Newborn not sleeping at night?

Question

my newborn will not sleep at night he is 4 wks old and he sleeps really good during the day but at night he stays up for like 4 -7 hours at night he is so tired you can hear it in his crys but theres nothing wrong with him he doesnt have gas or anything like that he wakes up between 9-12 to eat and then stays up until its time to eat again and he acts like he is starving i thought maybe he just wasnt eating enough but if i let him he will eat up to 14 oz's and i know thats to much during the day i lay him down awake or asleep n he just sleeps at night i have to rock him for ever and he only wants to be upright and when i lay him down he wakes up screaming he is so sleepy but he just simply will not sleep i finally get him to sleep between 4-7 a.m. then i have to get up with my 2 yr old who refuses to nap does any one know why he could be doin this or how i can get him to sleep at night and please dont say its because he has his days and nights mixed up even if he did he should be up as long as he is and dont keep him up during the day any who has ever had a newborn knows theres no way in h**l you can just keep one up

Answer 1

its normal

Answer 2

how is 14oz too much food? you should feed him what he requires,my child has 34oz in one 24hr period.you should feed him as you normally would, keeping thea daytime bright and noisy,in the evening relax the noise down and dim lights etc,when you decide its bedtime try a little food regardless of when he last ate,this will fill him up for a restfull sleep, you could try this as it worked for me, my boy slept from 10pm till about 6am at 2 weeks old. hope this helps.

Answer 3

I know where you are coming from.  My nephew did the same thing.  I mean he wakes up so tired, yet will not fall asleep.  I gave my sister in law the advice to give the baby a nice bath before putting him down to sleep.  After the bath, give him a bottle and he should feel relaxed enough and fall asleep.  Also you can try to put on some kind of soothing music from a toy or so to help the baby relax.  They sell some kind of teddy bear that lightly vibrates and makes some kind of sound that reminds the baby of when he was in the womb.  It really works!  If you haven't done so already, try not to let him sleep too much throughout the day.  As far as your 2 yr. old.  make sure you wake him/her up early such as 7 or 8 a.m that way by the time the afternoon hits, he/she will be sleepy or wear him/her out so they can get all the energy out.  Hope this helps!

Answer 4

About his feeding, I think try giving him whatever ounces with about 1/4 of  teaspoon or a little more of cereal.Try buying him a swing or a bouncer so you can use at night to sleep with the music. You can also try waking him up during the day make alot of noise so he can get stimulated and wont sleep. I hope this is a bit helpful.  

Answer 5

Well my answer is what you dont want to hear, Firstly you should be feeding him what he wants to eat, they can only eat what they need.  I would start establishing a certain time for bath that suits you and the baby then has last feed and bed do this everytime every night regardless whether he is asleep etc make sure you dont feed him close to that time before hand.  Still at that age he may be up several times a night but if you stick to your night routine then he will get the gist that its bed for the night and when he slightly older the hours will get longer and longer between feeds. I done this from day one and from 9 weeks he was sleeping from 5.30pm until around 3am then straight back down until 5.30-6.00am.  When I put his straight back down at first I had to put his dummy in 20 times but didnt get him up unless he was really fussy and next night it was less and less so he then learnt how to get back to sleep himself.

You also have to remember 4 weeks is still quite young and they dont care what time of the day it is they still need cuddles and reassurance you are there they can get quite scarred as they are ajusting to everything. It also sounds to me he may be in pain if he want to be upright I would try to elevate his bed a bit and massages after a bath.

you shouldnt be assuming he is getting enough milk you should be giving him what he wants, but also they can confuse the sucking reflex with wind pains, so you may think he wants more but needs a good burp.

good luck  

Answer 6

this was the exact situation we were in six yrs ago.we used to rock him on our shoulders some days from 9 p.m to next day 5.00a.m.he was well fed,and even daytimes the sleep were short ones.some how we had to be sleepless and abt one and a half years it got improved.some kids are like that.we need patience

Answer 7

its horrible but normal! tip for you, make day time very different to night time. day naps downstairs in buggy, normal day noises around, chat to baby during feeds, and at night feed in silence, minimum interaction, quiet and dark, preferably in own cot in own room (personal and not popular opinion!)

   another tip is see a homoeopath or cranioosteopath.

   good luck, remember,this tough bit will not last forever.

Answer 8

My baby slept through the night (8 hours) at 2 weeks and 12 hours at 4 weeks.  Read the book Baby Wise!  I swear by it.

Answer 9

maybe he's afraid of the dark... try letting him sleep with all the lights on?

also get a good routine in the evening, with bath and storytime... even if he doesn't understand the words yet, reading to him is soothing from the sound of your voice, and he will get a better sense of how language works, and warm water is calming as well.