6 Week Old Will Not Sleep at Night.

Add a little bit of baby rice cereal to his formula, it will thicken it up just a little bit so he'll feel more full and sleep longer. You could also try getting a cd with soothing sounds and play it while he sleeps. That used to help my son.

Hi A.---I agree with the other moms that 2 to 3 hrs sounds about right and he's going to wake up when he's hungry regardless of any 'tricks' you try to employ.

But, having said that, I have the great honor of working with Dr. Bill Sears, a pediatrician from California. You might know him as contributing advice in Baby Talk and Parents magazines. He and his RN wife have written over 30 books. He also has a great website for advice at www.askdrsears.com. I'd bet he has some sleep advice for you, you might even be able to ask the ? and he'd reply.

If I can ever be of any other help, please let me know. Good luck, this won't last forever. D. ###-###-####
www.dianeshealthed.com

None of my kids slept thru the night at that age - one not till she was 18 months! Sounds normal to me. Babies know what they need.

Hello, A.! I can remember when my kids were 6 wks old (they are now 12 and 8)..but this is normal. As your baby grows older, though, just keep to a "routine" during the night..regular bed time, that type of thing. As your baby grows older, the nighttime sleeping should normalize. I also worked full time. Are you breastfeeding? If so, this is what I did..I bottled breast milk (keep in fridge) and my mom or someone else would come over and take care of the baby while I caught some zzzz's. Have your other children take care of some things around the house, as well.

I recommend "Happiest Baby on the Block". We had the hardest time with my daughter and this DVD (there is a book too) was a life saver. She started sleeping 4-5 hours at a time once we started using the program.

Hi A.,

Congratulations on with expanding the family! I'm not sure if the baby is waking is waking up because he's hungry or not because you don't mention that in your message. But just in case he's waking up and you're feeding him, try giving the baby a few ounces (tablespoons) of cereal in his last bottle at night to assist with holding him over for a few extra hours. I remember those days, and I know that even if the baby sleeps for an extra hour it feels like more. It may be against doctors advice, but I always say do what works for you. It doesn't do any harm to the kids in the long run.

Best of luck with that, and Happy Holiday's!

A.

Hi A. -

Sorry, but I'm with the few other Moms below me. When babies are that young, they still need to eat every three hours or so. I've read and heard that the rule of thumb is once they weigh about 12 pounds they will begin to (or can at least) sleep longer or through the night completely. My boys (I have triplets! that wasnt' fun in those early months) didn't begin sleeping for longer stretches until they were about 3 or 4 months old.

If you put your baby to bed around 7 or 8, you might want to wake him up at 1000 or 1100 to feed him one more time before you go to bed. Maybe he'll sleep longer then. And hello dear hubby - I hope he is helping too? If you are both working and as long as you don't mind your son getting a bottle, there is no reason why you and hubby can't take turns....

Good Luck
Dana

A., one thing I have not seen any one mention yet is that he is a BIG baby! My children were all big also. At the size he is - check with your pediatrician, but it may be OK to put a bit of cereal in his bottle later at night. We were doing that with our kids. (Our smallest was 8lbs and 10 oz our biggest 9lb and 14 oz at birth!) The joke was they were 3 months old at birth and they ate like it! We actually started with the cereal about 5 weeks old - but only at night as their body size needed more nutrition.

Good Luck!!

Of course not! You have a new baby and babys do what they do! You have a very full plate. I hope you might find a relative to help you out for a few weeks until your baby starts sleeping longer. Someone that can stay in the room with the baby and help with your whole situation. Good Luck.

Sorry I don't have any advice.

My son was up every 3 hours to nurse. I remember the first time he slept for 5 hours straight, it was like some sort of miracle!

I can imagine it's hard to be back at work with NO sleep.

One thing I did was kept my son in a bassinet next to me along with all of his diaper changing supplies. When he woke up I would nurse and change him right in bed w/o even getting up or turning a light on. Sometimes I would even doze while he was eating. This made it much easier for me to fall right back to sleep.

I hope you get some well deserved sleep soon!

Like many posters have said, I think this is pretty normal... My daughter didn't start sleeping for long stretches of time until closer to 12 weeks (and she was a big baby too - born weighing 8 lbs, 12 oz). If you have the baby in his or her own bedroom, it might help to put him or her in a bassinet in your room so that when the baby DOES wake up, you don't have as far to go to feed or soothe... I'm not a big fan of co-sleeping for my family however I did keep my daughter in our room until about 12 weeks and it was a big help...

It's not unusual for any 6 week old baby to sleep only 2 1/2-3 hours at night. Especially at 6 weeks, most babies go through a "grow". He is big and hungry and probably can't eat enough at one time to hold him over any longer. You sound extremely busy anyway, even without your newborn and the lack of sleep must be stressful...this too shall pass, hang in there. You didn't say if you are breast or bottle feeding...maybe hubby could help with one feeding at night? If you are breastfeeding, so much activity could be affecting your milk supply.

You've gotten great advice already, but I just wanted to add as well that that is a normal sleep pattern for a 6 week old. I would not expect him to be sleeping through the night. It's an exhausting time, but it will pass quickly. Just hang in there!!!

He is a little young to sleep much longer than that. If other people's children have, it isn't necessarily the norm. Each child of course is different, but at 6 weeks a 2-3 hour rest between feeding is absolutely normal and there isn't a whole lot you can do to change that. Are you nursing? or giving formula? I know it's rough on sleep and trying to work.. plus it says you're in school... with two other children... wow!! I would definitely suggest enlisting help! Can you and hubby take turns with night feedings... and possibly a nap when returning home from work... Hang in there... the time will increase slowly but surely... welcome back to babydom!
Take care

wait... when he is older and bigger he will sleep at night. If you are nursing he needs to eat every 3 hours.

My kids didnt sleep through the night for a year.

someday they are just older and bigger and sleep through he night.

I started sleep training at 5 weeks old with my son, and by the time he was 6 weeks old we got him sleeping 5-6 hour stretches.

My first question is, do you breastfeed? If so, you'll have to continue the 2-3 hours to keep your milk supply up, unless if you pump and someone else can do the night feeding?!

But what we did for getting our son to sleep longer is making sure he had adequate naps during the day. At 6 weeks old, your baby should be getting 16 hours of sleep within a 24 hour period. Based off of that we would read his sleepy cues like yawning, rubbing eyes, tired cries, slow blinks, slowed down activity, etc. When he did that we would get him ready for a nap. The other thing we did is create a bedtime routine - bath, feeding, story, cuddle time, rocking with lullabies. When we put him down to go to sleep, we made sure that he was going down drowsy but awake, so if he started to shut his eyes during cuddle time or rocking, I would lay him in his crib. He cried for a little bit, but after 3 days, he got used to it. I gave him his pacifier to soothe himself to sleep. Once he started learning to put himself to sleep, it saved me from hours of trying to get him to sleep and put him back to sleep in the night... so when he got those arousals in the night time, he learned to put himself back to sleep. 5 hours or 6 hours was WAY better than 2-3.

I work too, so I know that 2-3 hours really sucks! :P

Hi A.,

I'm really sorry that you are so tired. I know how tough it is. I was a single parent when I went back to work at 6 weeks, and my son didn't sleep through the night.

How long have you been back to work? There is a possibility he is making up for lost time during the day with you, by waking up at night. If that's the case, it shouldn't be too much longer. Mine only did that for a week or two and then was sleeping in large blocks again.

However the bare bones truth is that he's being a normal 6 week old. Many children that young don't sleep through the night, and at most will only sleep for 5 hours.

Just try to keep your head up at work, and as soon as you can at night go to bed. It wont be like this for long.

Dear A.!!

Congratulations with baby #3! They definately turn your world upside-down!

Ihope that you're picking up from most of the other moms that sleep/eating every 2-3 hours is normal behavior for 6 weeks old (my 9lb 9oz son didn't sleep through the night until he was 11 weeks old!!! But my daughter came home from the hospital sleeping 5 hour stretches.. who says God doesn't have a sense of humor??)

So maybe it would be good to focus on how to help you take care of yourself and get enough sleep. Maybe have hubby help with one of the night feedings so you can sleep. Maybe pay your older child to babysit for a few hours in the evening so you can catch up on some rest?

I personally didn't start co-sleeping until I had my 4th child.... but I wish I would have with the other 3!! When you have your baby in bed with you (especially if you are breast feeding) you get such a better sleep (at least I did!) When baby is hungry, you can nurse while you are still comfortable. It was a great experience!

I hope that you found this helpful... and have a Merry Christmas!!
Peace,
B.

This is a totally normal amount of sleep. There are just a couple of thoughts, if he is breast feeding, then make sure that the daycare is feeding him every 2 hours (not 2 1/2 or eve 3). I would really push this since some daycare providers have their own ideas of when and how much to feed a newborn (I never did get my family to believe that the baby should eat this often, when they fussed they would hold them and do everything and I mean everything to calm and comfort the child, except feed him). Many people, especially people who didn't have breast milk babies believe that they should eat every 3 to 4 hours, and they will not budge, IF THE BABY EATS ENOUGH DURING THE DAY, THEY WILL NOT BE HUNGRY AT NIGHT. A formula baby should be going 3 to 4 hours without being hungry though.

OPTION 2: I noticed that you have a 12 and 4 yr old. The 12 yr old is old enough to babysit for a couple of hours so that you can nap in the evening when the baby is sleeping. This might be your life saver. Offer to pay him/her either babysitting wages or with something special. Or not, I would just so that they can learn about work and earning money. Don't do anything around the hosue when you are home from work, except eat, sleep, and feed baby. Let everyone else handle the 4 yr old, if you are the one getting up in the night with the baby, then you absolutely need to do this, it won't last long.

A. this is something that you will have to decide if it's right for you and your son. My DD was the same way till we started laying her on her belly to sleep. She slept much better that way and I was able to get a few more hours of sleep. It was a very hard and scary decision but one we felt was right for us. Good luck!

Are you nursing or giving formula? If nursing, try giving a little formula before bed. If already on formula, try upping the amount given by an ounce to an ounce and a half. It will get easier, it's just early yet.

are you co-sleeping? if not, it is the way to go. I did it with both of my girls. there is a ton on info on the web about it. you can try www.mothering.com to search for info/article. baby feels much more secure since he is next to you. he might be feeling vulnerable in a crib away from you.

That's what 6 week old babies are supposed to do! ;) You could set a clock by one of my twins--he'd wake every 3 hours ON THE DOT for months and months.

6 weeks old? I can't imagine any 6 week old baby sleeping through the night. Getting up during the night is part of the package this little angel comes with. He has needs at night.

I apologize if I sound rude, because I don't mean to. But I think you need to sit down and think about the priorities. Hubby too because this is also his baby. Re assess things. Was the planning off just a little bit maybe? I mean you knew you were having a baby. Maybe it should've been the time to take your classes online or put it off a semester in order to attend to the baby's needs in the early stages and THEN put a little more attention into your classes.
Hey I'm all for expanding the education and all, but I also feel that putting too many eggs in one basket isn't going to work for the best of all involved. Hubby IS doing his part, right?

3 hours at a time soumds about right for a 6 week old. I went back to work at about 12 weeks and neither one of mine were sleeping more than 3-4 hours at a time - and didn't for a while after. With one of our kids, he stayed up and fed them around 11 and I got up at 3, and I think he did the one in the morning before work (6:30-7:00). With the other one, we were on a slightly different schedule and I fed around 10, then he got up at 2-ish, and I fed him again around 5-6 before I got ready for work. After a while, we were able to move him towards eating more toward midnight and 4 and then he could make it until we got to daycare to eat again at 8.

Hope this helps -
J.

Hi A.,
That sounds normal to me. My husband and I took turns getting up at night. He is the night owl so he would feed the boys at late at night and then I would get up with them when they woke up again usually around 3ish. Then we would be up when they woke in the morning. That way we both got a significant amount of sleep before having to wake to feed. Just remember it goes fast. It may not seem like it but it does. Good luck.
Chris

Unfortunately that is normal. I would have loved it if my daughter would have slept 3 hours at a time at 6 weeks. It should get better... my daughter was sleeping about 5-6 hours a night by 10 weeks and at only about 7.5 lbs.