Sleeping at Night

My son is only 9 weeks old and he sleeps just about all day & is wide awake at night. I have tried keeping him awake during the day and waking him right on 4 hours for his feeds, sometimes if i leave him he will not wake for up to 6 hours. Once he gets to sleep at night after crying for at least an hour or 2, he will sleep up to 8 hours, but will still sometimes wake during the night. When i do keep him awake during the day he is still very sleepy and not at all enthusiastic about doing anything he also seems to sometimes sleep through his day feeds but drinks most of the bottle. I have started to sleep myself during the day so i at least get some sleep but it is sometimes very difficult to get sleep and it makes doing anything very hard, so i would prefer not to have to continue like this. I welcome any advice or tips that anyone might have about what i can do to try and change him around so that i can get some sleep during the night, thankyou.

Because he is only 9 weeks old you can't tire him out physically so what I suggest is that you tire him out mentally. Read him a book, sing him a song, play games with him or take him for a walk. Try to cut down his sleeps during the day, you'll find if you cut them out all together he'll probably be even more determined to stay up at night. Put him to bed just after a nice warm bottle and try and keep the same routine day in day out. Alot of people suggest controlled crying as an alernative, so if all else fails let him know who's boss by using the controlled crying technique.
Hope this helps, let me know how you go.
Glad to see another queenslander on here.
Which hospital did you have your baby at????

Thanks Nicole i'll give those a try. however i'm not really familiar with the controlled crying technique.
I had Reece in the Gold Coast hospital in southport.

I'm finding it hard enough to drag myself out of bed to feed Seth 23/01/03 at night and I am lucky as I only have to do that once during the night.I don't know if I can help but I will try.Do you keep everything low key at night as in the lighting low and quiet voices ect. I found that if I put the light on in Seth's room it was always a lot harder to settle him down again.If worst comes to worst I would try controlled crying as it teaches your baby to settle themselves but I don't know what the best age would be for this or if it matters at all. Maby even talk to a midwife or your doctor and see what they say but all babies are differant. Seth sleeps anywhere between 2 & 6 hours during the day and sleeps from about 9 O'clock to 6 O'clock at night with 1-2 feeds thrown in there somewhere. I wish you the best of luck and when you are up in the middle if the night just think of all the other mums up doing the same thing as you and it's not so lonly then.

I wouldn't do the controlled crying at that age as he is too young. What I found to be good was the low lights, no talking etc at night. We installed dimmers on our lights. Also keep his room bright in the day,. An hour or 2 of crying is normal I believe and sleeping 8 hours at night at that age is good . When you say he wakes, does he go back to sleep after a feed at nigth? Dont forget they should still be sleeping at least 15-16 hours out of 24 .During his day feeds don't let him get too comfortable , unwrap so he is cooler rather than warmer and put on the tv or radio for noise. If it still goes on after a few months speak to the nurse as I think after 6 months you can start training them to sleep through the nite, before that they may still need night feeds. my first son was a great sleeper from 3 months, the 2nd took 11 months and he still is a ligth sleeper and the baby is "text book " material slept throught from 6 weeks, so i have experienced it all! Tresillian worked for us with the 2nd at 11 months but I wouldn't recommend you wait that long!

I agree with making day and night feeds different and sleeping with the curtains open during the day. My bub is 3 months and has been sleeping through most nights since about 7 weeks. We always have the tv or music on during the day and at night I have never spoke during feeds and the house is dark except for a lamp that I leave on incase she does wake I don't have to turn on a bright light to feed. If bub does wake at night she goes straight back to sleep after a feed.

I also start the night off with a bath or shower and a massage and a feed and she goes straight to sleep. This has worked for me. keep us in formed of what happens.

Good Luck

Hi, I am finding it really difficult at the moment in that I feel like I am running around in circles and have no idea what I am doing.
My son is 11 weeks old and he had a really good routine up until about a week ago. He was sleeping 8 hours at night and didn't sleep very much at all during the day however he was very happy and content to sit in his rocker or on his play mat. Now that has all gone out the window. He still has a good sleep at night, although it has reduced to 6 hours and he is very tired and grizzly during the day. I put him to bed because I know what his tired signs are and he goes straight off to sleep however he only sleeps for about an hour and then wakes. I try to settle him but he wont so I get him up and he is only up for about 20 minutes and looks tired again so I put him back to bed and then he goes straight off to sleep for another hour.
I feel like I may be doing something wrong with trying to settle him. It would be easier if he just had a 2 hour sleep in one go.
Has anyone else experienced a change in their babies sleeping patterns?
Thanks.

Becca, my first child did not sleep for more than 3-5 hrs at night till he was a year old! He's now 3.

I was determined not to go thru that again if I could help it.

Do you leave your sons blinds open during the day?
Like all first time mums I supose I made the mistake of leaving his blinds closed all the time to help him sleep I thought.
Apparently this actually upsets the babys natural body clock!

I found a good video and bought it online by an American Paediatrician Dr.Jeffrey Hull.
It shows you techniques on how to find your babys "natural bedtime".

My 2mo daughter sleeps b/w 2-4 hrs during the day and b/w 6-7 o/n. We have even had a 9 hr night! Yippee!!

If you interested the website is sleeptight.com.
The Dr. is also available via email and yes he actually does return your emails!!
I think the video is $19.95. I cannot remember if this is $US. Ask the Dr he can tell you.

Will keep an eye for any success posted.
Good luck from one who has been there!!

My son is 11 weeks old and as far as I can remember in those early weeks, {they went by so quickly that everything is almost a blur!} I remember that when my son was showing tired signs I put him to bed even when he didn't seem to want to and then I used the controlled crying technique. As long as I know he is fed, clean and dry, comfortable and has plenty of cuddles and kisses - well then when it's bed time - he sleeps. He sleeps from 5:30pm until 5:30am and wakes once during the night for a feed. He dosen't sleep much during the day most days as I am active with him, trying to keep him awake by playing. What the other ladies have said about keeping the lighting appropriate for the time of day ie: low light during night, no talking and curtains open during day is what I do also. I hope things improve for you soon.

My baby is one week off being seven months, he has two sleeps during the day, in the morning for about 1 hour and in the afternoon for up to 1.5 hours. During the night he sleeps for four hours then awakes every 1 to 2 hours wanting a feed, screaming till he is attended to, I have tried letting him cry, settilng him with his security items, but nothing works except a breastfeed. My baby is currently on losec as he has acid in his stomach causing hi heartburn. I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas in ways I could settle during the night, as I am getting desperately worn out.

Hi Darlene,
Was the Dr. Hull technique easy to follow? Did it involve controlled crying? I Have a 1 month old and doing controlled crying, but hoping to get her to sleep longer at night, I am due back to work early Sept. My baby sleeps between 2-3 hour intervals at night at the very most. Was it safe to order the video from oversease? Thanks AKA Potter.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT IWAS THE ONLY ONE WHO HASN'T SLEPT LONGER THAN 3-4 HRS IN 6 WKS. I HAVE BEEN TRYING ALL THE TECHNIQUES EVERYONE HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT AND STILL NOTHING IS CHANGING IT MAY EVEN BE GETTING WORSE! PLEASE SOMEONE REPLY AND TELL ME THINGS HAVE CHANGED FOR THE BETTER.
MY 2 YEAR OLD DIDN'T SLEEP THRU THE NIGHT TILL 18MTHS. DON'T WANT TO GO THERE AGAIN!