baby awakes a few times during the night

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BabyC

Registered User
my baby is 12 days old and she seems very frightened at night and couldn't have deep sleep and awake for a few times every night

we have tried to switch on the lights during the night but baby still seems to be quite frightened

baby has quite good sleep during the day though

does anyone have the same experience?
 
Not with my baby, who actually doesn`t like daytime sleep, but my friend was complaining that one of her twins is very frightened of the night. She attributed it to the fact that their nursery at the hospital was always noisy and he wasn`t used to the peace and quiet. I`m sure it will be something your baby will get used to.
Have you thought about a white noise machine or something similar?
Also, your baby is only 12 days old so it will be waking often anyway. Mine is 6 weeks and is always making noises so it seems like he`s not sleeping at all, at least not a deep sleep. but he gets rested somehow. He wakes up every 1.5-3 hrs in the night.
 
BabyC said:
my baby is 12 days old and she seems very frightened at night and couldn't have deep sleep and awake for a few times every night

we have tried to switch on the lights during the night but baby still seems to be quite frightened

baby has quite good sleep during the day though

does anyone have the same experience?
Click to expand...

Because your baby is a newborn, this is common. It is normal for newborn babies to wake up several times a night--especially to eat.

Most babies come out of the womb confused about what is day and what is night. The baby is probably not "frightened" of the nighttime or needs more lights to feel comforted (they have been inside the womb for 40 weeks--which is not a very "bright" place to be)--instead the baby is just adjusting to how things work in the world outside of the womb. For some babies it takes a long time to adjust and get a schedule that is more like what adults have (awake during the day, sleeping at night). I recommend looking at the book ""The Happiest Baby On The Block" by Harvey Karp. Although, like all books, this one will not guarantee a "solution" to your newborn's sleep difficulties--it does give a good place to start.

For example, I have friends who have a 2-month-old who was still having really big difficulties sleeping at night. I just ran into the father today on the street and asked him about the situation. They really had tried everything they knew to do--then they remembered that at the hospital they had been taught to swaddle (wrap tightly) the baby. This imitates the feeling the baby had in the womb--of being held securely by the mother's body and can be soothing for some babies. So, our friends just started swaddling their daughter very tightly and now she sleeps much, much better. So, check out the book and website if you have time.

And just be prepared that sometimes some babies take a long, long time (mine took 5 months!) to start really sleeping well at night. :gl:
 
agree with MLBW.

do you swaddle your baby? that might be the best thing to do to start. if you wrap them up fairly tightly, then their muscles don't have the ability to twitch. often this twitching will wake them up.

12 days old is still very, very, very young. how often are you feeding the baby?

turning on the lights for such a new baby will have no effect. you might as well just leave them off and try to comfort your baby.
 
ours took 6mths to sleep through and my younger son cried a lot for no apparent reason for the first 4mths - colic. Usually if babies wake up crying it's because they are hungry. usually every 2-3hrs newborn babies should be having a feeding.

hang in there, your baby is really little and will likely cry and be up at night for the next little while. try swaddling or if your baby is not in a moses basket, try putting your baby perpendicular in the crib so she feels safer.
 
Hey there - I'm a new mum too, my little girl is 9 days old and was a bit like your little one to begin with... days and nights mixed up. Its a big adjustment for them coming home to this completely new environment I think. She's sleeping much better at night now - we swaddle which I think makes her feel more secure, and she sleeps in the moses basket beside me. I feel the same about the lights, I think if they go to sleep with the light on then wake up with the light off, it is disorientating. What I do now is just leave the curtain open a little so just a tiny bit of light comes in for when she wakes.... I don't know, probably just makes mum feel better!! And I'm looking for a really dim lamp so its just enough to see to feed her by at night without making the room really bright. She has got into a bit of a pattern now, loosely based on the guidance from the Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems book, which seems to suit her. Another thing which I would recommend is trying a pacifier. My little one seems to find this a comfort, and is breast fed with no confusion between the pacifier and the breast.... this advice came from my mum and works a treat.

Good luck, its hard when they won't sleep isn't it, we will get there in the end!

Take care,
x
 
We played a CD called "Sounds of Silence" to my newborn. It was just white noise and other sounds which are similar to the sounds a baby would of heard while still in the womb. We had it up rather loud and it was very soothing for him and he settled down to sleep alot easier. Newborns are used to alot of noise as the womb is a noisy place so complete silence can be unsettling for them.

Keep up the swaddling too, that will also be very comforting even though it may seem your baby is fighting it.
 
we actually swaddle her and put her in the moses basket all day

i think the problem is - she sleeps too much during the day and stays awake during the night

will go buy some CDs to play during the night to see if baby will sleep better

thx all for the advice
 
newborn babies spend about the first 3 weeks sleeping, eating and pooping... that's it... nothing else. so, it is unlikely that she is sleeping too much during the day.

how often are you feeding? are you breastfeeding or formula feeding?
 
i feed her roughly every 3 hours. tried to breastfeed but don't have much milk so i ended up giving her formula most of the time
 
A baby starts making the difference between day and night by the 3rd/4th week.
You should feed your baby every 3 hours.
A baby will need about 16/20 hours sleep during the 24 hours period. If you baby sleeps too much during the day, don't be surprsied she's up at night.
it's got nothing to do with being scared of the dark ( too young to realize that kind of things.)
I would highly recommend swaddling her and making sure she is fed every 3 hours ( 7pm/11pm/around 2 to 3am/ 6/7am). Try to keep her awake 30 mns after each day feed.

You can pm me if you need more advice.
 
you dont' have much milk BECAUSE you are not breastfeeding. it is a case of demand and supply. the MORE you bf, the more you produce.

i just think that your baby is too young still... relax and go with the flow. all babies cry, it's how they communicate.

if you've eliminated:
wet/dirty nappy
hunger
cold/hot

maybe your baby just wants a cuddle. cuddles to a baby are just as important as food/milk/clothes etc.
 
eddy
do you think all babies are the same?? they're not robots, you know... you can't fit every baby into a rigid schedule.
where do you have the info that babies should be fed every 3 hours at those specific times you mention? what if the baby cries inbetween those set times because she's hungry?
agree with your other points..

babyc
congratulations on your newborn :)
agree with carang.
to add one more thing: you mention that you put baby into moses basket all day. do you also hold her/carry her apart from when you feed/bathe her? maybe she needs more mommy-touch :) don't worry, by carrying her (in a sling/wrap), you won't spoil her! on the contrary, you'll give her a sense of safety and coziness. which baby doesn't like to smell mommy? ;)
you can try to follow a 'schedule' for your baby - but not all babies 'function' this way (in any way, it's really too early right now). so, i guess you need to try and figure out what works best for you and your baby in the coming few weeks and months.
 
i do hold/cuddle my baby a lot when she is awake, but when she is sleeping, i will either put her in the moses basket or my bed and i will sleep with her

i just bought a soothing music CD - go to sleep little baby - hope baby would like it
 
good luck with the cd's.

at 12 days old there is no such thing as "too much sleep". you can try to unwrap a layer, tickle her toes, keep her awake after feeds, but beyond that, a newborn is going to need that sleep!!!

good luck with the cd's.
 
I agree with everyone above, your bub is very young for a schedule - but some do have success with Gina Ford style training. We did a bit of this (our own version, nothing strict) from around two weeks.

Re. white noise, you can also try putting the stereo on to radio and tuning it off a station - our 18 month old still goes to sleep to this as it helps drown out any outside noise.

I did focus on keeping mine awake for short periods after day time feeding, unwrapping like dimsum mum says (but mostly dancing around singing like an idiot..). We also hung black and white photos of family members and the dog from the arches of her play rug. Young babies like black and white very simple imagery and the photos of familiar faces are especially stimulating. Night feeds were kept very low key so as to differentiate.

Maybe try a consistent room / bed for naps and night time for a few days? E.g. moses basket in your room in total darkness.
 
Hi everybody,
my baby is almost 10 months old and she still can't have a deep sleep during the night, every 2-3 hours she wakes up to be fed. it's very tiring, from born to now, i can't have a more than 2 hours consecutively sleep at night....
 
samy-hk,
Same as me, my baby is 9 months old now, she wakes up 3 to 4 times every night, dunno if she feels hungry easily because of breastfeeding.
 
samy-hk, I am so sorry for you. Are you sure that your baby is hungry? I've read that most babies, by nine months, should go the whole night without feeding. My baby is 7 months and likes her milk :smile: but can go at least 10 hours without eating. She dropped her midnight feeding at around 3.5 months. Have you tried just trying to soothe your baby (without feeding) back to sleep?
 
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