Hey everyone. So I am having a bit of a situation..My daughter who we love & adore...has a sleeping problem. Not so much that she can't sleep its just that she has her days & nights confused. :-( She is a month old & I know & understand that newborns do sleep during the day but I am fixing to go back to work & since I work at a daycare she will be coming back with me. So I need to find a way to transition her sleeping hours to our sleeping hours. I have tried to wake her but I have noticed she is stubborn..which I don't blame her..I wouldnt want to be bothered while I sleep as well. So I need advice in how I can start making the transition for her to sleep during the night & be awake during the day.
P.S. I also know that once she does get her days & nights right she will wake up during the night time for her feedings which I am ok with that bc my baby has to eat! :-)
Thank you for taking the time to read this & help me out...J.
One thing that might help is making sure you have noise and lights on during the day hours. When it's night time, make sure light are off and keep the noise level to a minimum. With my daughter, I make sure I only swaddle her right before she goes to sleep for the night. I hope this helps.
Hi J.,
Welcome to mommyhood. You're going to get a TON of advice on this one. If there's one thing we moms love to do it's dish out advice on what worked for us in regards to sleeping! I used the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and found it to be both a dry read, but a wealth of advice. Basically, the book said (and I found it to be true for all three of my kids) that up until the 8 week mark, you're on their schedule. After about 8 weeks, you can begin to tweak their sleep habits. Take Jayden outside in the morning for a tiny little walk. Wrap her up really well and snuggle her and talk about what she's hearing. Then when you bring her inside, put her down for a morning nap. Don't let her sleep for more than an hour and a half or so. Then stimulate her again (tummy time is great stimulation). Keep her up for an hour or two and then put her down again. (She may resist, but it's okay. Hang in there and she'll get the hang of it eventually!) I will say that putting my babies to bed earlier at night rather than later absolutely helped get them on a good schedule very early on! I hope this helps. Good luck!
Here is what I would suggest....
Get the book "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" and put your daughter on the EASY plan so you can incorporate more activity (read: awake time) during the day. Keep lots of lights on during the day and expose your daughter to lots of natural light. Do not make it too quiet during the day. Stroke your daughter's feet a lot during the day because it stimulates a gland in the brain that helps regulate sleep/wake cycles. Go get the DVD or book of "Happiest Baby on the Block" and swaddle your baby for nighttime. Last, and this is the best advice, realize that you have a newborn and this is all normal. It gets a lot easier! My son is 10 weeks and was really confused about day and night and had erratic sleeping patterns for a while too. Hang in there! :-)
WOW!! What an amazing time of life... I remember it well. (Mine are teens now.)
ANd I want to say something that won't seem relevant for a couple of years now.
Our children will absolutely believe (and come to take pride in) the things they hear us say about them.
As your daughter grows, if she hears you say she is "smart" she'll believe it. If she hears you say "Stubborn," she'll believe that, too.
Of course, in our new-mom sleep deprived states, a one month old can SEEM stubborn--although they aren't developmentally actually stubborn! LOL But most likely you were just expressing yourself.
The important thing is to be careful (starting now) about the traits you speak about your child-- they WILL perceive themselves that way, and so they will behave that way!!!
Crazy sounding advice, I know, but TRUST ME, it's TRUE!!!
Good luck!
I went through the same thing with my twins not that long ago so I can sympathize with you. I have not read many books b/c having 2 small babies does not allow for much reading time (or anything else for that matter), but I went on trail and error alone and having 2 enabled me to try lots of different things. Now at 3 months old, and weeks of trail & error, there is a light at the end of the tunnel & life has gotten much easier.
My twins also had their days & nights mixed up & I became a walking zombie for many weeks. Once I felt that they were old enough for me to try and manipulate their schedules & sleep patterns I started cutting back on their daytime naps a little everyday. They would nap all day long then be wide awake at night. I allowed each baby to cat nap 3-4 times a day for 2-3 hours per nap (maybe give or take an hour depending) and then get them up. B/c I was interfering with the sleep they had got accustomed to having during the day, they slowly started relying on the nightime napping more & more until this eventually became the source of their real deep sleep. The only pitfall that I experienced in doing things this way was that I had 2 extremely cranky infants b/c they were not getting the sleep they needed until they were fully acclimated to sleeping longer hours at night but this only lasted a few days. This might sound mean spirited to some but I felt it was time for the twins and I to try and meet on some common ground regarding sleeping. I normally put them to bed between 7-8 pm now. 1 twin sleeps 8 hours straight (thank you God) and then it's time for a feeding and the other will sleep anywhere from 5-7 hours and then he will need to be fed. They are only 3 months old and for the most part sleeping through the night (what a blessing). One thing to remember is that if they are sleeping longer periods at night then it is very important to make sure that your baby is eating very well during the day and still consuming the daily intake necessary & age appropriate. Good luck & God Bless
