My little one is only 2 weeks olkd but she sleeps swaddled and comfy on her own for 3-4 hrs @ a time but then when the night comes- she'll be wakeful/awake from 1- 5am unless I put her to sleep on my chest and even then there is no garuntees...
I understand she's little but what can I do to make this transition easier? I'm exhausted and need to get some consecutive hrs of sleep. IYO is this something that will just come with age or can I help it now? We've triend a bouncy/ vibrating seat, carseat and swing to sleep in and still struggles rigght during that timeframe!
Put her in a room that has good daylight- a sunny room, or near a window. The sun actually helps set the day/night clock. Also, don't tiptoe around during the day- go about your normal business. Talk on the phone, do the dishes, vacuum, watch TV, etc. Then, in the evening, keep it low key. It will take a few days, but she will get straightened out.
I went through this a bit as well with my baby. During the day make sure you have noise going on and the blinds open. I would have the tv or some music playing, but our household is a bit noisy anyways. In the evening I would turn down all lights, no tv on after 8pm. Eventually I would take the baby to the room and only having on a night light. It took a few days but he eventually got the days and nights right. I have found that you can perdict your baby's schedule when they are in the womb. My baby was more active between 2am and 5am and less active between 8am and 1 pm.
Be patient, she'll catch on Mom! Congrats on your baby girl! =)
This is very normal. I read somewhere that the reason for this is that rocking puts babies to sleep, and before they are born they get rocked when you are walking around during the day, therefore they learn to sleep in the day.
The best thing to do is go about your normal business. During the day open up curtains and expose her to daylight, make normal household noise and don't worry about waking her. Then at night the house should be dim and quiet. She'll catch on soon.
What I did with my kids was to play with them during the day. Every chance I could, I would. I know they need some sleep but don't let your little one get too much sleep during the day. I would keep interrupting their sleep during the day, so when night time came, we all got sleep.
Good luck :)
You could try bathing her at night so she is awake and more alert for a bit and then dry her and cuddle and feed and put her down and see if that helps some. It may not but works with some kids. Nap her in the day but don't make it seem like night and play with her when you feed her in the day and unwrap her more in the day so she's more aware of things and awake completely for a bit before the next nap. She will learn but I would not continue the sleeping on your chest unless you want to do it for a long time n the future. :-)
Just keep working with her and try different places to sleep. Like a swing or something. Also my daughter had her days and nights mixed up and she did not out grow that till like 4-5 months and then it got a lot better but still had rough nights. She is now 14 months and does just fine. So hang in there it does get better.
