Getting baby to sleep longer
Baby is now 5 weeks old and we would like her to sleep longer, but getting baby to sleep longer has been quite a challenge. Currently she only sleeps for about 2 hours at a stretch. There have been conflicting ideas on what to do. A book I was reading suggests to develop a routine and if baby wakes and cries leave them be so that get used to a routine. I gave it a try but its hard for any parent to watch their baby screaming their head off, and with my daughter her whole face turns red. The postnatal nurse suggests picking baby up to calm baby and then put baby back to sleep. Her reason being that the baby gets all worked up and will be harder to settle.
Another factor in getting baby to sleep longer is whether baby is bottle feeding or breast feeding. Formula milk lasts longer in babies tummy and therefore baby will not get hungry as soon compared to breast milk. However, breast milk is healthier for babies, especially during the first few days when colostrum is produced. Colostrum provides new born babies with antibodies until their own immune system is strong enough to protect baby from germs.
Getting baby to sleep longer can also be influenced by what mother eats. The one day we had some visitors over and there were a lot of sweet cakes. We had trouble getting baby to sleep that night. This was probably due to the increased levels of suger in the milk which make baby more active.