Can anyone please give me some ideas on how to reverse a newborn's body clock? DS sleeps so much during the day, sometimes going for 3 hours without a feed, as compared to night time when he wakes up every 2 hours. I am attempting to reverse this as I know I can't expect a full night's sleep just yet.
I have tried
- noises during the day and absolute silence/darkness at night;
- baths in the day
- letting him cry a little bit longer
I'm probably a real nazi for trying to do this, but I'm trying anything to give me enough energy to share between the newborn and my 1yr old.
Anyone's help is greatly appreciated!!!
Last edited by babycoolz; December 13th, 2007 at 04:42 PM.
I have heard that going out in midday sun for an hour or so can help with their body clock? (obviously not in direct sun!! Lol) Not sure if it works, never tried it myself!
Hi babycoolz - just noticed your thread! Hopefully your bub has worked it out already, but I was going to suggest waking your baby during the day for feeds say 2.5 - 3 hourly (from the start of one feed to the start of the next) and then letting him go longer between feeds at night. I know it feels mean waking them, but it is so worth it when they start to sleep longer at night! Also if you get into a bit of a feed/play/sleep pattern during the day you will find he will start working out day from night.
I don't know if this will help you but we wore proper clothes during the day and only wondersuits at night. If he had a wondersuit on during the day he would sleep more, crazy I know but when your sleep deprived anything is worth a go.
Is he cool enough during the day, DS seems to sleep more when he's hot. That could be a plausable exp for you as it would be cooler at night.
Most bubs tend to work it out for themselves...they're not really used to the whole day/night thing when they're born, obviously. But if you persist with an age-appropriate bed-time routine I think he'll soon start to associate the dark and quiet with sleep.
With my two, if they started to get upset and cry they'd find it far more difficult to get to sleep. I'd always try to comfort them and soothe them before they became worked up.
I can sympathise with you about the night/day confusion. My son spent 3 months in NICU/SCN and came home with a two hours awake/two hours asleep routine that lasted well into his first year. NOICE
I just let Olivia work it out for herself.. Although we noticed she hated complete darkness and silence at night so we turned the radio on for a couple nights and have a very very low light on as well..
Ideas for reversing a newborn's body clock
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks