Should you keep a 2week old baby awake during the day?

Question

My baby (2wks) has her days and nights mixed up. Dr said to keep her up during the day so that way at night she sleeps at least 3 to 4 hours straight. What dr says goes, but I find this so hard to do when my poor little angel wants to sleep and I keep her awake she just becomes fussy and restless. Did anyone have this problem, what did you do?

Answer 1

you could try, but newborn babies will sleep regardless of what you try to do. i just recently had a baby, and it was a waiste of time trying to keep her up when she was sleepy. she would fall asleep no matter what. and when she fell asleep she would not get up for hours. so i would just let the baby sleep  

Answer 2

take a nap during the day when she does for now, don't try to keep her up for another month or so

Answer 3

It is hard for you and normal for them to mix up days and nights.  You should talk to her and stimulate her as much as you can during the day when she is awake.  She will sleep when she sleeps and you should let her.  The best thing you can do is when her late evening feeding comes around - like around 10pm - start turning the lights off and keeping things calm.  Put her to bed in her crib.  When she wakes throughout the night, keep the lights down low, don't talk to her or stimulate her.  Don't turn the TV on.  Change her diaper quickly if you need to, feed her, and put her down.  This will teach her that mommy is boring at night, but fun during the day.  When morning comes, make a big deal of it by turning on lights, talking to her, and showing her it is time to start the day.  You will find that she will unmix days and nights in about a week, maybe two.

Good luck!

Answer 4

newborn babies sleep about 20 hours a day so you shouldn't be waking her up and trying to keep her up all day long. but maybe you can wake her up if she sleeps for 2 hours, feed her and play with her and stuff. just try  not to let her sleep for more than 2 hours at a time until it's "bed time".

Answer 5

I would just let nature take it course...

My son (4 weeks) sleeps, eats, plays/looks around... and then starts all over again...  He wakes up at 10pm, 1am, 3am, 5am. 8am, 12pm, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm to feed... Sometimes he wakes up for his feedings during the day and sometimes he does not-- It is normal for babies to be up at night...  

Answer 6

she's only two weeks old so i'd say she's not adjusted to the world yet and to give her more time. if it bothers you a lot keep her up but i suggest trying to put her on a schedule. when she wakes at night feed her and that's it. don't play or turn on light or anything. during day naps let daylight still come in window (don't foil or blackout) so she can begin to figure it out.

she'll get it eventually.

Answer 7

I think your best bet is to keep her awake a few hours before bedtime.  My kids slept right through their first couple months and I wondered if they'd ever wake up!  Newborns need a lot of sleep and I disagree with keeping her awake more than a couple of hours during the day.  She will end up overtired and cranky!

Answer 8

That's what I did, but you don't just keep them from sleeping all together. Normally after feedings they'll stay awake for a little bit so you can give them cuddles and tummy time, because they can't do much else. When they start passing out then you put them to bed. Keep their door open and make as much noise as you normally would to keep them from sleeping too soundly. This way they won't be exhausted and sickly (a too tired baby isn't a healthy, growing baby) but they'll sleep more soundly at night time. Now remember when they get a little older her sleep patterns will change every month or so, so don't get discouraged when your routine changes.

Answer 9

"What doctor says goes" is the wrong attitude. If it doesn't sound right, get a second opinion. In this case, since it's not a medical problem, I wouldn't bother getting a second doctor's opinion. Keeping a baby awake when she wants to sleep is pretty hard, and it's mean. In the end you'll have an overtired baby who's so stressed she'll be grumpy and have a hard time going to sleep at night.

Answer 10

Hi, yes my mother said she had the same problem with me- having to turn day into night- and she said although it was hard she just had to keep stirring me every time i nodded off and tried to keep my occupied and eventually it worked

Good luck and congrats (:

Answer 11

At 2 weeks old, you pretty much let her sleep whenever she wants to.  I definitely think establishing a routine is nice, but at 2 weeks, it's not as necessary at all.  You should be doing the adjusting, not her (I don't mean that in a bad way towards you, just in response to what your doctor said).  Once she gets to be around 4 weeks old, you can start trying to establish more of a sleeping routine.  The best way to do it is simply to keep the house bright and alive during the day and dark and calm at night.  She'll start to associate darkness with sleeping soon enough.  Best wishes!

Answer 12

NO babies need lots of sleep

Answer 13

a 2 week old shouldn't have a routine yet, let her sleep when she wants to and be up and eating when she wants to!

they should really be hungry and eating about every 2 hours...

Answer 14

Newborns need sleep. Let her sleep when she wants for the rest of the first month or so. Then gradually change her sleep pattern with a little activity during the day.  

Answer 15

My son also had his days and nights mixed up. I tried to keep him awake through some of his naps but its almost impossible to keep them up when they are that little. I would wait a couple more weeks until she begins to stay awake more then try and straighten her days and nights up. It took me a few weeks for my son but he started sleeping through the night at seven weeks so good luck!  

Answer 16

No way should you keep your 2 week old up all day. I am a mother of four. Babies need their sleep they will let you know when their tired and hungry. They will learn to sleep through the night when their a little bit older. When your that young you need all the sleep you can get to develop. congratulations on the new baby

Answer 17

Yes, My daughter used to sleep during the day and stay up all night, honestly I think she'll grow out of it, my daughter stayed in the hosital the first few weeks and that's when she was backwards, I was with her all day until 10:00pm and most of the day she slept, and I asked a nurse if i should keep her up in the day so she'd sleep at night and they told me no to let her sleep if she wanted to sleep, it's true if you try to keep you daughter up when she wants to sleep she's going to get very cranky. I was so surprised when I got my daughter home she went to sleep and slpet through the night, I'm truly blessed cause since she's been home she wakes up once mabey twice a night to eat

Answer 18

babies have their own sleep pattern at this age....let her sleep when she wants too.

Answer 19

A 2 week old needs to sleep often.  There is no way you can keep her up all day.  The best you could do is try to extend her naps (by half and hour).  Never wake her up though, you want her to learnto sleep for extended periods of time.

It's normal for newborns to not sleep through the night... it sucks, but it will pass.

Answer 20

My grandbaby did that. She would want to play at 2 am. My mom never saw her eyes open LOL I wouldnt worry about it now as she is going to sleep most of the time any ways. As she gets older and she stays awake longer it will change around.