Awake time at night
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Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
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Printed Date: 07 October 2025 at 7:28am
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Topic: Awake time at night
Posted By: kebakat
Subject: Awake time at night
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 9:42am
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Daniel is developing an annoying habit of having awake time at night..
He gets his dream feed, then when he wakes up the next time he has a nice big feed and new nappy etc then finishes off his feed and yawns like crazy but then stays wide eyed and alert and refuses to sleep. The feed etc takes 50 mins then I spend the next hour and 20 minutes trying to get him to sleep. This morning (4:30am) I ended up just letting him cry it out because I was getting quite frustrated He has quite a lot of awake time during the day and there's nothing "wrong" with him to stop him sleeping other than he's just wide awake. Any ideas on how I can get him off to sleep faster and stop having awake time at night? |
Replies:
Posted By: My3Sons
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 9:50am
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Hiya Stacey, Leo started doing this too and it was really frustrating!! A few things that worked for us: *Keeping it REALLY low key and quiet, he was getting over stimulated as I was getting up, turning on tv etc while feeding him, my MW suggested doing night feeds without talking & making eye contact and it really helped! *I would heat a wheat pack and lay it in his bed as soon as he woke, and take it out when I put him back down and his bed would be nice and snuggly and warm and help him settle quickly. Might be absolutely useless info for you lol but hope he settles down for you soon!!
------------- Mum to Mr 10, Mr 6 and Mr 4 
 
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 9:50am
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what do you do when he wakes and what time is it.?
do you keep the room dark and quiet and make as little fuss and noise as possible? ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 10:54am
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At night when I go in to feed him etc I only turn the lamp on (25 watt bulb) so I can see what I'm doing. I don't talk to him at all so it's pretty "boring" for him.
At the moment when he wakes it's sometime between 3:30-4:30am |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 11:25am
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i know that when my boys did the 3.30 wake i would just feed, change then straight back into bed awake or not. no chit chat or anything. maybe the dream feed is throwing him out and he thinks it is morning time. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 12:19pm
| It doesn't matter if he gets his dream feed or not, he still does the awake time at night. |
Posted By: mamanee
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 12:20pm
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Sams awake time is always between 11PM and 4AM. It varies every night but he is always awake for at least 2-3 hours of this. I have tried everything. I don't talk to him, I keep it quiet, I keep him awake during the day, I let him sleep during the day. I found that you just have to go with it as it's what some babies do.
My plunket nurse said that a lot of babies do this for a few weeks in the beginning. He is only three weeks old, so you can expect to have some sleepless periods. Comes with the territory. |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 12:43pm
One of the hospital mws told me that 'all' (she said all!) newborns have an awake phase at sometime during 10pm and 5am, and some babies for all of that time!  Part of it is a phase, it sounds like you're already doing a lot to reduce his wakefulness. I would drop the nappy change at that time too.------------- |
Posted By: mamanee
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 12:50pm
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Heh, I would have said 'all' as well but I softened it to 'lots'.
I don't think it's an annoying habit that you have to break, I think you can do all you can to get him to sleep but at the end of the day newborn babies don't know that they have to go to sleep just because you say so. |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 12:51pm
| He needs that nappy change because 90% of the time it's full so I'm not leaving it on him. |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 1:35pm
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so when you finish the feed and nappy change do you put him in his bed and walk away? or what do you do ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 2:33pm
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If he has his nappy changed early when he's finished the feed I wait a minute just to make sure he's actually done, as he does get rather sleepy at the boob towards the end and I wanna make sure he actually has as much as he needs, then he gets put down..
If he fills his nappy at the end of the feed, I settle him in my arms (he still hates his nappy being changed so he screams the house down) and once he is calmed I put him down.. Once he's down I turn the lamp off and creep out without making much noise |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 2:48pm
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maybe then you should just leave him in his bed awake and not try and settle him. perhaps this is going to be his way of learing to settle by himself. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 3:06pm
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Agree with above post by gandt about self settling, Also, all bubbas do this, it will settle down around 6 weeks, promise!! I have stopped giving Char her dream feed, it was throwing her out, but I think Daniels problem is he's just figuring out night/day. I remember crying and begging Char to sleep, she would only wake once a night, but it would take me 2 or more hours to get her back down!! ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: kell
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 4:17pm
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I cant add anything to what you are doing, but thought Id let you know im in the same boat and have been here for the whole time James has been home.
We do the same things you are doing and what has been suggested but to no avail. We let him cry it out, but he gets all worked up and starts gagging. Im off to the doc tomorrow to see what more I can do, and to get help for me as im really really down. ------------- Kayla Rose is now 4! James Sydney is nearly 2! |
Posted By: Jennz
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 8:41pm
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Do you have a mobile on his crib/cot? I think it was a bit later, maybe 5 weeksish but we started turning on DD1s and she would doze off watching that. Plus she started to associate the music with sleep time.
If possible try changing his nappy before you feed then he isn't having any 'activity' and can calm down while he feeds and hopefuly drop off. If I change Kates at the start she goes straight back to sleep but if I do it in the middle or at the end shes awake for an hour +. ------------- Jen, Charlotte 7 & Kate 3 
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 8:46pm
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Yeah I know changing his nappy in the beginning is the most ideal but can't help it when he decides to explode straight after he's been fed lol and it's usually a spectacular explosion when he does that.
We have a mobile on his cot but not on the basinette. |
Posted By: katie1
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 9:35pm
| Is he sleeping too much during the day? (more than three hour stretches?) Probably not but just a thought? |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 04 July 2007 at 10:15pm
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If he pooed half an hour after he fell asleep, you wouldn't change him... his outputs will be less regular soon and you'll be able to feed him without changing him. That really wakes up a baby. ------------- |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 12:02am
hmmm, i would if i knew he had. dont forget that your breast milk stimulates his pooh reflex still, hence the pooping just after a feed. sounds like you are doing all you can. he'll get it eventually so in the meantime you may just have to hang in there...  ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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busymum wrote:Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 1:52pm
No way! It's lucky if he goes down for 2 hrs at a time! Yesterday for example between 9:30am and 4pm he only would have slept for 1-2hrs of that time, the rest he was being a piggy and was wide awake and alert but I think he's going through a growth spurt. But usually he does have a couple of naps during the day but it's not a big sleep. Thanks for all the thoughts guys.. hopefully he figures out what night time means soon! |
Posted By: Andie
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 3:56pm
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sounds to me like he's still working out the whole day/night thing - babies have it backwards to start with. He'll get there - sounds like you're doing all the right stuff already. I'm guessing that you're probably already wrapping him for his sleeps? Swaddling newborns nice and tight makes a difference (unless they seriously hate it). Are you comfortable letting him cry for a while before he dozes off? Maybe you could decide ahead of time how long you'd personally be comfortable with letting him go for before going in to try to settle him, and use the clock if he does have a cry (can seem like so much longer than it really is, eh!). If he's not crying, it won't do him any harm to leave him to have a play in his bed - he'll eventually doze off, and it'll help teach him about nighttime being for sleeping. Hope he gets it right soon - sounds very tiring. ------------- Andie |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 3:58pm
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thanks andie - i had been searching for the right words, but you had them... ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 4:01pm
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We do the controlled crying thing. Sometimes though he just works himself up into a complete state. Sometimes it does work though.
And yes he gets wrapped for every sleep. He wakes himself up by smacking himself on the head so he has to have his hands wrapped up! |
Posted By: Andie
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 4:13pm
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BTW - You're doing a great job, Stacey! Newborn's are a minefield, IMO. Gotta love em, but boy are they hard yakka! ------------- Andie |
Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 4:29pm
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I agree with the others, it sounds like he is still getting day and night sorted, it can take a while unforunately!
Hang in there, sounds like you are doing everything that you can do. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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