Re baby sleeping

[DonnaNick]

I don't think my newborn gets enough sleep. She constantly gets over tired and is irritated a great deal throughout the day. Any suggestions appreciated.

[Z'sMum]

How old is your little one and how much sleep is she getting overall (day and night)?

Here is a useful link to see if she is getting enough

[DonnaNick]

Hi, she is six weeks old and wakes up between five and six times a night; She sleeps during that day quite well but I cannot help but feel that she should not wake up so much at night..

Thanks

[frenchieM]

If this is a recent thing, 6wks is growth spurt time so waking every 2-3hrs for a feed is not unusual. You might be lucky and get one bigger stretch (like maybe a 4-6hr stretch) but then 2-3hrs waking is normal.
5-6 times does sound like quite a lot, I think both my DD and DS at that age were waking every 4hrs so generally they would go to bed at 6pm and wake at 10, 2, 6.
You could try a dreamfeed just before you go to bed.
At that age, they are still so little, maybe she has her day and night patterns a bit mixed up? Is she having enough feeds during the day? If she is sleeping a lot during the day and not feeding enough then she could be very hungry at night-time.
Also, maybe she sleeps well during the day because there is noise around the house. You could try some white noise in her bedroom (a nature CD or the radio on really low) at night-time.
Is she otherwise pretty happy and when she wakes during the night she settles again easily? Is she still in a wrap?

[beej]

Totally agree with Frenchie! The only other thing I would suggest is not to let her go too long between feeds during the day (aka, wake her). I've done this with both DS2 and DD and it helps them to stretch their night feeds out. I woke them between 3 and 3.5 hours during the day and then let them go however long at night.

I've also found my kids sleep better at night (as babies) if they are rooming in the with us. DS1 didn't and was not a great night sleeper (he usually wound up in bed with us). DS2 and DD have both slept in our room from birth, DS2 until about 4-5 months (when he started sleeping 7pm to 7am) and they have been much better night sleepers.

[DonnaNick]

Thanks for everyone's feedback

I have tried a few things recommended here / talked to a few other friends and read a few pages / pdfs online (This PDF was quite good reading with some excellent suggestions in it ).

She seems to be sleeping better over the last day or so and what was interesting was that leaving the radio on very quiet seemed to make her relax quite a lot as well (Thanks Frenchie )

Again, thanks for your help! Here's to a good nights sleep

Best wishes
Donna

[frenchieM]

You are most welcome! I am glad it helped! Its all about trial and error, every baby is different.
Hoping you have a great nights sleep tonight.