Posted on 02/12/2009 11:00:07 AM PST by Marie
I have a friend with a 2 week old newborn who's starting to loose it. Hubby is in Iraq and the baby is waking up every two hours all night long.
I know there are strategies to help babies, even as little as this one, to start sleeping for 4 or 6 hours at night, but I don't know what they are. (I failed miserably at this with my own kids and my daughter woke up every two hours until she was 15 months old.)
I remember FReepers giving good advice on this issue a few years ago and hope some of you can help now.
Also, any recommended books out there?
Thanks!
I once read that when baby reaches 11 pounds they begin sleeping through the night.
I found this website. http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/sleeping-through-the-night.aspx
yeah, what she said, no solid food for 6 months at least.
Little innards are only equipped to digest breast milk.
keep him/her awake all day.
I also started my twins on cereal as soon as I could - only cereal, not veggies or meats. Helps them sleep longer if you give it mixed in the bottle they have just before they go to bed for the night. Mine did not develop allergies or any other problems by introducing solids before 6 months. Newborns are not going to sleep through the night no matter what you feed them however. Another suggestion is that mom should be napping any time baby is napping if she possibly can.
HELP! How do you get a newborn to sleep through the night?
Pray.
If the mom isn’t working, help her set up a shift of friends to come over during the day, say during normal school hours. During that time, mom can shower, eat a decent meal, and sleep a chunk of time enough to help her through the night. (It’s easier to get help during the night than through the night.) If she is breastfeeding, get her to pump some milk for the daytime feedings so she won’t have to awaken anymore than necessary for her own comfort.
My kids were all over the map but basically I kept them from solid foods for at least four months, had them sleep in a bassinet next to our bed, and generally answered their crying and comforted them as much as possible. Now that they are in their late teens and twenties, I honestly can’t remember significant problems with their sleeping. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, it’s just that the good times crowd out the bad times in our memory.
Most of all, I wish her luck. She needs to use her own intuition, and pray for inspiration on how to comfort this sweet baby spirit on loan from God.
WOW!! Thank you all for the great responses!
The baby is already stretching it out to 3 hours between feedings and I helped her pinpoint some things *she* can do to make the whole thing easier on her. (Like moving the baby into her room for awhile.)
She was making the whole thing way too complicated. The way it was, the baby would cry, she’d have to fully wake up and go to the nursery, nurse the baby for half and hour, tuck him back in, then couldn’t get back to sleep.
I told her to put the baby’s bed next to her’s, nurse the baby in her bed, drift (but not sleep), then move the baby back to his bed. This way she’ll be able to fall back to sleep easier and get a LOT more rest.
I told her that, at 4-6 weeks old, she can start to give comfort only for one of night feeding if he’s not stretching it out on his own. I know that 5-6 hours of interrupted sleep isn’t unreasonable for a 6 week old.
We’re sending over a sitter (my darling daughter) for one day a week so Mom can get 8 straight hours and we’ll do some light housekeeping for her as well.
She’s an inexperienced new mom, but everything she’s going through right now is perfectly normal. I’m sure she’ll be fine. She just needs a bit of help right now.
*This* has been her major issue. He’s falling asleep while nursing. It takes forever and he’s not getting a full meal.
I’ll print out this post for her! Thank you!
I’ll buy her the book ASAP! Thank you!
This sounds a lot like what finally worked for my daughter. I’ll give the new mom a copy of your post for future reference.
I really admire you.
As tough as it was, you got more out of fatherhood than most dads do. As exhausting as it is, there’s nothing like a newborn! :-)
Good point on the gas. It’s easy to miss something as basic as this with a first baby.
I should’ve written that post a bit better. I know that newborns don’t sleep through the night, but I was looking for tips for good bedtime hygeine which could be applied right from the beginning.
My first, I screwed up and she didn’t sleep through the night until she was 15 months old.
My second had miserable colic for four months and NOTHING normal applied to him.
So, this is one area which I feel completely unqualified to offer advice on.
But we can help out and give her some time to rest. I can reassure her that this will pass and pass on the valuable advice given here by some very smart FReepers! Thank you all so much for your input! :-)
Yes that is preferable,in a perfect world, but you try getting 4 hours of sleep in 24.
I've gone on low sleep for an extended period. I've also dealt with a sitter feeding rice ceeal to a baby for the first time before the baby's digestive system was ready for it. Believe me, not worth it in that case!
Mine was just rice cereal too at first. Didn’t introduce other stuff until 3 months of age.
I didn’t say it. I said that’s what doctors say. There’s the advice you get from doctors. Then there’s real life. Sometimes the two are compatible. Sometimes not.
That will be a great help. It's hard to be a new mom--especially with no or little support. Plus if she's got a little bit of baby blues going on--the sleep deprivation will make it worse. Maybe just reassure her that she's doing great and help her out where you can.
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