My baby boy was born at 32 weeks and was in NICU for a month and a half. He's been home for a week now. We are having problems getting him back to sleep after his feedings in the middle of the night. He is extra fussy when he wakes up during the night. After feeding him, he will eventually go to sleep when we are holding him but as soon as we lay him in his bassinet, he wakes up crying. His pediatrician said his internal clock probably is off still and it would take some time for him to get used to sleeping at night. When he was in NICU, they always had the lights on so he probably couldn't tell day from night. We got a nightlight for him but it doesn't seem to help. Does anyone have any suggestions? We're getting a whole 2 hours of sleep each night and don't have time to nap during the day.
Happiest in the kitchen.2020-04-13T23:47:22Z
Can you leave his light on or get a lamp to make it a bit brighter, And then slowly move the lamp farther away.
It takes a while for baby to sleep through. Just think, he's probably just full term now so he'll take even longer. Just hang in there, we all go through it. Both my babies had pacifiers, I found them a godsend. All the best.
How many lights do you need to turn on when you get up to take care of him at night. Part of the issue with a newborn going back to sleep at night is how much stimulation happens while they are being cared for during the night. Light is one of those sources.
Avoid turning on any lights that are directly in the room that the baby is in. Use the nightlight or light from a hallway or adjoining room to have just enough light to see what you are doing. Light can stimulate the baby and make it harder for them to go back to sleep. If having a nightlight on continually in the baby's room hasn't helped anything, you might want to consider turning it back off.
Another thing - when you think the baby is asleep enough to place back in their bassinet - wait another five to ten minutes. You may just be putting the baby back into their crib too soon. When the baby wakes back up when placing them in the bassinet - have you tried not picking the baby back up and just patting their back gently or rocking them gently while they are still in the crib.
Have you tried "white noise". Sometimes have a soft or consistent noise in the room will help a baby sleep. I am sure that the hospital had all kinds of background noises so maybe some "white noise" will help. (my sister-in-law ruined several vacuums because she discovered that the "white noise" of the vacuum helped her baby sleep so she would turn on a vacuum and leave it running in the corner of the room) A fan is another great source of white noise - but you wouldn't want a fan constantly blowing in the baby's room. You can probably find some options for white noise recordings that you could play in the baby's room.
If you are bottle feeding - you might want to consider taking turns caring for the baby. This might mean one parent sleeping in a different room so the baby doesn't wake them. At least that would give you every other day with a good night's sleep. (my husband and I had to do that with our second baby - no matter what time of day or night it was - she would not sleep more than 30 minutes at a time and then would cry for about 30 minutes before even calming down. That lasted for about two weeks..... and nothing that the doctor recommended seemed to help and there was nothing wrong with her.)