Day/Night mixup
Our daughter is almost 6 weeks old and she falls asleep easily during the day even if we don't want her to (for example, in the middle of nursing- and then it's very difficult to wake her up), but at 11PM-12AM she is really alert and doesn't really want to sleep. We have tried putting the lights out and not talking to her, turning the volume down, etc. but she keeps her eyes open and often wants to play even after being rocked, nursed, and other things that normally put her to sleep immediately. I think she may still have a little bit of day-night reversal from being in the womb. Is this something kids grow out of naturally and if not, do you have to train them out of their natural circadian rhythms (or lack thereof)?
1 Answers
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I'm guessing kids grow out of it naturally eventually (because there aren't that many adults that seem sleep days and wake nights, and so I'm guessing that whatever parents around the world are doing - and I bet it's a lot of different things - or time alone work just fine) :)
I'm not sure what your particular situation is, what's her napping like just prior to the 11PM staying awake? When did she last wake up? I'm guessing, if she's like ours, there's not really a pattern yet.
One thing you could consider is putting her to bed MUCH earlier. The two things that surprised us most about our firstborn were:
- That we were trying to put him to sleep almost always when he was overtired. That the first or second yawn (or eye rub or just a little redness around the eyes) was a perfect time to *immediately* put him down, and then he'd fall asleep easily on his own. But if we waited for him to fuss or cry or doing something obviously "sleepy", made it harder for him to fall asleep and more likely for him to try and stay awake.
- That his bedtime - for the night - could be as early as 6 or 7pm. That putting him to bed earlier could cause him to sleep longer, rather than just wake up sooner. That if we put him to bed early, he was less likely to wake up at 11 or so and - eventually eventually ;) - more likely to sleep til 6 or 7 the next day. But, 6 weeks might be too early, can't remember...
Also, 8 weeks was about the time that the EASY (Baby Whisperer Method) started working for us. (Before that, on demand everything worked for us ;) Anyway, EASY is EAT, then ACTIVE, then SLEEP, then YOU in every 2-3 hour cycle... which for us meant that if you feed the baby right when she wakes up, you needn't worry about later fussiness being hunger - later fussiness was sleepiness for our first, for our second it was usually sleepy, but occasionally that she had a dirty diaper. We all knew what to expect. This doesn't specifically address your question, but sorting out a regular rhythm of eating and sleeping might help get into a particular pattern of napping and nighttime sleep. At least, it's an option. Here's a review.
Thanks for all the advice. You're right, she has no schedule yet, and every day is very different from the next (meaning erratic napping patterns). Because she is exclusively breastfed right now she wakes up every 2-3 hours except during the 1AM to 5 or 6AM period at night. Hopefully that will resolve with time. But I think you are absolutely correct about the "sleep begets sleep" thing- the more overtired they are the more difficult it is for them to sleep, and the hardest part is breaking that cycle. I will definitely check out the Baby Whisperer, especially as she gets to the 2 month stage!
- Anjali, Mar 10, 2010