Fighting sleep?

[smjmekg]

Aubryana will be four weeks old tomorrow, and once or twice a day she'll seem like she's fighting sleep. Most of the time when she wakes up she'll eat get a diaper change and go right back to sleep, but the other times she's up for like two to three hours, fussy for the most part. She acts hungry, I try to feed her, she latches, s*cks for a few seconds to a minute or two, lets go and cries...I've tried burping her, bouncing/rocking/swinging, holding her upright and letting her look around, walking around with her...nothing seems to do anything. She'll finally get tired enough that she falls asleep, I'll put her in the bassinet and usually she'll wake back up two or three times, I'll feed her for a couple more minutes and she goes back to sleep...

I'm not complaining for lack of sleep or anything like that, but Elijah never did this so is she really just fighting sleep already?

[lori0615]

my daughter was doing this and not gaining weight. They said she was not getting enough.

[nola0805]

This is just a thought but are you sure that her latch is good?  It sounds unusual that she stops feeding so quickly.  Is she gaining weight okay?  Some babies need an almost perfect latch to get enough milk (mine did), and if the latch is not just right, then they do not get enough to eat and then lose interest quickly at the breast.

I doubt that she is "fighting" sleep per se but some babies need more help regulating their sleep and falling and staying asleep on their own.  I would try using a baby carrier - like a moby or a mei tai - where you can keep her close to you, upright, and snuggled tight.  This worked wonders for my little one when he was fussy.   My son could not sleep on his back at all and only slept in a swing, on me, or in the carrier for his first 3 months.  He is now 4 months old and sleeps anywhere - so some babies just need more time to develop better sleep regulation.

She also could be experiencing some tummy troubles.  Perhaps try some gripe water.

Good luck!