How to get my baby to sleep through the night?!?!?

Question

My newborn has his night & days mixed up... how can I get him on the right scheldule?? I try to keep him up during the day but it doesnt work. He just keeps sleeping or he wakes up for a few minutes then hes out again!!! Somebody told me theres a few other things that can be done so any suggestions are great!!!

Answer 1

I think it is very common for newborns to not have a concept of day and night.  They seem to work it out at around 3 months.  To help our baby understand the difference we always kept her room nice and light when she was sleeping during the day and we used white noise to help calm her and sleep (initially we left the white noise on for the whole time she was asleep and then reduced the volume and how long it was on for), but the key I think was that we swaddled her overnight (using a miracle blanket - which are brilliant) and not for her day sleeps.  Once we started to swaddle overnight the length of her sleeps increased and she found it much easier to self settle.  

It does also help if she gets alot of good sleep during the day and she settles much quicker if she has had a good day of sleeping.  So keeping him up during the day may not be helping.  Try encouraging him to sleep for 3 naps during the day and then putting him down at the end of the day well rested.  We got alot of great ideas from 'The sleep book' by Dr Sears and also ' No cry sleep for babies', or www.thesleepstore.co.nz (A New Zealand website but it has a lot of great links and advice on it as well as suggestions for products which may help.)

I promise it does get easier!  

Answer 2

We have been going through the same thing...My baby is 7 weeks old and is finally sleeping for 4 - 6 hours straight at night instead of awake the entire night, then she has a bottle and falls back to sleep.

I did some research to see what I could do and found out that a chemical (melatonin??sorry, spelling) doesn't come in till about 6 weeks, it regulates the circadian rhythm.  Also, waking the baby during the day makes them overtired and its harder to get them back to sleep.

Just try to have patience, it will change over soon.  nap when you can, and dont be afraid to ask for help so you can catch up on sleep.

Good luck, it will get better.

Answer 3

My site has some really good tips on this subject. Check it out if you like. Good Luck!

Answer 4

newborns need to figure out their schedule all on their own...you can't really create a schedule for new babies..however, creating a schedule (or whatever you can) in your house of wake time and sleep time will help the baby figure it out. When it's day time-keep things noisy, when it's sleep time, keep things quieter.

We started putting my baby in bed about 20 minutes before he would normally get upset because he was tired (we kept track of his own schedule for a couple weeks) and it got to the point that he would go to sleep on his own, without fussing much, once we put him in bed...but that didn't start until he was over a month old.

Good luck.

Answer 5

oh boy..i remember those times.lol first of all, stay patient. thats the BEST thing you can do. a few things are. try waking baby up early in the morning around 6 or 7... keep him busy with things he might like. the one thing my daughter loved when she was little and still does is baby einstein movies. they are amazing! they keep baby focused and entertained. have one on one play time and interaction to keep him awake. and for getting him to sleep at night (my biggest problem a while ago) one thing that works like a charm, is to put baby in a carseat, turn on some soft music, turn on your dryer, and set his carseat on it. if your baby likes carrides, he will think he is in a car with music on and relax. another thing, give him a warm bath right before bed and be sure to but baby powder on him. that will make him feel more dry and comfortable through the night. and sometimes the smell will sooth babies. these are just a few things my mom and grandma told me when i had my little girl. they worked GREAT! i really hope it helps. all i know is parenting so if you have anymore questions, you can email me directly i love helping. my email addy is [e-mail] good luck! :)

Answer 6

Hi,

Your baby is still very young at the moment but I think the most important thing to start with is to get your baby into a good sleep routine.  I had massive problems with getting my 4 month old son to sleep.  He would just lie awake and cry for hours, then when he finally went to sleep he would wake every hour or two hours through the night and cry again!  Talk about pulling our hair out .... we were absolutely desperate for sleep!

It was a baby sleep audio program recommended by a friend that finally saved us. We followed the advice and began by creating a baby sleep routine which included bathtime, dimming of the lights, putting James into his crib, final nappy change and then lullabies. We also made recommended changes to his naps during the day and used some of the other recommended techniques. Within two weeks he was sleeping through the night most nights with just the odd night where he would just wake once!

Definitely start by creating a good baby sleep routine though and you could find that solves most of your baby sleep problems.

Good luck!

Answer 7

how old is he? as he gets older it will become easier to keep him awake our baby now 17weeks had her day and night mixed up for the first 5weeks. it wasnt fun..however you could try everytime the baby falls to sleep just move him,make sure hes not too warm,as this will encourage him to sleep. other than that im sorry its just a matter of time.

Answer 8

I tried my daughter on cereal. When she was around 1 1/2 to 2 months old, i would make her a bottle of cereal. I would make it extra runny but it still had consistency. I would feed her the bottle right before bed. Within a couple of days, she slept thru the night. It was just an issue of she wasnt satsified enough off of breast milk or bottle alone.

Keep in mind to watch your child's bowel movements when you do this. If there is a big change or they get constipated, then stop the cereal and give them another couple of weeks and then try again. Good luck.

Answer 9

A newborn does not sleep at just night time they have a irregular sleep pattern in between their feeds. Newborns sleep throughout the day and night and they wake throughout the day and nightime.  You shouldnt be trying to keep a newborn awake during the  day hoping they will sleep throughout the night, newborns are not suppossed to sleep throughout the night.  My first daughter started sleeping throughout the night at around 5 months old my second daughter 4 months and my son didnt sleep fully throughout the night untill around 7 months old.

Answer 10

I heard leaving the hair dryer on really keeps the baby happy!

Answer 11

our dr rec. at the age of 6-8 weeks  that at night u change pants,fresh bottle ,bath , cuddle  wrap baby in swaddle kiss goodnight and put them to bed turn lights and such off  .. in the day time when baby is napping keep tv on normal level  let sunlight in they will learn that night time is sleepy time and day time is awake time but most important is getting a routine and sticking to it