How to Keep Infant Asleep Through the Night?

suggestions on how to keep my baby asleep through the night. she is only 3 weeks old. i know it takes awhile for babies to adjust, but how do i at least get her started and sleeping a few more hours through the night. she sleeps a lot during the day. i try to keep her up every now and then, but she tends to just fall right back asleep. i dont know how to keep her up without her crying. she wakes up about every 2 hours at night… and stays up for about 30-45 mins each time. i know she is probably to young to sleep through the whole night but how do i get her to at least sleep a little longer through the night? at what age do they adjust and sleep through the night?

Suggestion:

You don't, 3 week old babies should be waking every 2 hours for feeds, it starts to settle down after a few weeks but you will need to be patient becaus at that age they are on demand feeding. Generally 6-8 weeks they start sleeping better but don't count on it. I had a friend whose son weas still waking every 3 hours for a feed at the age of 15 months. It's hard but that's what you sign up for when you decide to become a parent.

Thr only thing you can do is to try and sleep when your baby does during the day.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Her sleep/waking schedule sounds very normal for a 3 week old — IMO it is fruitless to try and change their natural sleep schedule.

My son gradually started sleeping for longer stretches each week past about 4 weeks … but it wasn't until 6 months he was consistently sleeping through the night.

You can't. Babies sleep when they want to, you can't make them sleep at a certain time or for however long you want them to sleep.

My son seems like poppy's. At 3 weeks he was still waking every 2 hours (night and day) to feed. At 5 1/2 months… the last two nights he slept straight through… don't know yet if this was a fluke or a change in sleeping pattern. Some babies still wake for a feed even over 1 year old. You will just have to see.

This web page may have some useful information for you about helping your child to develop healthy sleeping habits: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp

The main thing though is for you to remain calm and not get frustrated since baby will pick up on your vibes.

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