I am getting conflicting information.  My newborn stays up at night and sleeps during the day.  People tell me not to wake her when she is sleeping during the day but her pediatrician says to wake her every three hours to eat.  I am so tired, I need her to get some sleep through the night.  Any suggestions.

Is she breast or bottle fed?? My son was bottle fed and we used to put a little bit of rice baby cereal in his bottle just to make it a little bit thicker, not much, but the first time we did that he slept all night! Some people are against giving babies cereal in their bottle when they are that young but my whole entire family did it with us and their kids and we arent obese. We just gave it to him at night to help him sleep and it worked and i have no complaints! I hope this helps!!

I had the same problem with my son. The hospital told me to wake him every 3 hours for feeding, but when I took him to his pediatrician he said not to.  He said he will wake on his own when he is hungry.  He began sleeping thru the night(occasionally waking 1 or 2 times for a feeding). During the day when he woke up I would try and keep him up as long as he could. His last feeding before bedtime was around 10pm.  This seemed to help with my son(it took a couple of weeks to get him into the routine), but after that he slept thru the night for me.  Good luck!

I remember when my daughter was a newborn I would wake her every few hours during the day if she was asleep to eat. When they are that young they need to be fed every 3-4 hours. She got into the habit of being fed every 3-4 hours and at night would wake on her own to eat. Sometimes she would go 5 hours and then wake. Newborns rarely ever sleep through the night and at that stage in thier life 5-6 hours of "straight sleep" for them is concidered "through the night" sleep.

I also added a tiny bit of rice cereal to my daughters bottle before bedtime. Sometimes it helped but not always. Make sure you use a nipple that is large enough for the ceral to fit through. I need to mention though, that I did not use cereal in her bottle until she was about 5 months old. I'm not sure how old your baby is.

Good luck and trust me...it will get better with time.

Do not add cereal to her formula. Her digestion system isn't ready for it. Cereal does not help babies sleep more - that is an old wives tale. Your baby will sleep more at 3-4 months when her brain starts to develop melatonin - not when you give her a belly ache with food too early.

Your newborn must be fed every 2-3 hours - just like the hospital told you. If your pediatrician said otherwise you need to change your doctor. (We had a crappy ped in the beginning too.) Your baby's intestines simply aren't long enough yet to sustain them much longer than that on just a few ounces of milk.

You need to find someone to help you few times a week. Someone to feed her every 2-3 hours while you get a nice block of sleep.

I didn't have anyone that I felt comfortable sitting with my baby while I could sleep (having people in my house makes me uncomfortable) so while my husband was at work I found it helped to cover our bedroom windows with blankets to darken the room. (That won't affect how the baby sleeps now - but it will in just another month or two.) That helped me 'sleep while the baby sleeps' in the daytime.

Good luck and try to find someone to help you for awhile.  It will get better I PROMISE!

I completely agree with Kimberly. That is why I said that I didn't give my daughter cereal until she was about 5-6 months old and the only reason I did under her dr's advise was because she had a reflux issue. Newborns cannot and should not have any solids. They are simply too young and thier digestive track is not mature enough to handle any foods until they are at least 6 months old.

I too promise that it will get better with some time. Babies thrive on schedules and being that young she does need to eat every few hours. You will see that change dramatically when she gets a little older. I know it seems like you will never sleep again, but trust me...it WILL happen :) Just be patient and give it time.