Parental Advisory: Day For Night
Why is my newborn nocturnal?
by Rebecca Odes & Ceridwen Morris
September 12, 2007
Our baby used to cry a lot at night and would only quiet if we held him. At three weeks, we tried swaddling and a noise machine, and while he still did not sleep well at night (two hours at a time at most), he no longer cried when he woke up. During the day, though, through all those weeks, he was a pleasant baby. Then, last week (at five weeks), he started crying a lot during the day and also sleeping a lot. Before this, he started staying up longer and longer — going up to three hours between naps and staying awake from six to ten or eleven. Is he making up for lost time now? It's five p.m. now, and he's been sleeping on and off since seven a.m. (with about three hours of awake time total). Is this a growth spurt thing? He's not sick and smiles and laughs in the short time he's awake, but gets fussy quickly. His crying stops, though, when we pick him up, and if not then if we rock and jiggle him a little while we hold him (as by method suggested by Happiest Baby on the Block). White noise calms him too. But as soon as we pick him up and walk around with him, he falls asleep (during the day, that is; at night, it's harder to make him fall asleep, probably because he sleeps all day). I breastfeed, but watch what I eat and haven't had a different diet last week. Any ideas as to what's going on? — Up All Night
Dear Up All Night,
As far as we can tell, what's going on is mostly that you have a five-week-old. Newborn babies have a lot going on. And much of it is mysterious and internal. Their bodies are gassy and wonky. Their sleep erratic and unpredictable. Your baby's behavior, though baffling and exhausting, is completely normal.
This may indeed be a growth spurt (six weeks is a classic time for one). So you can try waiting it out and see whether you're still having the same issues next week. If the pattern continues, your baby may be a little mixed up about night and day. This happens to many babies in the newborn phase. Limiting naps to three hours max and trying to ensure that he stays awake for a good chunk of time between each one, can help straighten him out. He might not be that easy to keep awake at first — some crying may ensue. You can try a change of scenery or some other kind of stimulation to see if you can distract him into a different mode. It's also a good idea to start differentiating his nighttime environment from his day one, if you haven't already. Dark, quiet, unstimulating surroundings can help him see that nighttime is the wrong time for anything but sleeping. If you can make the room brighter when he naps (or have him nap in a different place entirely), you can help drive home the difference. But keep in mind that these are associations you're building. It may take some time. A newborn can find the dazzling light of day exhausting, and the quiet of night easier to handle. Still, trying to set up the quiet/dark time vs. bright/awake time is generally considered a good idea in terms of the future, unless you're thinking about adopting a nocturnal lifestyle yourself.
The temptation to diagnose (and cure) the situation is huge when you're up all night. But even the most hardcore sleep trainers don't purport to be able to reel in a baby's chaotic sleep schedule this early. As much as possible, we recommend going with the flow here, with perhaps a little gentle prodding. Time will tell if you need to do something besides generally reinforcing the way the world works. Don't count your sleep problems before they're hatched . . . or at least before they're out of the "fourth trimester."
Have a question? Email parentaladvisory@babble.com
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©2007 Rebecca Odes & Ceridwen Morris and Nerve Media
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