OK, so an 8 week old probably does NOT have any sleep habits, but I'd love some advice.
She is DD#2, and DD#1 was the WORST Sleeper until she was a year old (napped for only 40 min at a time, went down to one nap at 9 mos old, and woke at 4:30am to start the day for months on end!) We actually ended up using a sleep clinic for her - and hence why it took me 3 years to want another child. LOL. She is now a great sleeper!
So, with that being said, my 8 week old sleeps from 8pm - 3am - a good stretch, and then from there on out sleeps 45 min at a time. she'll wake at 3am, I will fed her, change her, burp her, put her down, and she is back asleep around 4:30am. YEP - takes that long. Then she is up at 5:15. She will drink only a little, fall asleep around 6:00, and up again around 7:00am. Down for a nap at 9:00ish., up by 10, down again at noon, and this time will sleep til 1:30, and then is up and in and out of sleep til bedtime at 8pm. Sleeps til 2/3ish and it starts all over again.
Basically I am getting up at 2:30am every day. UGH. A lot of times she is up, but not hungry.
No, I cannot sleep when she sleeps, I have a 3.5 year old too.
Yes, she is swaddled, yes we use white noise and room darkening shades.
Any thoughts on getting her to sleep longer stretches, would be great. She sleeps in my room with me and DH either in thre co-sleeper or in our bed. NO, sh does not sleep longer with us! UGH. thoughts?
I second the "dreamfeed" recommendation (feed her without waking her right before you go to bed). As well as the loading her up with feeding before bedtime ie "tanking up". Try to get as much in her as possible before bed.
That said, I think 8 weeks is simply to early to expect much as far as schedules/sleeping go. Another few weeks should make all the difference.
Hang in there and congrats!
Does she have a pacifier? around that age, mine was able to find her paci by herself. at 8 weeks, I gave her 5 mins before running in there..sometimes they just wake up and dont know how to sooth themselves back to sleep..the pacifier was great for us. we also have an aquarium in her crib (the play kind) and she was able to sooth herself back to sleep by turning it on herself (but I dont think she did that til she was around 3 months old)
Only other thing I can suggest is to be consistant. If she is not hunger, not dirty and no pain(mine had terrible gas and woke from that) then I say giving her 5 or 6 mins when she wake is fine.
Good luck...this too shall pass :)
My second son did something similar.. good long stretch in the first part of the night, then awake every hour and a half after 3:30 or 4. Be thankful for the 8-3! You might also want to adjust your own sleeping during this season of her life until "this too has passed" and get to bed earlier. Don't bother changing her if she hasn't pooped. Do you have a swing? You could try having her swing-sleep through the early morning. Two of my guys loved the swing, only one of them would take a pacifier. What has worked for me each time is to focus on how long the baby is awake at a time during the day. If she's awake for 90 minutes, it's time for her to go back to sleep. Don't worry so much about whether it's 8am or 8:45. She will fall into a good predictable daytime schedule all on her own by doing that. Nighttime will fluctuate until she's 9-12 mos old. My 3rd is 5 1/2 mos. old and has gone from sleeping through the night back to waking every three hours (time to start the solid food, I think!!).
Contrary to mainstream belief, babies DO NOT and should not sleep through the night. They have very little bellies, get hungry and need to eat. Also if you are breastfeefing, nursing at night is crucial for keeping up your milk supply(prolactin levels are highest during this time. Babies should still be feeding every 2-3 hours even at night. Check out askdrsears.com and le leche league www.lll.org for more info. Just nurse before they fully wake at night(easiest if they are right next to you) it makes it so much easier.
I have two daughters and they were both very different. I read "The Baby Whisperer" and "Contented little baby", both conflicting at times but it did explain some of the sleep patterns and feed patterns and why they were happening and how to stretch out naptimes and feedings. I basically tried to keep my little one as active as possible in the day with specific "play times" and times to have less stimulation, this even meant putting them down awake when they were not tired but it did work somehow.Some of the "routines" were too full on for me but they did help me work out more of a schedule to avoid my baby sleeping too much in the daytime and constantly "cat napping" I do remember at 8 weeks them both going though a growth spurt and sleeping better at night, it was the turning point so I hope thats the same for you! Goodluck!
It could just be a phase as a result of a growth spurt. My youngest is now 14 weeks, but around the age of your baby she would wake up at 2am and stay up 'power feeding' for at least 2 hours. She's now on a different schedule, sleeps for about 5-6 hours, then up at increasing intervals (meaning, she'll go 5 hours before her next feeding, then 3, then 1 until morning). I figure she knows what she needs more than I do :)
Hopefully it'll get better as she gets older, I know it did for me. Till then, hang in there and don't feel guilty if you need a caffeine infusion in the morning to function - I know I don't!! lol
I wouldn't change her in the middle of the night, unless it's a poopy. If she is breast fed, you do not need to burp her. Just a couple of thought, because I found that changing and burping woke my kids up. If I just fed them and put them back down I had better success at getting them back to sleep faster.
we used to wake my daughter up around 10pm... for another bottle then she'd go back to sleep til 6/7amis..... treat 8 - 10pm like a nap....by 5 mos.... start cutting this nap down by 15 - 30 minutes or try to move it earlier - like 7:30 - 9:30.... then 7 - 9. eventually it worked out to by 10 weeks she was sleeping 10pm - 7am. by 20 weeks she was a 8 - 8 sleeper.
wake 7amins
nap 10-12am
lunch
nap 5 -7ish
dinner/tub
bed time 9
then start cutting the morning nap down to 1 hour.
and then afternoon nap is 4-6ish
bed at 8.
as the morning nap starts to dwindle - and by 12 - 18 most should be eliminated the afternoon nap should move earlier - and be able to keep bedtime about 8ish.
