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!
1. Don’t let them go to sleep from 6 to 11 PM.
2. Put a little oatmeal in their last feeding as close to 11 PM as possible.
3. Don’t jump up the minute they start crying. If they are old enough to sleep through the night, let them cry it out for a little bit. Decide how long you can put up with the crying between you and your hubbie. Set the alarm for that time. Most baby’s who are ready to sleep through the night cry themselves back to sleep after 5 to 10 minutes.
Sound cruel? I had never held a baby in my life when I had my first child and we were not near family. A relative gave me a Dr.Spock book which a lot of people hate now. It is one of the things I actually used out of the book when I became overstressed and it worked like a charm on all of my kids. By three or Four months they were all sleeping through the night or most of the night.
Hire/beg help and sleep then.
We tried every method out there with our first. No luck until he was almost 3—then he suddenly slept like a log. Our second just liked sleeping a lot more, and woke only because she had feeding problems and was hungry. I think the bottom line is that there are no magic solutions, all kids are different, and parenting is tough.
In the South Carolina of my youth, babies were given a device known as a sugar-tit to help them sleep more soundly.
A spoonful of sugar in a cloth, dipped in bourbon.
It also helped with colic.
Um, a 2 week old baby is NOT going to sleep through the night. A 2 week old still needs to eat at least every 2 hours. That should stretch out as time goes by, and every baby is different. But it is unrealistic to expect a 2 week old to sleep through the night.
Now, with that said, I have a 5 week old who sleeps great during the day (2 to 3 hours at a time), but rarely manages 1 hour at a time during the night. 2-3 hours during the night too would be fantastic at this point!
Most babies will not sleep a full night. Wishful thinking. I had one that did not sleep a full night till he was a year-old. The two youngest would sleep about six hours straight at about 3 months.
Since it is the first child, it could be the mom is feeling the new mom jitters. They easily sense that. If I had to go back to it, I would play really soothing music before feeding the baby with breathing exercises. What happened with me since I was nursing, I think I was so nervous I wasn’t producing enough milk. He needed to feed more often. If the mom is sure the baby is getting enough to eat, then the baby probably needs to be cuddled. Sometimes just keeping the baby in the crib and just rubbing his back and talking or singing softly will put them sleep. I would notice every 2 months an increase in appetite due to a growth spurt. I would put the baby down and it would not be too long and the baby was awake again. If the baby is really suckling vigorously than that may mean the child is more hungry that it should be between feedings. Always burp the baby well at each feeding. If you don’t then the baby will feel full when actually it isn’t. It won’t want to eat even though it is still hungry because the air is trying to come up. I wish her the best. The stress of having the husband in the military I’m sure is effecting her. Saint Gerard please help this young mom see what this child needs. God bless your little family..
I nursed both of mine and at night, after their last feeding, I would start them out in their crib. But as soon as they woke for that first feeding I would take them to bed with me, get them sitiated and then fall asleep. I’m a real light sleeper so I heard every noise and felt every movement. I know it isn’t “recomended” - but it worked great for me.
And I got a bit more sleep.
At that age the mom should be on the same schedule as the baby and she needs to sleep everytime the baby sleeps. Someone else needs to help her out with meals and chores.......
I left the first four up to my wife, but due to illness, my fifth was my responsibility. I couldn’t move around much at the time, so at night I would get everything he needed, I got an infant car seat to make a snug little bed for him, and kept him right beside me at night. When he would start crying, I’d feed him, change him, give him all the attention he wanted, and then put him back to bed. By the time he was six months old I loved him so much he could do no wrong, and he was sleeping like a brick. Every time I woke up, I’d check him to see if he needed changing, and then we’d both go back to sleep. So, lets see: Keep lots of diapers, lots of formula (women are better equipped than I am), and give them all the attention they want. Keep them dry and warm, and spend a lot of time thanking God for giving such precious gifts. Every time your friend gets stressed, encourage her to hold the baby and thank Christ for blessing her, and do it as often as it takes to realize just how great a blessing that baby is.
There is no manual. Every kid is different. No one here can tell you how your kid is gonna sleep.
My kid used to cry for hours for nuttin’. Drive ya nuts. Good thing I was already there.He had Colic. This was when I discovered Bose headphones :)
All you can do is make sure they are dry, fed, and warm and when they are ready to sleep the night, they will. As has been pointed out above,Get the baby on a schedule that works in YOUR world. It was only 3 weeks before mine slept through the night.
The trick is the crying part. Sometimes its best to let them cry. Good luck!
I agree with Marie. I have a feeling my child would have been helped with a little cereal. I wouldn’t suggest it before 3 months though. The cereal should be very thin.
They may not cry themselves to death but they can get an ulcer if left to cry. I had a friend who had a baby at 18. Her mama told her to let him cry. By 6 months, he had an ulcer. Young babies cry for a reason and not simply for attention.
A 2 week old needs to eat every few hours. What she needs to do is sleep when baby sleeps, even during the day. Naps for Mom are crucial.
If the baby falls asleep while eating, don’t put it to bed! She needs to keep it awake until it’s so full, milk starts coming out of it’s ears. That will allow the baby to sleep longer stretches.
If he falls asleep, unwrap him, take off his shirt, etc. Make him feel a little chilly and he will eat faster.
When he’s truly full, he will go limp and look like he’s completely wasted. THAT’S when you wrap him up tightly and put him to bed.
You invite relatives or friends overnight.
I have a friend with a 2 week old newborn who’s starting to loose it.
MOMMA OR BABY is looksing it...??>..lol...
a 2 week old rarely sleeps thru the night but we had this problem with ours and it turned out she had colic...
Find Selma Hayak.
As a prior poster said, it’ll be at least 12 lbs or 6 or so weeks old before she can even expect the kiddo to sleep 5 hours a night.
Tell her to take the kid to bed so she doesn’t have to get up (assuming she’s breastfeeding) or if she needs to get up to do the bottle thing, feed & burp the kid and put the kid right back in bed afterwards at night - no playing, very dim lights. The kid needs to eat often when this young.
In another month or two the kid will start sleeping longer and she’ll feel better with those extra few hours a night. There’s just no other way, unless she can get a friend to help out a night or two a week.
LOL.
(You forgot walking)
Conk him/her over the head.
A good martini would do.
Sleep when the baby sleeps.
Thats what Mrs. Rightly Biased did.
Its hard but the rewards go long past the pain.
You will look back on these times and miss them.
Hold your little one while you can you will blink and they will be a teenager that doesn’t like you anymore. Blink again and they are moved off and married.
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