Mar 10, 2009

3 weeks

So Jake is three weeks old today. Being a Mom is very hard but very rewarding. Jake slept during the day for the first three weeks and not really at night and now he isn't sleeping much during the day or at night. I am still trying to get to know him so its hard to get him on a schedule. He is usually up 3 times at night and it is hard to get him back to sleep. He is lucky he is so cute and that I love him so much because I am exhausted. Maybe some of the Moms out there can give me some advice.

At what age did your baby sleep through the night?
At what age did you get your baby on a schedule?
What was your schedule?
Tips on getting the little one back to sleep after feeding, burping and changing them in the middle of the night?

One good thing is Jake doesn't really cry a lot he is just fussy. He gets really fidgety and fights with his swaddle but if don't swaddle him his arms wake him up..

5 comments:

Robyn said...

I usually had to rock with her a while to get her to go back to sleep.

Michelle Leigh said...

Oh you poor dear. I wish I could tell you it gets better, but I can't. I just don't know! Each of my kids were different. Annika slept through at 3 months and was always an angel baby. Bianca slept through at 13 months, no joke there! She was terrible with naps too. Bennett is iffy still, some nights he goes all night and others he wakes up at 5 or 6 for a bottle.

I think the biggest key to getting them back to sleep is to never let them fully wake. Get them fed right away, change in the middle, burp, feed the rest and then burp really well at the end. Bennett and Bianca slept in their baby papasan for like 3 months because they actually slept in it.

As for a schedule, well I am very diligent about it. At about 3 months I let the baby sleep whenever, but put the girls down during the afternoon nap. It slowly goes from 3 naps to 2 and they are the same every day, not by my doing though.

Bennett usually wakes at 7, naps at 9, wakes at 11, then naps again at 2 or so for an hour or two. You'll get it once it's time for a schedule, now he will just sleep when he wants, that means you sleep too! Best piece of advice I had a hard time following!

Sorry for the novel!

Mary said...

It's so tough.....
I use to try to be as quick and quiet during overnight feedings. Keeping the lights off, not really talking to him, only changing him if he really needed it. Just like Michelle said.....never letting him really wake up. Good Luck! You will get your groove :)

Anonymous said...

Just as you will, I got LOTS of advice (both wanted and unwanted) when my babies were little! The only one that really stuck and held true was that "Sleep begets more sleep." Meaning, good, regular, consistent naps led to better, more restfuly sleep at night, and vice versa. As for how to achieve that . . . yeah, let me know if you figure that one out. (Like Michelle, we let the kids sleep where ever they got the best sleep . . . if that meant their careseat, their bouncy seat, or the swing, that's what it was!)

I agree on not letting him truly wake-up at night . . . I think I stopped changing Maren's diapers at night around 6 weeks (unless it was ungodly wet or she had pooped.) We used only a nightlight, didn't talk, and got it over with as quickly as possible.

As for sleeping through the night . . . you have enough going on - I won't scare you with that one.

Leslie Collins said...

Kim-I know how exhausted you feel. It's hard. Reyna was up A LOT during her first few weeks of life. It was even harder, b/c I was breastfeeding.

I would recommend reading a couple of the sleep books they have out. Baby Wise was my fave. That way, you can take the info you want out of it and create a schedule that works for all of you.


Reyna didn't start sleeping full thru the night until 6 months. I was still feeding her once a night at that point. Scheduling is hard with newborns. They tend to do their own thing.

Try and rest when you can. It does get better and before you know it, things will get easier.