Sleeping - Groton, CT

Try playing with her to keep her awake during the day time. That is what I did to my son. Who will be 3 months May 6th. LOL I play with him so he doesn't fall asleep. Then I put him down for a nap when i am ready for him to nap. Then I wake him up if he is sleeping to long. Then I give him a feeding between 9 and 10. And then sleeps until 2 or 3 and wakes up at 7. So it worked for me. Then again all babies are SO different. A friend of mine, her baby 3 months on the 3rd of May, sleeps 12 hours and has been since birth. So i jsut thought I would share with you what I did to make my son sleep. He too was sleeping all day and then feeding every 2 hours at night.

I know it is hard but for now you will just have to go with the flow...this too will pass! I do not think it is a good idea to attempt to alter your daughters sleep patterns, doing so may backfire on you anyway. The best advise is to sleep as much as you can while she is napping, no excuses! The other thing you can try is to have her nap in lighted and noisey environments in the daytime, while keeping it dark and very quite at night. Hang in there!

Hi there,

I would say that since she is so very young, it's probably safest and best to not try to alter her sleep-feeding schedule yet. Those first 6 months are very hard, I really feel for you and how exhausted you must feel. However, your baby is following her biological imperative in waking you up frequently at night. Believe it or not, your body actually produces the richest and most growth-encouraging milk at night (between 1 - 5AM!!), which is why babies instinctively wake during those hours to nurse. It's dreadfully hard on mothers, but it makes for healthy babies.

At around 6 months, when many babies start trying out solids, the sleep-feeding start to really improve and you can start actively working on having her sleep for longer stretches at night (even through the night). But for now, while she is still an infant, I would not risk tampering too much with her schedule. That being said, there are a few things that you can do to get more sleep.

1) Nap when baby naps. Forget about household chores; Mommy needs rest, too. If you have any friends or family or a nice teenage neighbor, try to arrange for someone to come over and do a load of laundry or wash some dishes while you nap. This will help SO MUCH.

2) Have your partner help with night feedings. When baby wakes in the night for a feeding, your partner gets her, changes her if needed, and brings her over to you in bed, so you can doze a bit while she feeds. Either of you can put her back to sleep.

3) Co-sleeping. If baby is in a co-sleeper crib attached to your bed, or even in bed with you, this will make night-feedings easier and more restful, so that everyone can get back to sleep more quickly.

Good luck, you are on the right track!

Hi J., You are figuring just right. She will figure it out all on her own as long as you keep nursing her whenever she needs to and keep letting her sleep whenever she needs to because she is so young. The great thing about a baby 6-9 months old and younger is that they only do exactly what their body needs and demands. So if she needs to sleep at an odd time, then that is what her body is asking for. If she needs to eat at odd times, then the same applies. Once you start trying to dictate her feedings and sleeping at this young of an age then her body looses it's sense of meeting it's needs. You should defintely catch a quick nap here and there while she is sleeping. Hang in there, we all feel for you.-H.

hi! Two months old is a bit young still...I know it stinks to get up during the night. The only advice I would give is that don't let her nap more than three hours a nap...that is what I have read. I reccomend reading Happiest baby on the block.

You are exactly right.... it will change at her own rate. You can encourage it by waking her from her naps after 2 hours rather than letting her sleep the 3 hours. I know its a nice break during the day and we all feel guilty waking a sleeping baby but sometimes for the sake of sleeping a little longer - you have to.

Something to keep in mind though - dont unrealistically expect her to sleep through the night at any point. My dd is 15 mos and still wakes 1x a night.

Do you formula feed her? If so, is it possible to let her stay in her bed while you give her a bottle so that she doesnt expect to be picked up right away?

If you breastfeed, is it possible to lay her beside you while you nurse so that, again, she doesnt expect to get up immediately?

Its hard at 2 mos to have them sleep a long time though. At 2 mos - I think my dd slept maybe a 3 -4 hour stretch from 7 pm to 11 pm and then was up every 2 - 2 1/2 hrs during the night. But I breastfed and did the co-sleep (which I am not nessecarily recommending) but it made it easier for myself.

Also during the day - let a little light in (not that it really matters at that age) but maybe she will be less likely to sleep longer during the day - if its not as "dark" as the night time.

Good luck.

Maybe during the day you should try to play with her a bit and try forcing her into a morning nap schedule and an afternoon nap schedule and play with her when she is awake. The more you keep her up during the day the longer she will sleep during the night. Although she still is a little peanut you might want to try to get her to get her last feeding at 10 or 10:30 p.m. to see how long she goes from that point. If you feed her at say 5:30 or 6 then let her hang out while you eat dinner. I know at this stage you would love to get a good 5 hours sleep at night .. it will all come into place .. by 12 - 14 weeks you should have her on some what of a good schedule, as well as yourself.

I agree with the others...try to wake your baby after 2.5 hours so she can begin feeding at 3 hours (or less). Then at night keep things dark and quiet....do not wake her for feedings(as long as she is a good weight) then when she does wake to eat keep the lights dim and things quiet.

And as you mentioned...she will change her pattern at her own rate. 2 months is still young...by 3-4 months you will find you will both be in a good schedule.

Hi J., I just saw a book this morning on getting babies to sleep naturally and longer -- it was called something like "Babies 90 Minute Sleep (something". If you go to Barnes & Noble.com and put "babies" and "90 minutes" in the search box, I'll bet it will come up. Then read about it and see if you think it will help. Best wishes. E. Taft

J., I'm a first time Mom too, and my daughter (who is now 7 mos) would do the same thing, she totally had nights and days reversed, but in our case, she wouldn't sleep at all between midnight and 6 am! Anyways, she didn't figure out night and day until after she was 3 mos old, and then it was sort of all of a sudden. When she was about 4 mos old I was given the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child", I think it is by Dr. Weissbluth (It is mentioned a lot around these boards), and I wish I had read it when my baby was young like yours, it totally explains what babies are capable of and what they are not, and that it is totally normal for them to be reversed until about 3 months. Also, if you are breastfeeding, your milk is more abundant overnight, so she probably adjusts to that as well, seeing as she is so little and needs to eat more frequently. Try that book out, it was a life saver for me. And you're right, she WILL figure it out on her own rate. Good Luck!

Hi J.,
Do yourself a favor and get the sleep book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. As a mom of 6, soon to be 7, I have used it over and over at every age and stage, and it has always worked for me. With that being said, two months is still young to be on a real schedule, and not uncommon for them to have day and night reversed. Things I did to help were to have them nap in a bright, public area of the house, where it tended to be louder, and not as conducive to long naps. Granted, with all my kids, that's pretty easy to achieve! Then at night, they were in their cradle, and I maintained quiet and darkness. It still takes time though. If you're nursong, I would try waking her after two hours or so, and stimulating her a little bit before nursing, and after, to give her some real awake time. Sometimes this is easier said than done. I often had to undress mine to wake them up. In the meantime, I would recommend that you nap when she naps, even if it means neglecting chores or whatever. That way, you're not totally sleep-deprived. And if you get that book, it will walk you through step by step how to develop a great sleep schedule for her. Enjoy that precious little girl!

I read a book that said that you should follow this schedule during the day to get your child to sleep better at night.

Feed every 3 hours during the day. Do not let the baby go to sleep unless it has been 2 hours since the last time she woke up. Play/stimulate her to keep her awake. And always wake her up if it is time for the feeding.

I did this, but had to adjust the feedings especially (my daughter did not want to eat every 3 hours, she was more like 3 1/2-4 hours). Otherwise it worked out really well. Now at not even 6 months old my daughter is sleeping through the night 7:30-6.

I read a book called "On Becoming Babywise" with my second that I wish I had known about with my first. It recommends keeping a routine that follows like this - sleep, eat, play... The biggest thing being not to let the baby fall/stay asleep while nursing/eating. And at 2 months, "play" might just mean changing her diaper after she nurses/eats to stimulate her a little bit and then let her fall back alseep on her own. The purpose for this is that it helps them set a schedule and rework their days and nights. My girlfriends son was sleeping 10 hours over night at 9 weeks with this book. I was not so fortunate, but I didn't start reading it until mine was 10-11 weeks old anyway. Also, the book that Colleen recommends is also great for sleeping stuff too. I LOVED that book. I will say, though, that at 2 months its not uncommon that they don't sleep much through the night anyway, but I know you're just wanting her to go the longer stretches at night instead of day at this point. Another recommendation I would have, if you can, is to have her sleep outside your room. When I finally put my son's bassinet in the hallway outside our door, that also helped in a HUGE way to help his sleep stretches. But I do HIGHLY recommend the book "On Becoming Babywise" for the immediate, and also "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" for the near future. I think at 2 months, they don't expect the average baby to be able to necessarily stay awake for two hours like one of the other posts recommends, but by 4 months they should for sure...

Anyway, hope that helps!! It certainly helped me!

Just do what you said - reverse it! Feed her every 2-2 1/2 hrs during the day, and you will get the 3-4 hr stretches at night. That worked beautifully for me. It also starts to teach her the difference between night and day. Good Luck, I promise it gets easier!