One month old baby sleeping all day, awake all night.

by TSBlankenship
(Jacksboro, TN)

Question: My friends one month old baby sleeps all day long, no matter what. You cannot keep that kid awake, even sleeps while he eats. (which is good). At night, he lays there awake, fusses, looks around, groans, which he sometimes has because of a belly ache.

Nothing helps, everything the same at night as during the day. I remembered an old wives tale, that I used 15 years ago, but cannot remember it for nothing ... but it worked. Would anyone know what it is?? Thanks ... new granny going crazy!

Heidi's Answer: Hello,

Establishing a feel of the difference between day and night is something all babies need to learn (we are not born with it).

The basic things to do are not an old wives tale, and there's a good chance your friend already does this, but let me note them anyway because they are very efficient:

You want to give clear day/night cues, both with light and with activity.

That means during the day you want a lot of light all the time: curtains wide open or lights on if it's not so light inside. Talk 'loudly', be active, have happy music on, go out for a walk with him, ... Even if he sleeps through most of this for now, having things light and active will help instil this day/night difference.

Then at night, starting at the last evening feed (say after 7pm), the whole house becomes quiet. Lights are dimmed, music is soft and not too loud, no running up and down, ... and once he's in bed, there's only a dim night light (also during feedings or when changing him). And you interact only the minimum with him (no silly faces, not trying for a smile, ...)

This may sound as a simple thing, but nothing else is worth the try if these clear day/night cues are not in place. See the newborn baby sleep schedule page for further reading.

The old wives tale you may be thinking of could be about reversing the feeding schedule. To do this you will note the times at which he requests a feed during the night. These will be 'more or less times' as he's bound not to be very regular yet. But still ...

Note daytime feeding times as well.

Then you use his night time schedule, as a daytime feeding schedule, and vice versa.

So, a 7am feed becomes a 7pm feed. A 11pm feed, becomes a 11am feed, ...

This will normally involve waking him up for those feeds. That is the reason I do not usually advise this trick. However, if the situation is really tough, and waking him up does seem to be too hard on him, it can be worth the try.

See how it goes, I would love to hear if it worked for your friend!

Good luck,
Kindly,
Heidi