dd #2 has arrived, and is very confused about night vs. day, and i don't know how many more nights i can do this and care for my family during the day. we are going on two weeks.. i know, it hasn't been that long, but the lack of sleep on top of readjusting hormones is not a good mix. if any of you have ideas on how to switch her clock, i'd love to hear them!

This has worked for me a lot of times. Give them a warm bath and then feed them right before you put them down. Something about a bath always wears them out. I know Johnson's brand has a bedtime bath wash with lavender and some other soothing things. Prayers as I get up at 3:30AM with my 5 mo.old. :D

As hard as it is...try to do really stimulating things during the day...don't force her to stay awake...but be more active during the day and quieter things during the night...that helped with my daughter...'cause she was the same way...and totally...same thing with the bath....great idea!

Hey!! [welcomehi] I was just thinking of/praying for you today. I hope all is well with your new little addition and that you get some much-needed rest soon. :)

We had this problem for the first couple of nights. I was advised to make sure that she was woken quite regularly for feeds during the day. She is now sleeping much better stretches during the night.

I remember those sleepless nights [sleep] and just grabbing every second of shut eye I could get. With my ds I could rest when he did but with dd ds was an active 3 year old so I couldn't rest when she rested during the day because he was up and running wild. Before you know she'll be sleeping better and you'll get caught up on that sleep.

Stephanie :D

thank you all for your input and encouragement. i finally got some rest last night compared to the first week and a half! praise the lord! i prayed and prayed and prayed, and kept telling myself, "give it to the lord," and "let the lord take control," and sure enough it was the best night so far. slept from 10:30pm to 11:45pm, 1am - 4:30, and then 5:30 - 7:15.. the most sleep i've had since about a month before she was born! dh agreed to do the late feeding last night, so i just woke up at the tail end of it.. and he is doing the late feeding again tonight since it's the weekend. we've really been working hard on having her wake times at feeding times, and encouraging a routine, and she's just starting to get it. hopefully we are on to something here, and a pattern will be set soon. this one is just so different than our first (much easier this time despite the day/night confusion), but that's another story for another time! i appreciate all your prayers!

I agree with NZ Mommy. Also, if you are trying to schedule baby, try to feed ever 2.5 to 3 hours in the day, even if you have to wake up baby. At night, let her go as long as she wants.

I was told that when they are in utero, all the activity in the day rocks them to sleep and then they wake up at night. Next time I'm going to stay up all night the whole pregnancy... It's 2 am here, I'm well on my way... but I'm not pregnant! Just practicing :wink:

Yeah, do more stimulating stuff in the day. It;s not wrong.
If you don't sleep you can't look after your family properly like you said!

Until Matilda got the hang of being outside the womb, I more or less got her out of bed if I felt she was going to do the "sleep too much in the day and therefore be up all night and become confused"

I did things like, bath her in the early afternoon, sing to her, pick her up and talk her (mind you I was totally NOT keeping her up all day or doing ANYTHING cruel).

All midwives will say that NB need generally 2-3hly feeds, so I made sure Matilda never went past that time and I always found she would drink, even if sleepy. And talk to her and sing as I was doing this (in the day).

For a while too I was also day sleeping her in the rocker, so that perhaps with all the noise, light and everything around her she would somehow register the difference and at night when I fed her, kept the room dark and kept quiet, no exciteable talk, just a feed, a burp, a bum change and then back into the cot.

She's settled in like a gem now - she's got the idea.

Not sure if any of that helps!!

thank you for all your input! the advice is very helpful and appreciated!

I was the same in the first 6 weeks. It's not easy. I definitely needed toothpicks. I fell asleep while feeding her every time at night (overnight) and would wake like an hour later and the bottle would be on the floor :lol: There were a few times I just burst into tears because I was just sooooooo tired.
Things will get better. Now Sophie is sleeping generally 5-7 hours sometimes 8. I actually thought she was sleeping 8 hours for good but it seems like it was a temporary thing. Perhaps she was having another growth spurt. Last night I put her down at 11.30pm and she woke at 5.30am. I am pretty sure that by 12 weeks she'll be doing 8 hours.

so glad to know you all understand! last night was another rough night.. we were up from 1am - 5am. she just did NOT want to be on her back or side.. i finally tried her on her tummy in her cradle, and she was out immediately. we were hoping to make it to church this morning, but maybe next week will turn out better.

Sorry to hear that you had another rough night! :cry:

Keep on keeping on, things will work out soon :wink:

I just hope you don't have someone tell you that you shouldn't be falling asleep :roll: I was telling my hubbys best friends mother about how I kept falling asleep and she goes "you shouldn't fall asleep". I was thinking just how am I supposed to stay awake?" LOL :roll: Some people. :shock:

LOL.. so she never got tired or fell asleep? i thought of you last night when i woke with a start after falling asleep while feeding adrienne. she did a little better last night.. she's having better 'wake time' today, so hopefully that will help out tonight!

LOL.. so she never got tired or fell asleep? i thought of you last night when i woke with a start after falling asleep while feeding adrienne. she did a little better last night.. she's having better 'wake time' today, so hopefully that will help out tonight!

No apparently not LOL She is a classic know-it-all. You know the type LOL She is constantly giving advice or telling me how to do things. I was really :shock: and quite :x :( when she said that though. It's not like I fall asleep willingly. Anyway, she went on about being organized and sleeping during the day when baby is sleeping. Yeah like it's that easy LOL What about Abby? She is 2 1/2. I can't force her to sleep for 3 or 4 hours so I can sleep. :roll:

I'm glad last night was a little better. I hope she will be sleeping 6-8 hours for you soon and eventually 8 or more hours every night. Unfortunately we never know when that's going to happen. Every baby is different. I think Abby must have been an angel baby :lol: because she was sleeping 8 plus hours every night from one week old onwards.

we are making progress :) last night, adrienne ate at 10pm.. asleep at 10:30, and didn't wake until 2:30am to eat again. that's the most sleep i've had since she was born! then she didn't wake again until 6am. hopefully we're on to something here! we switched her formula too, which has made a HUGE difference. thank you all again.. it's so nice having this board and sharing with other moms.