Nights and Days Switched

Please do not let your one month old cry it out. I am against the method anyway, but even those who are in favor or it do not recommend it for such young babies. I don't have much advice, but did want to point that out. Check out Dr. Sear's website and maybe you can get some good info there. My DC are 21 and 10 years old now, but neither of them were good sleepers, unless they were sleeping with us. We co-slept basically until they were ready to move out...and that worked for us.

A. :)

1 mom found this helpful

I know you are tired, but you have received some very good ideas and advice.
My daughter was this way and it does work itself out.
God bless you and your new baby
T. S

Have you read BABYWISE?
It has worked wonders for my two babes.

Lay your baby down with something that vibrates or hummms maybe that will help

It usually sorts itself out. Just keep her involved and with you - don't keep her by herself in a crib. If you can wear her in a sling or other baby carrier, then even while she's sleeping during the day (and babies do need their naps! Forget about trying to keep her up during the day - at this point, she's going to be sleeping most of the time, anyway, and it shouldn't interfere with her night-time sleeping), she is learning that activity is for daytime. The only thing I've found I can't do with the baby in my carrier is pulling laundry out of the top-loading washer. Cooking is supposed to be off-limits, too, but I've found that if I'm very careful and keep turned away from the stove, it's pretty much okay, too.

The Ergo is great. Worth every penny. We use it in the house and while out around town. Use an insert till she's 4 months. THe Ergo is extremely easy to put on and use. A sling is okay for the first couple of months, but make sure you get a very well padded one. I'd advise against any wraps that are long. They're a hassle.

Also very helpful: if you can keep her in your bed with you, her body's and brain's rhythms will quickly come into sync with yours (this also makes nursing super easy - you just sleep through her feedings). This is one of the best ways I can think of to get her to sleep more at night.

To learn how to co-sleep safely, check out askdrsears.com or read the Sears Baby Book (helpful for all baby-care topics!!) or The Sears Nighttime Parenting Book.

Of course, lavender in the room at night is good, too.

L.

I know that is so frustrating! My little guy was that way at first as well. What helped us get him on a better sleeping routine was the Babywise book...it helped give us a flexible structure for our days and got him taking good naps without ever having to make him "cry it out". We also found that swaddling at night helped him sleep longer stretches then. The Happiest Baby on the Block book suggested that, plus we added some white noise to his room at night. I also agree with giving an evening bath and a nice massage...calms him right down and creates a nice soothing bedtime routine. You can sing lullabies during the massage and/or read a story afterwards. By 8 weeks our baby was sleeping through the night pretty well. Take heart! It will get better.

According to Marc Weissbluth ("Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"), infants will sleep around the clock (day/night reversal) until at least 4 months. After around 4 months, they are physiologically capable of sleeping for longer stretches at night, though they still need 2-3 naps during the day. Keeping your child up to get her super tired will backfire because that will make it harder for her to fall asleep and stay asleep. We still put our 17-month-old to bed at an early hour, and he sleeps at least 12 hours a night with a 2-hour midday nap. I recommend reading Weissbluth's book for some ideas, because he goes into infant development in some depth. It helped me endure to the 4-month point.

Don't try to keep her awake during the day!! Newborns should sleep like 18-20 hours a day at this point. It's hard when they have their days and nights mixed up at first but they eventually figure it out. But being overtired can make things worse.
The best thing you can do is play with her as little as possible at night. Just feed, change & keep the lights dim.

Dear M.,

I too had a new born who somehow had his nights and days mixed up. My mom suggested to me to bathe him at night. Most moms tend to bathe the infants in the morning and then go on with their day. I changed the bath time to nights. After the bath he was fed and then put to bed. It worked!!! My newborn slept for the majority of the night, or as much as a one mth old would sleep before requiring another feeding. The daylight hours went back to a natural flow. He was awake more hours during the day.

Give it chance to work for you. Bathe the baby in the evening. Good luck! and God bless your new little member of the family!

sincerely,

D.

During the day naps, is she in a brightly lit room or a dark room? If it is a bright room, than get a small lamp to put on her dresser in a corner of her room to simulate daylight. Is there any type of 'white' noise, fan air machine, etc? Does she have one on in her room?

Hope this helps!

I will tell you what we did but it doesn't work for everyone. My #2 was born 15 months after my 1st. My husband was in college and was no help with kids. I had had it so at about 6 weeks old I nursed him, told him I loved him, and put his butt in the bed. He cried for 1 hour and slept through the night from that point on. It doesn't work for everyone but you never know. That is all it took to get his days and nights back to normal. WE did the same thing in keeping him up but to no avail the only thing that helped was letting him cry. Good Luck!!

patience, patience, patience! and maybe a walk in the sun in the afternoons. it helps reset their body clocks, even if they are asleep

i highly reccommend babywearing, too! it helps their brain grow, and it brings them into your world. slings and especially the ergo are amazing products that everyone should use. we didn't stress it or force it, wore our babies duing the day and coslept at night. for the most part, problems are only problems if you make them problems!

I feel your pain. I have a 2 yr old and we went thru the same thing. One thing I did was every night we would give her a bath and when we got her out we would take her lotion and massage her all over. This seems to relax them and helps them sleep. We also started turning on some soft music for her so if she did wake up she didn't hear the "quite" house. I thought of this one day b/c at night everyone's asleep and I wondered if she got scared so the music helped also.

Good luck
J.