why isn't Adalyn sleeping longer throughout the night? *UPDATE* on Original post

D_J_M_:

Sorry you're struggling, but it's TOTALLY normal for her to be sleeping like that.  I'd say that 4 hour stretches of sleep at 5 weeks old is the exception.  None of mine slept that long at that age.  Yes the lack of sleep sucks, but you just deal with it (says the person who still wakes up at night with her baby about half the time at 10.5 months).

LuvMyMunchkins:

I have put her in bed with me but it's been almost a week since the last time. i'm trying to not let her get used to that and then have her always wanting that and not sleeping any other way.

We do that the 1st few months w/newborns when we're SO sleep deprived and never had a problem switching back to their crib.  I don't think they remember it, kwim? But we don't do it every single night all night, only when we're desperate...:)

quite frankly I think is a matter of luck.

I really don;t believe the formula vs BF one. I exclusively BF my son and he slept very long nights from 6 weeks. he would go around 10 and wake up around 6 or 7 . This is the kid that is 4 years old now and he never woke up in the night... I mean really never..

but that just means being lucky because this time around I might have a different experience even though I might follow the same routine ( I really hope not.. but we never know)

I BF my son often during the day  during first 6 weeks every 2 hr ; 2hr 30 min and at night I would put him to bed right after the bath, gave him breast and to bed.

 Try maybe to change that keep her awake  then do the bath . Usually after bath they drop dead!

lovetorunhard:

Mine never slept that long early on either.  My BF guy especially.  He was up every 2 hrs at night.  The only babies I hear that sleep like that are formula babies that are forced to take more...KWIM

My ped always told me to take their current weight at divide it by 2.  That's how many hrs they should be sleeping in a row at night.  It's always been true for me.  Her stomach is so small right now too.  Sleep is just as important as eating.  I know everyone says to keep them up during the day but I never did that either.  Then they get over tired and fussy and don't know what they want.

Well, Adalyn weighs 9 pounds so if I divide that by two it's 4.5 hours....I wish that was true for me, but as of now it isn't. Ugh. I am just going to let her cry it out for no longer than ten minutes tonight if it's not feeding time and she doesn't have a dirty diaper and see if she'll just go back to sleep for a while longer. I have let her cry it out today and she did for 8 minutes and then fell asleep.

all of you ladies are giving me some great feedback and I appreciate it. I guess some babies are just better sleepers. My son was a great sleeper and he was also born 2 pounds bigger than my DD, so I'm thinking that has a lot to do with it.

I'll just try a few things out and see if they work, if not then I guess the only thing I can do is be patient and just give it time.

LuvMyMunchkins:

lovetorunhard:

Mine never slept that long early on either.  My BF guy especially.  He was up every 2 hrs at night.  The only babies I hear that sleep like that are formula babies that are forced to take more...KWIM

My ped always told me to take their current weight at divide it by 2.  That's how many hrs they should be sleeping in a row at night.  It's always been true for me.  Her stomach is so small right now too.  Sleep is just as important as eating.  I know everyone says to keep them up during the day but I never did that either.  Then they get over tired and fussy and don't know what they want.

Well, Adalyn weighs 9 pounds so if I divide that by two it's 4.5 hours....I wish that was true for me, but as of now it isn't. Ugh. I am just going to let her cry it out for no longer than ten minutes tonight if it's not feeding time and she doesn't have a dirty diaper and see if she'll just go back to sleep for a while longer. I have let her cry it out today and she did for 8 minutes and then fell asleep.

I did that too!  I felt like I had to try everything so I understand.  I think part of trying everything is that you find out about your baby too, what works and what doesn't.  Gosh it was so frustrating and I did a lot of crying myself because I couldn't console him unless I put him to the breast.  I felt like he was premanently attached to my boob LOL.  You will figure her out but it's going to take some time.  Not to scare you but both my boys had blood in their stool...caused by a milk allergy.  The doctor can test right in the office if you bring a diaper.  The blood only means that they have an irritant in their intestine, mostly likely cows milk.  My first I didn't BF and he was on a prescription formula called Ella Care and with my BF one I was dairy free for almost 2yrs.  You won't always see the blood because it's microscopic.  It's quite common.  Keep reflux in the back of your mind too.  You need to explore every possibility with your ped.

Thank you JoAnne, I'll ask her pedi about the possibilities next time she goes in which is in a few weeks.

Hi Erica. I know your pain. I read your other post about colic...you're going thru a lot right now with a tough little being: a newborn. It's TOUGH.

Especially with a second child, I think it's hard. Sometimes we compare too much with our previous. I know I did, and my two boys are both boys, but polar opposites in all ways. I was spoiled rotten by my DS1 who slept thru the night at 3 weeks. My DS2 took 4 months! I'd feed her on demand, don't worry if it's not "feeding time" since schedules can't always be followed and work, ex w/ newborns. In my experience: My DD is a tough sleeper, and if I overfeed her she spits up and we move on. But I always offer milk and try. I BF for only 1 month since I needed my sleep (I have 2 active toddlers plus her to juggle by myself all day long). Anyways, I switched to gentleease formula, and she took to it, and then she was still waking up often. What I did was I'd go to bed on my couch right outside her room. Then when she woke up, I'd make a bottle, and lay her in her portable car seat thingy. Anyways, she got in, and I propped a bottle with some blankets, and I laid right there next to her to monitor. She'd eat, fall back asleep, and I'd let her sleep in it.

I don't care about what books or doctors say: neither is getting up with her in the middle of the night, ykwim? I did this with both my boys and it worked, they're fine. M

But all other things aside, try to hold her a little less and let her stretch out more, since she might be getting held/swaddled/rocked too much. She might need some time to lay out on her own.

Well we had a pretty good night last night!! I put her to sleep in her crib in her room last night (she's been sleeping in a bassinet right by our bed) and I think being in her own QUIET room is what did the trick mainly. She still woke up every 3 hours but it was better than every hour or hour and a half and she even went back to sleep when I fed her at 4 AM which she is usually wide awake. She woke around 5:15 and since she had just eaten an hour before I put her passy in her mouth and she fell back asleep until 6:40 and then since I had to be up for the day anyways I got her up, changed her diaper and fed her and she stayed awake for a little bit and is ow back asleep about an hour later. I hope she at least can continue this routine and hopefully the sleep stretches will increase.

fata:

quite frankly I think is a matter of luck.

I really don;t believe the formula vs BF one. I exclusively BF my son and he slept very long nights from 6 weeks. he would go around 10 and wake up around 6 or 7 . This is the kid that is 4 years old now and he never woke up in the night... I mean really never..

but that just means being lucky because this time around I might have a different experience even though I might follow the same routine ( I really hope not.. but we never know)

I BF my son often during the day  during first 6 weeks every 2 hr ; 2hr 30 min and at night I would put him to bed right after the bath, gave him breast and to bed.

 Try maybe to change that keep her awake  then do the bath . Usually after bath they drop dead!

ITA.  My first did have some formula in the beginning and he didn't sleep any better...he still ate every 2 hrs at night. But was exclusively bf again at 12 wks and sleeping 12hrs.  Ds2 was a bit heavier at birth and started giving me longer stretches earlier...exclus. bf.  DD is 1wk old and exclusively bf and is doing about 3hr stretches atm.  Though that could change, lol. I just think it depends  on the baby.  You really have to make sure you take time for naps!!  I say this realising, though, that can be hard as I'm supposed to be napping right now. lol.  hope you get more sleep soon.

Adalyn slept a 5 hour stretch last night!!! I put her to bed at 9:30 and she didn't wake up until 2:30! I'm ecstatic, however, she did start getting fussy at 4 and after an hour and 15 minutes of putting her passy in her mouth every 15 minutes, I put her in bed with me where I just did the same thing for an hour until she finally fell asleep again.

LuvMyMunchkins:

Adalyn slept a 5 hour stretch last night!!!

Yes, I gave her formula and didn't feed her again until we got up at 7:30

LuvMyMunchkins:

Yes, I gave her formula and didn't feed her again until we got up at 7:30

I feed her my breast milk in a bottle during the day. She eats anywhere from 2 to 3 oz every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day. I pump twice a day and am still able to produce about 3 to 4 bottles and she drinks 4 to 5 of my breast milk during each day. I start the formula for her bedtime feeding at 9/9:30 and I make 4 oz bottles but she only eats 2.5 to 3 oz usually. She has eaten the entire 4 oz only one time and that was a few days ago. When we get up for the day in the morning that's when I start the breast milk again, so the whole night at every feeding I give her formula and this is the first night she slept that long at one time. I also started putting her in her crib in her room instead of in her bassinet in our room and she sleeps so much better in there. Maybe it's the noise factor in our room that was giving her restless nights. Last night was the second night she slept in her room. I hope it just continues to get better. Also I have been using Dr. Brown bottles and they seem to help with her gas a lot. I really hope our little ones start sleeping well for us and maybe if you switch a few things us with your DS he'll start sleepign better. Believe me, I have been trying something new every night until moving her into her own room finally worked for us. It's trial and error I suppose. Good luck!