Monday, November 15, 2010

Mommy Advice Needed!

My first time around when Noah was a newborn, wasn't the "typical" experience, simply because Noah was very weak and sick. He slept literally, the entire day away and we rarely would hear a peep out of him. We woke him up every 2 hours to force feed him just so he would gain weight. So I went into this KNOWING that I would be kind of like a first-time mom again. I was still under the impression that newborns sleep majority of the day. So is this some kind of funny joke, that I'm not getting? :)

Collier is awake ALOT... it feels like he's awake more than he's asleep. He doesn't take long naps, but a few (very) short ones and majority of the time it's when we hold him. If we lay him down, he wakes up. Sometimes the swing works, but not often. It makes for a challenging day because Noah needs me too and I can't tend to him while holding a sleeping newborn. I'm guessing Collier's up to 10 lbs now and my pediatrician told me that once at 10 lbs he should be going 5 hours between a feeding at night, however, he's still nursing every 2 1/2 - 3 hours (at night). During the day, he will act hungry after just 2 hours have passed, sometimes he can make it 3 hours. Dr. Allen told me to try and make him go at least 3 hours between feedings, but then that means I'm doing everything I can for an hour to keep him from screaming his head off. He seems to have tummy/gas issues (even though I'm nursing exclusively and have cut out all caffeine) and we've let him sleep in his carseat with it sitting in the crib at night.

Maybe this is just typical of some newborns, however, does anyone have any tips for getting a baby to take better/longer naps during the day? What about going longer between feedings? Is it "normal" for a 3 week old to want to nurse every 2 hours?

Photobucket

3 comments:

The Penter Family said...

I think it is normal for a 3 week old to want to nurse every 2 hours. I guess every baby is different. Unfortunately Colton was one of those who took a couple of months to get on a good sleeping schedule. The only thing that really helped him stay asleep was the vacuum cleaner turned on in his room. I know it sounds weird and it's not good for the vacuum. After a few days of that we went and boughgt a box fan and turned it on high for the noise and that seemed to help too. Try that and see. Sorry I don't have any better suggestions for you!

The 6 W's said...

Neither of my babies slept good. I felt the EXACT same way that they were always awake! The good thing about Lily was that she just looked around, while she was awake, and kept herself pretty occupied. She would sleep in her carseat for long stents (don't know if that would help you). Reid slept when I'd put him in his swing. Neither of my kids liked to be swaddled but some parents sweat by that. Mine just got too hot! Good luck Whitney!

Katy said...

Harper would hardly ever nap during the day! A couple of things worked for us: Swaddling like crazy and warming up the area where you lay him down with a heating pad. We put the heating pad down in the bassinet and covered it with the blanket and took it out when we laid her down. It made a world of difference!