Anyone with a month old babe that doesn't sleep more than an hour at a time?

[miilemons]

My son is 5.5 weeks old, and exclusively breastfed. I always get asked at the doc if he feeds at least every two hours, and boy does he. He doesn't ever sleep more than an hour at a time, and it's rarely that. He's been clusterfeeding since 9 days old now, today he's been up since 8:30am feeding, sleeping 10 mins, feeding, sleeping 10 mins, until 1pm, when he slept for 40 minutes.  

It's now 2:10pm and he's still awake and wanting to suckle. He REFUSES to take a pacifier and SCREAMS bloody murder when I try to put one near his face. 

My question is does anyone else have a month old baby that just will NOT stay asleep more than 45 mins-hour? I haven't slept more than 45 minutes without him feeding on me in over a month. Is this normal?

[loveandgarbage]

I wish I had a different answer, but this was very normal for me. I think other moms who breastfeed and don't sleep train will say the same thing. Are you guys co-sleeping? I found I got more rest once we started doing that. For the first month DS1 was in a basinette next to our bed but I quickly just moved him into bed with us because at least I could be somewhat resting while he fed all night. Just to check-- does your baby seem fussy on top of wanting to nurse all the time? Do you think it could be something in your diet? I had to cut out a few things. Do you have a partner who could help you with nighttime parenting? Even though DH didn't have boobs and couldn't give them exactly what they wanted, he would take our babies late at night and just walk around with them so that I could get some rest. During the first year with each, my days were spent nursing all the time, too. Once I got the hang of nursing while babywearing I felt like I could get more done.

[miilemons]

Thanks for the reply :) 

Yes we are co-sleeping. Unfortunately we have a very "off" schedule. My husband has to get up at 3am for work daily, and my daughter (who will be 2 on Friday) has been waking multiple times a night and staying up for hours for a good 2 months now, she also refuses to be put back to bed by anyone but ME. So daddy can't help with her OR the newborn. My son will tolerate being walked around the room for a few minutes by daddy, but not long enough for me to get any rest anyway lol. I was just wondering if it was the norm.

I don't agree with sleep training so I guess I'll just deal with it as it comes. And no my son is super calm usually, besides the wanting to nurse all the time, but when he's satisfied and laying around he'll just smile and look around and coo. Also, I have a woven wrap and I am trying to get the hang of breastfeeding him without smothering his face with my boob ;) lol.

[nilatti]

My son did that. I think around 12 weeks the eating got less intense, but the sleeping...ug. He's two, and still not a big sleeper. DD, on the other hand, sleeps kind of a lot--2 and 3 hour stretches. She's 5.5 weeks, too.

[miilemons]

Haha I feel you on the sleeping, my daughter is 2 (tomorrow!) and sleeps terribly lol. My son actually slept for the longest time EVER today! At least 2 hours. I feel so refreshed! :D

[miilemons]

Oh and good news!! I tried a cheapy gerber pacifier last night and he actually took it! It's kinda big for his mouth so it pops out over and over, but he actually took it, and sucked on it! So maybe I'll get a chance to go somewhere, because car rides are miserable and I can't fit in my backseat between two giant britax car seats to bf him while we're driving lol.

[loveandgarbage]

Good news about the paci! My kids are also a little less than two years apart and let's just say I feel for ya, sleepwise. It gets better!

[SplashingPuddle]

When my daughter was 14 months old and still not sleeping more than 1-2 hours at a time, I was camping out at my doctor's office. Not getting an answer, I took her to the emergency room and said 'she doesn't sleep. something's wrong'.  Luckily I did end up getting answers.  

I think its quite common among 5 week old babies to wake very frequently, but I mention my situation because I think if I had paid attention to my intuition, I would have seen that there was something going on earlier. Is your intuition telling you that your baby is waking frequently for a medical cause?  It is easy with a small baby to say it is normal that they don't sleep, and of course this is true. Yet, sometimes it isn't, and intuition is important in figuring out if further investigation is needed.

[LilyTiger]

If it helps, this was my daughter until around 8 weeks.  She rarely slept during the day (no longer than half an hour or so) and was up every hour or so (at five weeks, at least) at night.  Gradually her night feedings started spacing out and now at 12 weeks she takes a long morning nap and an afternoon nap (of varying duration) and sleeps between 2-3 hours between feedings at night.  Things can change very quickly, so just hang in there.  When she was around 4 weeks old I remember crying to my husband in the middle of the night that I couldn't do it anymore.  Now we are both well rested and happy.  Hang in there!

(Also, have you been able to nurse in the side-lying position?  I don't even wake for night feedings much anymore, which makes everything a million times easier)

Originally Posted by miilemons 

My son is 5.5 weeks old, and exclusively breastfed. I always get asked at the doc if he feeds at least every two hours, and boy does he. He doesn't ever sleep more than an hour at a time, and it's rarely that. He's been clusterfeeding since 9 days old now, today he's been up since 8:30am feeding, sleeping 10 mins, feeding, sleeping 10 mins, until 1pm, when he slept for 40 minutes.  

It's now 2:10pm and he's still awake and wanting to suckle. He REFUSES to take a pacifier and SCREAMS bloody murder when I try to put one near his face. 

My question is does anyone else have a month old baby that just will NOT stay asleep more than 45 mins-hour? I haven't slept more than 45 minutes without him feeding on me in over a month. Is this normal?