Idk how to sleep. Is my baby overtired?

[axo]

My baby has a hard time staying asleep at night. When it gets dark he cries more and he wants his pacifier more. If his pacifier comes out he cries until l put it back in and then the cycle continues, should l let him cry it out until he sleeps. Sometimes he just stays up looking at me and making noise( we bed share, yes I know) He could be changed & fed and then as soon as hes put down he cries and sometimes even when he’s held. He sleeps during the day & wake up to be fed and changed every 3 hours. He just turned a month on Monday.

 

[slateblue]

@axo Babies don’t have a ln understanding of night vs day until about 2 months, but exposing them to more sunlight during the day can help them understand it sooner.

My 5 week old is absolutely overtired. We had one day when his routine was different (we went to get photos) and it’s been hell the last almost 3 weeks. He has wake windows that are far too long and doesn’t sleep for more than 2 hours at a time, but he never slept that long lol. We started doing a night time bottle to really fill him up since he is EBF. He also realllly likes contact napping still do during the day it’s all he wantsn

 

[horsefeathers8899]

@slateblue I second this, OP. Babies will get overtired and scream their heads off at night if they don’t have enough daytime naps. At one month we did sleep, eat, and play. Baby napped for 2 or more hours, then ate, and played until he had been up 45 minutes to an hour (I had to put him to sleep around this time, he did not go to bed on his own). When we started this routine and he napped regularly, there was no more witching hour!! Newborns need to eat every 2-3 hours so absolutely wake them up if they sleep longer than that, unless your pediatrician says otherwise. There’s also something called active sleep.

 

[itsdagis]

@axo My baby girl was also the same and she used to fight with her sleep and tiredness at night. What improved this was exposing her to light and engage with her more during the day. During night time, she will be tired and even when she wakes up I don't talk much except small soothing when feeding her and I rock her to sleep on my chest. It took about 3 days but she now has a routine and somehow is easy to get to sleep during night time.

 

[horsefeathers8899]

@axo How old is baby? They could be hungry. Please don’t leave them to cry. Do you breastfeed? You could let baby latch whenever they want at night, that always calms my LO down.

 

[axo]

@horsefeathers8899 I don’t breastfeed and he’s 1 month. I want to start again when we move

 

[horsefeathers8899]

@axo This is normal newborn behavior. It’ll pass. Do you have someone that you can do shifts with? Like person 1 takes a four hour shift taking care of and holding baby and then person 2. Also, bed sharing isn’t safe if you’re not breastfeeding. I’m not sure if you are aware of that but I would look into the safe sleep 7. I was told by a lactation consultant that babies that little don’t suck on a pacifier because they want comfort, it’s usually because they’re hungry. How many times are you feeding LO a day and how many ounces? If you leave LO to cry, you will damage the trust that he has for you. He will stop crying only because he will learn that no one will come help him. He’s crying because he needs help with something and trusts you to meet his needs, whether that be food, comfort, diaper change, warmth, too cold, etc.

 

[axo]

@horsefeathers8899 Oh ok, I feed him every 3 hours 3ounces. So maybe I should start 4 ounces?

 

[horsefeathers8899]

@axo At that age, we did 2-3 ounces of formula or breastmilk every 2 hours. Maybe try feeding him every two hours instead of three? See if that helps. Is he getting enough stimulation during wake windows? And what do naps/wake windows look like during the day? If you need help relactating, r/breastfeeding is a great resource! Do you know sleep/hunger/disengagement cues? I am a wealth of information if you have any questions I research everything lol

 

[axo]

@horsefeathers8899 Thank you for helping. I stop breastfeeding because he wouldn’t latch and I was having bad baby blues + sleep deprived so I had to find a way for him to not starve but since I will have more help with him because we’re moving closer to family I want to start again. Anyway what can I do to keep him up during the day ? I keep the blinds open

 

[horsefeathers8899]

@axo Keeping the blinds open is a good start! I used to have a little routine of reading a book, singing/talking to him, and then doing tummy time! I would also put him in his little activity center (the kind they lay down on the floor in) so he can stare at things while I heated up some food or something lol. Don’t be hard on yourself! Everything at this age is up to baby completely. Just go with the flow and have very loose expectations. I completely understand the baby blues. We had a lot of trouble breastfeeding at the start and I was so down about it. It’s going great now, though!! If you want ri breastfeed, there’s hope!! If you don’t, that’s okay too!!

 

[christiangal34]

@axo Have you tried sleeping with a light on?

We take shifts where one parent stays awake and has the baby sleep on their chest because otherwise he won't stay asleep either. Would that be an option?

You could try making sure he's exposed to lots of natural light during the day (go outside) so he sleeps less during the day and more at night, but he's also very little so it might take some time before he can distinguish night and day.

 

[axo]

@christiangal34 My sister is the one helping me but I think you’re right even though I heard that keeping a baby awake during the day makes them very cranky at night so that’s why I just let him sleep.

 

[christiangal34]

@axo Oh yeah, I don't mean keeping him awake, just go outside when he's awake, maybe in a stroller. If he falls asleep after 2 minutes that's fine. It might get his circadian rhythm on track.

 

[charmander]

@axo This is biologically normal newborn behaviour, and will be for a while. Just worry about feeding and snuggling that babe and the rest will fall into place as he grows plesee please please do not just let him cry