HELP AND ADVICE NEEDED - 19 DAY OLD BABY!!!!!!!

Oh and get help! I would share feedings with my hubby. He would do 7pm feed till 1am and I would take over from there. Meant I would go to bed at about 7pm too! It helped!!!

Hi tivaniag

The ladies have really covered all bases. So all I want to say to you is - it will pass! Trust me 19 days is almost 4 weeks. If baby is cramping at night at this is preventing the sleep - chat to your Dr about introducing something like Colic Mix. I gave my LB from 1-3 months once every night with bedtime bottle on instruction from my Paed as he had bad cramps. It helped!

Also realise once he is 6 weeks its easier, 8 weeks even better etc... So measure your life in 2 week increments and monitor the progress - it wont seem like a big black hole then!

My lil one is now 5.5 months and sleeping through, even though at 19 days he too was up till the early hours of the morning and confused about day and night! So anything is possible.

Routine is key... yes he will make his own routine... but where you can enforce your own! Have a set bath time routine every night... this will show him when its night time and when to relax... this was my saving grace! Took weeks - but he learnt!

We would get him all ready, put some soft music on and play with him gently in the bath. Then dry and massage him down and end off with his night feed. After a while he began to expect everything we were doing.

Trust me it feels like forever - but really does fly!

Goodluck!

Hi all,

I have been very lucky with all my children that I haven't really had sleep issues with them unless they were sick. My mom always says: a baby that is not happy is either hungry, wet or in pain. All my children have had three to four hourly feeds, and woke up only once or twice a night. Could have something to do with the fact that they slept in my bed for the first couple of months of their lives anyway.

Its difficult to know whats the "right" thing to do and having a baby after 9 years is overwhelming at the best of times. I thought I had prepared thoroughly for my baby emotionally and devoured the baby sense book and had an idea of what I was going to do etc but once you are in the thick of things, the opposite happens and you have to just go with the flow!

@Vix, I actually do exactly as you said. I feed, burp, change and put him straight into his cot. During the day this works well, with him falling asleep immediately. At night, its another story!

@Julz - I am aware of the overstimulation aspect and there is complete silence in my room with the curtains drawn and no tv on after his bath and last feed - after which time he will sleep for 2 or 3 hours then the trouble starts!

I dont mind waking every two hours to feed him, so long as I am getting some sleep during that time...but to be awake for hours at a time is exhausting and frustrating.

Tiv, I agree with the other ladies about the feeding. He is so small, he still needs to find his rhythm. I'm sure it'll get better in this regard very soon.

W.r.t. the sleeping issues: sounds like he's got his days and nights mixed up. Here's some advice from the Kellymom website for that problem:
During the day, keep the lights on and go on with your normal daytime activities -- don't keep things dark and quiet where baby is sleeping. Play with and talk to baby during waking times. Wake baby to nurse every 2-3 hours.
During baby's night wakings, keep everything calm, quiet, and dark (if you need a light to breastfeed, try using a smaller light like a nightlight or closet light). At some point you may want to begin a bedtime routine (such as bath, story, breastfeeding) to signal that nighttime has begun.

Have you considered putting him in a sling or pouch like baby carrier during the day? My LG loved sleeping "on me" when she was smaller and it also helped for her to sleep longer periods at a time. Plus you have your hands free and it's a nice feeling to have your little monkey so close to you

Then of course the all time blah blah advice for new moms: hang in there, it will get better

babies tummies are small and so they will drink small amount frequently. We are led to believe that they should feed every 4 hours by some, yet ideally babies feed every two hours. This is exhausting but it will get better.

Once he can drink more he will sleep more so yes it is really tough in the beginning. He sounds as if he has a bit of colic in the evening. Try to keep the tv off etc to avoid overstimulations and like vix says possibly feed him burp him then put him down even if it is on your chest. That is the only way Dylan slept for the first couple months. He may just get overtired which will make him cranky.

Tivaniag,
Your lo sounds exactly like how mine used to be. For the first 6 weeks she drank a tiny bit every 2 hours, and her sleep patterns were the same.
After 6 weeks, she started drinking 50ml every 2 hours, and slept a bit more at night. It was only after 2 months that she slept about 4 hours at a time at night. but still only drinking 60ml at a time.
Now she is 5months and drinking 125ml 3 times a day, and one midnight bottle.
My lo would never drink more than she wanted.

just hang in there, it gets better, as the weeks pass.

soon you will be complaining that your lo is getting up ONCE for the night bottle. Like me
you forget the early weeks when u were getting up every 2 hours, now even once at night is too much