[BarefootGirl]

<p>My 4-wk-old DS sleeps great during the day - in arms or on a pillow in my lap.  Sometimes I can move him to the bed without waking him and he'll continue to sleep awhile.  We don't need a swaddle during the day at all.  He mostly sleeps all day, waking to nurse about every 1.5-2 hours.  He also has several awake/alert periods where he's content to look around, be carried, or lay on his back wiggling for 30 min or so.  But mostly he sleeps and I let him.  We don't have any kind of daytime schedule.  When he is fussy/crying walking him around the house and bouncing usually calms him within 5-15 minutes.</p>
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<p>Evenings and nights are a different story.  In the evening, starting around 6-7pm, he is mostly fussy and often crying/screaming.  Not much seems to help - we hold, rock, walk, bounce, swing....he'll usually settle and go to sleep around 9:00 while DH holds him and I get 1.5-2 hrs of baby-free sleep.  Then they come to bed, I feed DS, and then try to put him down for the night.  He sleeps with us.  Most of the night he sleeps okay, waking to nurse but then goes back to sleep pretty easily,  However at least once a night - either after the 11:00 feeding or after the next one around 1:00, he will have an hour of screaming/crying - nothing helps, he refuses to go back down.  eventually he gets tired enough that i can lay him down, swaddled, and bounce him a bit til he goes to sleep.  He does the same thing after waking to nurse around 7am, but at that point he and I get up for the day, so it's not that big of a deal.  some nights he does this EVERY time he wakes to nurse and those are the really tough ones.</p>
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<p>One problem we seem to hav at night is that he needs to be swaddled, but he will get his arms free almost immediately which escalates the cryng.  I ordered a woombie to try and see if that helps.  i'm also thinking maybe he hates to sleep flat?  but he wont sleep in the swing either and during these fussy times he will continue to cry/fuss while being held and/or walked, rocked, bounced, etc.<span style="display:none;"> </span></p>
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<p>If you've made it this far, thank you!  Here are my questions: </p>
<p>Is this just something to deal with for now that he'll eventually grow out of?  I know I'm lucky that he is as easy as he is during the day, but poor DH works all day and then comes home to difficult fussy baby.  He thinks I should try to keep him awake more during the day, so maybe he'll sleep more at night, but I feel at this age he should sleep whenever he wants.  should I be trying to get him to sleep flat on the bed during the day so he is more okay with it at night instead of letting him sleep in my arms all day?</p>
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[Vivien57]

<p>My baby was the same.. it took a month or two I think for days and nights to go to where you'd expect them to be. She went to sleep at midnight or later for weeks and weeks (and woke to feed - we coslept). Then one day it was 5 pm sleeping.... which was lovely!</p>
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<p>You don't have to do anything, but stay as well rested as possible yourself. The baby will figure things out.</p>
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<p>It makes sense.. during your day in the womb the baby was constantly rocked to sleep as you moved. At night you slept and often baby was awake! That's how it was explained to me.</p>

 

[aphel]

<p>I'm no expert, but I think this is fairly normal for a newborn. I also think, FWIW, that your instincts are right, and a one month old baby shouldn't be kept awake when he's tired. In my experience, a sleep deprived, cranky baby is going to have an even tougher time winding down for the night anyways.</p>
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<p>What helped us, I think, was to have lights on during the day, blinds open, activity going on, lots of talking, etc. We would also try to do a small outing during the day, even if it was just a walk or two (of course this was easier because DD was a July baby). Then at night, we would always keep lights dim, speak softly, and the like. This way, we were able to be attentive to her needs while gently making her aware that day time was play time and night time was quiet time.</p>
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<p>Good luck, but I think even if you don't do anything drastic, this will eventually fix itself!</p>