Day/night mixed up

My son was born 24wk,..... I personally can't think of anything and even now he's thriving at 3yrs old..... We've never had a full night's sleep ...... Sometimes he can have a fun filled day of activities and still be wild at 2am! He literally has noo off button! Just to say I feel you and your not alone x

He is very very little. It’s v normal at this age. Their circadian rhythm is not yet developed. It will take time. The only advice I can give try to expose him to day light as much as possible during the day.

@Maria he’s not allowed out yet unfortunately so I’m unable to do this unless you have any other suggestions?

I would just suggest making sure the house is as bright as possible and plenty of noise going on during the day. We hoovered and did dishes around LO. And then at night make sure it’s nice and dark and very quiet or with just white noise and only use a red light if you need to change him during the night

Why is he not allowed out? Is that guidance given to you by a dr? Seems strange. You can still make it light/noisy in the daytime by keeping curtains etc open, don’t let him sleep for 4 hours. Wake him after 2. At nighttime keep lights low, noises to the minimum

@Kristina ah thank you that is pretty much what we’re doing at the moment anyways so it’s nice to know we’re doing all the right things

@N 💞 yes because he’s so small and was born 10 weeks it’s incase of risk of infections etc. when he was in NICU he was having his feed every 4hrs and the health visitors have advised we feed him on demand? So we’ve just been feeding him when he wakes up for it?

@Katie you can still take him out for a walk in the pram though. Or in the garden. I mean in the daytime don’t let him sleep 4 hours at a time. You don’t need to feed him just because you wake him, but waking him more frequently in the daytime might help him realise it’s not nighttime, and also might make him tired enough to sleep longer at night.

@N 💞 They have said we’re not allowed because that’s what I wanted to do just go for short walks etc but they said because it’s cold he might risk getting cold? , and they said to wait at least 14 days before he can fully go out. Ah right I didn’t know that, I might give that ago tomorrow then. Thank you 😊

Also I’ve just thought if we do wake him up every 2hrs during the day how will we know when he’s hungry/not hungry? Sorry if that sounds really dumb 😩

@Katie I'm just curious as to why you can't take him out, No judgement or anything as mentioned. I'm also a prem mum , if anything we was encouraged to take our son out and get fresh air etc to build up his immunity- In all fairness HV aren't fully trained in premature babies the amount of times my son was referd to as full term and I had to correct them. By all means to what's comfortable for you , however if you was to stay in doors for the next 2wks your mental health may be impacted, you also need fresh air etc 😊 my son was born 24wks and he came home 2wks after his due date, initially we stayed in maybe 3days , after that we started gping for short walks for say 15mins or so 💜

@Elle (i can't see waves) Honestly I don’t know it’s just what they have advised, but the girl next to me on the NICU ward she’s also been advised the same. I think it’s something to do with risk of infections? I wanted to take him out for short walks but they said to wait? So I don’t know sorry.

@Katie Even standing next to the open window is good. This is not something which will probably fix itself within days. Give your baby time. He is so new to this world.

@Maria thank you ☺️

@Katie ohhh noo need to apologise 😫...... I guess i don't know different hospital trusts etc who knows! Just enjoy as they grow so fast 😫😫💜💜

It's normal for a 5 week old baby to wake up every 2-3 hours at night for feeds

@Becky I only ask because when he was in NICU they were feeding him every 4hrs

@Katie I'm not sure about that, but just wanted to reassure you that it's totally normal for babies of this age to sleep lots during the day and wake up every 2-3 hours for feeding at night, I wouldn't try getting baby into a routine just yet, but maybe at a few months old you could then try some kind of routine to try and help baby sleep better at night, I know it's hard but it will get better

@Becky ok that’s really nice to know, thank you ☺️

@Katie it's really tough, but hopefully, you have a supportive partner that could come to bed later with baby so that you can get a head start with sleep and go to bed earlier this is how me and my partner always did it with our new born babies as it's so hard to function without sleep. It does get easier I promise

This is common in most babies, in the womb they’re nocturnal, so when they’re born their body clocks are all messed up During the daytime keep the room light (sunlight through the windows is possible) don’t try to be quiet, talk to them during feeds if they wake up and be more playful During the night, keep the room dark (if you have to turn a light on make sure it’s dim) don’t talk too much to them, keep it quiet, and you can include a bedtime routine you stick to every night! They usually learn the difference between night and day if you stick to this by 8-12 weeks x

@Katie babies at this age usually really let you know they’re hungry by crying, also remember it’s hard to over feed a baby because they’re good at drinking when they’re hungry and stopping when they’re full so don’t worry too much! My baby was in nicu and I took him out the next day (just for a walk) so try not to overthink too much xx

Oh wow, I’ve never heard of a baby not being able to go outside right away. Even with my premie, they told me to take her out get some sunlight. Do whatever is comfortable babies at this age are normally sleeping a lot whether it’s day or night usually their wake window is 30 to 45 minutes if I remember correctly? Just during the day keep the blinds open so sunlight can come through and at night keep it dark. This is completely normal behavior for a baby as time goes on. They will start to go into a routine. Just don’t force it it’ll happen naturally. You got this good luck and congratulation.

@Vanny I’m thinking now maybe it’s because he’s come home earlier than his due date? He wasn’t due until 7th May and he only came home last Saturday so he’s still quite young maybe?

@Katie every baby whether they were preemie or not is like this. This is. NORMAL baby behavior. Whey they say sleep when the baby does, SLEEP when the baby sleep. Is my best advice. It will get better as the months pass. My 1st born didn’t start sleeping more at night until 3 months. My 2nd baby he was asleep at night with only two hottie feeds at 2 months, my 15 month old still wakes up at night for a bottle of milk. Every baby is different. You will get there when the baby is ready. Just remember to eat, sleep when baby sleeps. And shower. You got this momma. If you want to talk, feel free to DM me.

@Vanny I’ve tried sleeping during the day when he’s sleeping but my body won’t let me, it’s like even though I’m tired I’m overtired if that makes sense.

@Katie I completely get it. I was like that when breastfeeding. Honestly is there anyone that could come over and take care of the babe so you can nap? Even 2/4 hours of steady sleeps makes a huge difference. Just know we’ve all been there momma.

@Vanny well my partner is with me at the moment and I came upstairs to try and have a nap whilst he was downstairs with Alfie, and nope couldn’t switch off even though I’m absolutely shattered.

@Katie have you tried eating, shower and then a sound machine?

Mine is the same, she’s 6 weeks old now. She was only due this week and hates sleeping at night and it’s flat out during the same. I did start taking her to small babies groups from 4 weeks old just to kinda wake her up, but she still sleeps through them. We wake her up during the day and wait for her cues, opening her mouth and rooting.

@Beth how long do you let her sleep for during the day? I’m worried about waking him up incase I mess his sleep pattern up even more so I just let him sleep which sometimes can be up to 4hrs a time during the day (then I will wake him up).

It depends on the sleep she had the night before. Yesterday she slept really well during the night and only woke 3 times for feeding. So I’d let her sleep for 2 hours at a time and then she was awake for about 4 hours before napping again. But was awful last night for me 😅

@Beth it’s really difficult isn’t it, I just don’t want to mess with his sleep at the moment incase I make things worse 😭😩

Jup day and night mixed up. My boy has done it too