though so there wil be blips for a few days just when you think you have everything under control!)

The first 7 weeks I actually slept in the guest bedroom and dh would co-sleep with the baby. Dh would bring the baby to me to nurse then I would give him back to dh later. :) Dh was able to sleep holding ds, which is what ds needed. With ds2 dh caught the flu when ds was 4w old and after 2 nights I was exhausted. I finally caved and let him tummy sleep. It helped a ton. I would only do it when he was co-sleeping with us but friends recommended the Angel Care monitor.

Like the pp I would say that the little baby is too young for CIO. They are crying because they need something. even CIO proponents will advise waiting till around 6m or later.

There is nothing easy about little ones at this age. I would seek out any help you can during the day so you can nap. If you have no family or friends in the area consider a post partum doula.

Oh, and I read that being overheated raises the SIDS risk and they say no to hats at bedtime. Heat needs to escape out of the head. I read that a few nights after we had been putting ds2 to sleep w/ a hat.

Keep the lights low in the evening. No lights/ just a nightlight for middle of the night care. Try and avoid talking. make nighttime all for business and getting back to sleep. At this age I wouldn't expect them to really get it but it could help.

I think Dr. Sears' makes a preemie book and that would be helpful. Preemies come with some extra challenges that don't apply to a full term infant.

I know it is hard but it really and truly will get better soon and you will get through this! Baby is little and just needs you and needs to figure out the world right now. You can't spoil a baby, imo. They are calling the shots right now and you have to roll with it. Trade off early bedtimes now and sleep in shifts at night. It helps if you can each count on a 2-3 hour stretch, if possible.

Beth

[susandink]

Wow~ Me too!! We have a 4 week old that was 5 weeks early and is doing the exact same thing!!! I call him my vampire baby because as soon as the sun goes down he's ready to party! He stays up all night and eats every 1-2 hours............

BTW ~ I've tried all the tricks the previous posters suggest............so far nothing works!

I'm just cutting him some slack until he is at least 1 month old adjusted.