How to Help My 3 Week Old Figure Out Day & Night

Have you tried to swaddle him up at night? If not go to the library and find the video or book(but with a 3 wk old good luck trying to find time to read it) the Happiest baby on the block...IT WORKS. I dont know who it is by but the have a 30-45 min vidoe

The things that helped me the most weren't necessarily keeping the baby awake, it was what we did that was different. During the day, talk to him, sing to him, have lots of noises etc. When you change the diaper play with his toes, tell him what you are doing. But during the night keep it dark and quiet. If you need light keep it dim. If you have to change his diaper, or feed him do it as fast as possible with no stimulation. Just do the job and get him back to sleep as quickly as possible. He will soon learn that it is more fun to be awake during the day because you interact with him and at night your aren't any fun. Congratulations and good luck.

Let me just say, it's absolutely normal and it takes a while to work it out. This was our routine with our babies. Eat, wake time, sleep until next feeding. And during the day I stuck to a pretty good 2-3 hour schedule...even if I had to wake them up to eat. This helps them figure out that we wake up to eat during the day. Then at night let him sleep until he wakes up hungry on his own. Newborns sleep a whole lot so don't be too discouraged if you can't keep him up long after he eats. Sometimes I couldn't keep them awake at all and they slept until the next feeding. But as they get older, it gets easier and they stay awake longer. That routine worked for us and my kids slept through the night by 7 weeks (my girl) and 12 weeks (my boy). Congratulations!!

I have heard that the better children sleep during the day, the better they do at night. My son is 11 months old we started laying him down and crying himself to sleep about a month ago. I thought it was cruel and i cried but he was the one that was suffering from not getting enough sleep. He is now healthy and sleeping at least ten hours at night. I have heard that you can start this as soon as two months old and that it will work well for them. It did for us. Good luck and good sleeping.

Congratulations G.!

Sounds about right--limit how much they sleep during the day--but more so early evening. What I did was let them sleep when they wanted to for most of the day, but in the evening kept them up playing as much as possible. My husband and I would call it floor time. After the bath and jammies, we would get a blanket out and lay them on it and talk and have them look at toys(mobiles are good). Also, a ball is good. My kids liked to be layed on their bellies on a ball and roll the ball back and forth--gently of course. All this will tier them out to be ready for sleep when you want. Then nurse or bottle and out like a light(hopefully)

GL:)

Julie and Amy hit the nail on the head!

Don't worry, everything will seem to magically fall into place right around 2 months. Congrats on the new baby!

Try to make sure that you expose you sun to as much light a stimulation during the day as possible and keep lights low at night... it will help his brain get his curcaduain rhythm set to the sun. He will figure it out soon... I know it hard to muddle through now, but it'll get better! Good luck and congratulations!

Don't know if this will help but I noticed when I brought my first baby home he he slept in the light easier because the bright light made him close his eyes.

I realized the nursery at the hospital had its lights on all the time so the first couple of days when the babies were aclimating to life "outside" they learned to sleep in the light.

You can retrain them though. Eventually my babies hated sleeping in the light and didn't even like night lights. Just their bedtime lullaby tunes.

I like everyone's suggestions. I have to say that I would avoid "keeping him awake as much as possible during the day." I follow the "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" book (which by the way, I will swear by- I learned so much about my own sleep cycle and by 5 weeks we were only 2 hours short of sleeping through the night) which does a decent job of describing the development of sleep and wake cycles from infancy to adulthood. Babies have to learn day and night. They don't stay awake for long periods of time yet and trying to make them stay awake will overtire them causing the brain to release chemicals that will keep them awake. My suggestion is to keep wake times short, even during the day. Keep wakeful times during the day stimulating, with light and talking and playtime. At night, keep the lights low and minimal stimulation when they do wake up. I would also suggest starting a bedtime routine too so that baby starts to learn cues for bedtime- like maybe do a bath, read a book the nurse or bottle feed and rocking. Try to keep that ritual at about the same time each night. Everyone is different. I hope you find advice that helps- congratulations and good luck!

I used to let my girls sleep in places other than their bed. They would sleep in their swing, on a blanket, bouncy seat, etc. I always had lights on and noise. When it was bed time, they were swaddled and put in their cradle with quiet and dark. It helped with mine.

I echo Amy A.'s advice to the letter!

~L.