How to get your baby to sleep at night????

[fairybaby55]

I have an almost 3 week old baby and she likes to cluster feed at night.  Well tonight she has been up from around 8 pm til now and it's 4 am cluster feeding and she WONT STOP and go to sleep!!  She just won't fall asleep no matter what we do.  I am so tired.... I have no idea what to do.  Right now she is crying in bed cuz I just have tried everything.  I need advice!!!

~Sara

[jeng1980]

Oh you poor dear.  It's okay momma!  She is having her 3 week growth spurt is what is sounds like to me.   Get used to it.  It does get better but for now, feed her when she wants to be fed.  She's a growing babe.  To help ease it a little, you can feed her every 1 1/2 to 2 hours during the day and she may feed less at night.  Get SO to get up and try and soothe her.  Most likely though she is going through a growth spurt and it is completely natural.  It is not normal for a baby to sleep through the night for the first year.  It helps protect them against SIDS for them to wake often.  Hang in there mama.  Before you know it she will be in 3-6 month clothing because of the growth spurt.  (((HUGS))) 

[dhrmcanulty]

I agree with PP. It's a 3 week growth spurt. Just lay in bed with her and nurse nurse nurse...that way even if your not asleep your getting rest and she's eating and getting what she needs. It won't take but a couple days and it'll level out and all will be normal again. Look up normal growth spurt times so you know around about when to expect them. (give or take a few days/weeks either way)

[Marti123]

The most important gift I got with my first was a big ol' lazyboy recliner, that I could hold them, feed them AND SLEEP in until they got old enough to sleep on their own for longer periods of time. With both my children until about 2 months, they had no differential between night and day, they needed me 24-7. I think you DD is normal, hang in there.

I am swaddling my first DS much longer than my first (still swaddle him everynight), and I'm not sure if it's his temperment OR the swaddle but he has started sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches now at 2 months. My first DS never did this, but I stopped swaddling him. So I recommend starting swaddling during the night too.

[irishbabe_78]

My DS is just over 2 weeks old, and I just posted a similar post the other day!  He was wanting to nurse every 30 minutes, and it is exhausting, I know!  :)  Hang in there.  DS is now doing better, and it's just been a day or two.  He does wake every 2 hours or so at night to nurse, but is luckily pretty efficient, so he doesn't need to nurse for very long, maybe 10 minutes total!  I have been trying to nurse him frequently during the day, which does seem to be helping a little too.  Good luck and hang in there! 

[Precious333]

these are some great answers! Have you ever heard of holiday weaning? What happens during the holidays sometimes ist that moms get so busy that they don't nurse that often during the day, so I think your baby may be going through a growth spurt, but also that if you are very busy maybe you aren't feeding as often as normal during te day. So, I say you should offer more often. If you ahve a wrap, or a sling you can wear your baby while you are nursing hands free and get things done. 

Also, its not typical for babies to sleep through the night. My two don't even sleep through the night and tehy are 3 and 1 1/2 yrs! I co-sleep with my 1 1/2 year old and he nurses quite often at night. my oldest is in his bed 1/2 of the night and then crawls into bed with me. For me co-sleeping has been a life saver with my nursing babies.  I am a person that needs lots of sleep (at least 9 hours lol) so, for me to get up every hour or so would be really hard. But its up to you and your husband what works best for your family.

I wanted to add also, for my 1 1./2 year old, night nursing is mostly for comfort, but when they are little it is mostly because they are hungry (and also for sucking. When they toddler most nurse a lot as well, but its because they enjoy it and still have that sucking need (not that they don't benefit from the nutrition lol) And I heard from many moms that you have more milk at night.

[fairybaby55]

Thanks for the replies.  She did finally go to sleep after crying for about 5 minutes last night at 4 am and slept til like 9 and now she's napping in her swing.  The problem last night was that she wouldnt fall asleep even nursing.  She'd pull off after like 15 minutes and just be fussy.  I don't know if she got overtired or what.  Another thing is she likes to sleep all day and barely nurse at all.  I know I'm not sposed to wake her but I think if she nursed more during the day she'd be better at night.  ???

~Sara

[jessi19]

You can definately wake her during the day and feed. Seemed to be the only thing that got my daughter switched around, she was only nursing 2x a night by 7 weeks. Just hang in there and nurse more during the day

[gdiamante]

Quoting fairybaby55:

Thanks for the replies.  She did finally go to sleep after crying for about 5 minutes last night at 4 am and slept til like 9 and now she's napping in her swing.  The problem last night was that she wouldnt fall asleep even nursing.  She'd pull off after like 15 minutes and just be fussy.  I don't know if she got overtired or what.  Another thing is she likes to sleep all day and barely nurse at all.  I know I'm not sposed to wake her but I think if she nursed more during the day she'd be better at night.  ???

~Sara

You'd think. But logic and newborns have nothing to do with each other.

Take her in bed with you. She's driving the bus for now...you cannot force her to eat more in the daytime. Just follow her cues and you CANNOT go wrong/. Leave things undone. Yeah, I know it's the holidays. Leave 'em undone anyway.

[seanswife]

She's still so young, you can't expect her to be on a schedule nor to eat on command. My first 3 months were spent with my baby attached to my breast. I didn't even feel normal for the first 6-8 weeks.

Even if you think you have a "sleep through the nighter" anything can throw them off, growth spurts, new teeth, illness, milestones, change..... Mine still wakes often when anything is different like that.

I'm with the above, I spent many many hours in my glider, dozing, nursing, reading, just being there with baby. I didn't try to get anything done. Sometimes he could nurse for 1/2 hr. - 45 mins in the early days and then it was very 2 hours! i never got a second to myself....but that only goes on for so long. He's now almost 9 mo and super efficient, he hardly ever nurses more than 15 minues before bedtime now. And in truth I miss the days of holding my itty bitty newborn close all day and all night. I have a cruiser now...

Ask your mom or MIL to come over and spend the night. Nurse, then hand them the baby, let them rock her, walk her or whatever. You rest. My mom did this for me and baby got what he needed = to be held and I got some much needed rest. In the early days you are everything to baby, food source and comfort source, all she wants is to be with you all the time.