South Africa Travel

Question:

>My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then sleeping >most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly >appreciated. >                                                    RLY II

You have two issues: feeding every hour is one, and having his days and nights reversed is the other.   Is he actually feeding every hour, or do you only get an hour between feedings.  There’s a difference.  My first child was a month early (even though he was 7 lbs.) and it seemed he fed every hour at first too.  Actually, he fed about every two hours, but the changing and the nursing took nearly an hour.   The baby’s pediatrician should be able to give you an idea of how long between feedings the newborn can go, based on the child’s overall size, health, and growth rate.   The day/night reversal is quite common.  First, baby must not be allowed to sleep all day.  A few days of hard work entertaining baby (even waking baby from long naps) during the day are worth it in the long run.  Then, keep a bare-minimum night-light in the room where baby is fed and changed at night.  Just enough light so you don’t poke baby with a pin.  Don’t turn on any other lights.  When the baby snuffles around, don’t rush in immediately.  Wait until you’re sure baby will not settle back to sleep.  Then be AS BORING AS POSSIBLE! Feed and change baby, but no talking, no singing, no walks around the house, no rides in the baby swing.  No nothing.  Boring.  Warmth, food, yes.  Midnight partying, no.  After feeding and changing, baby goes back to bed.   FLAME ALERT!!  The following may generate all sorts of dire warnings and predictions of disaster!  Read at your own expense: Some babies just won’t go back to sleep in their beds.  If there is nothing wrong with the baby (not colicky, not ill, etc.) and it just will not go back to sleep in its bed, you may be tempted to rock baby, walk baby, sing songs to baby, pat baby’s back, do ANYTHING to get baby to go to sleep.  The trouble is, this may be interpreted by the baby as partying.  Some people say, let the baby cry it out.  I could never stand that with a newborn.  Sometimes the baby will sleep if you take it into your bed with you.  (Here come the flames…)  Again, no talking, no playing around, no lights on, etc.  With my three kids, that was all it took.  If they started snuffling around, I’d reach over and pat them and say "night-night".  By around two to three months, all three of our kids were sleeping in their own beds through the night.  But other people have had a difficult time getting their kids out of their beds, so it’s a tricky choice. Good luck.  It doesn’t last forever, but it sure does seem like it at the time.  The first time my oldest slept for six straight hours one night, I thought he had to be dead!  He’s 15 now and still only goes two hours between feedings…   Dale Hill

Response:

>My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then sleeping >most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly >appreciated. >                                                    RLY II

Hi You might try to interact more with newborn during the day. (i had to do that with my soon really try) you might get better results but its a newborn so you will have to expect to get up at night for 2 weeks to 4 weeks till baby learns to adjust and sleep through the night If your newborn is a breastfeed baby then they tend to want to be close to mommy but if not mabey increase feeding a little more at night.. Wake baby up before you or your wife go to bed and feed newborn that sometimes helps good luck! Anita mom to Courtney(4) Sean jr(2.5) Stephanie (7month)  * JDS Mail & News

Response:

> >My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then > sleeping >most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly >appreciated. >                                                       RLY II >I went thru this with my first son…..I never did get him switched

around. He would nurse for just awhile and nothing I could do would wake him up. He just grew out of it.  Sort of.

Response:

> My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then sleeping > most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly > appreciated.

You might like try getting her to change her day/night schedule around by waking her every couple of hours during the day and feeding her then. This could help her to go longer during the night.  This worked beautifully with my daughter – but had absolutely no effect on my son! Best of luck Annalise — Annalise Abraham                   phone : +27 31 2616370

Response:

Well,……that’s what you get into when you decide to have parents.   You baby doesn’t care about YOUR schedule.  She/he does what is natural.  So just wait it out……eventually….by keeping the lights down/off at night when he/she wakes up and keeping visual stimulation to a minimum…..he/she will get the idea that night time is not very exciting…..and eventually he/she will decide that day time is where it’s at.  Good luck with the pipsqueak. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then sleeping > most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly > appreciated. >                                                    RLY II

Response:

> My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then sleeping > most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly > appreciated.

I put my battery operated swing in the bedroom – feed her, tucked her in, turned her on. She was fine and it only took a couple of days to switch her around.

Response:

My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then sleeping most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.                                                         RLY II

Response:

> Sometimes the baby will sleep if you >take it into your bed with you.  (Here come the flames…)  Again, no >talking, no playing around, no lights on, etc.  With my three kids, >that was all it took.  If they started snuffling around, I’d reach >over and pat them and say "night-night".  By around two to three >months, all three of our kids were sleeping in their own beds through >the night.  But other people have had a difficult time getting their >kids out of their beds, so it’s a tricky choice.

Great suggestion! My two were in my room, in their own beds for 2 & 4 years respectively, and both went cheerfully to their own rooms when the time came. They were in our room because there was no other… >Good luck.  It doesn’t last forever, but it sure does seem like it at >the time.  The first time my oldest slept for six straight hours one >night, I thought he had to be dead!  He’s 15 now and still only goes >two hours between feedings…  

Geez, you’re doing well, Dale! Natalie – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >Dale Hill

Response:

> My newborn is staying up all night, feeding every hour, and then sleeping > most of the day.  I am a new father.  Any suggestions would be greatly > appreciated. >                                                         RLY II

– When my oldest daughter was born, she would be up every two hours max and want to play for two hours. I know there is a lot of controvery on the subject, but I started feeding her rice cereal and within a week she was sleeping 6 hours at a time, at least at night. I had lots of problems with my youngest, she would not go to sleep for me for anything. I tried everything, rocking her, bouncing her, walking and yes I tried cereal, but she wanted nothing to do with it. My mother could put her to sleep in 5 minutes. You see, I didn’t get to see her untill 12 1/2 hours after the delivery and I don’t think I bonded with her for a long time afterwards. It has gotten better though, now that she is 6 1/2. —        may stand and share (__) its dew-drop with another near."                      Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Response: