Second Night Syndrome - Omaha Birth & Babies (2024)

FAQs

Is the second night with a newborn the hardest? ›

Baby's Second Night - The Next 24 Hours

During this time, both you and your baby are starting to recover from the birth and settling into a new life. For everyone, these changes can be seen more in the second 24 hours of life and can be hard, even for experienced parents.

Plan for the second night

Ask a family member to stay the night to help you care for your baby and provide skin-to-skin with your baby after feeding while you get some sleep. Be patient and know that this stage will last about 24-48 hours.

Night two can bring way more crying that the first 24 hours. The theory is that during the second to third day postpartum, your newborn is discovering they are no longer in the comforts of your womb. They are experiencing many new firsts – the feeling of hunger, cold air across their skin, lights and stimulation etc…

Your newborn doesn't have this rhythm quite yet⁽²⁾. They are still developing that internal clock that tells them it's time to sleep, and those sleepy hormones aren't regulated until closer to 3-4 months⁽¹⁾. This is why we see babies who sleep all day and are up all night.

It is likely he will want to be fed several times through the night, so take advantage of any quiet time to rest. Enlist help! Work out a plan with your partner, sister, mother, anyone who can spend the night with you. They can take turns holding and walking or rocking the baby while you take a break.

Very young babies have little idea of day or night and most wake regularly around the clock every 2 or 3 hours needing a feed and attention. In the first few months it is common for babies to wake regularly at night for feeds at least 2 or 3 times. As a guide, many babies sleep 14-20 hours a day in the first weeks.

Your baby feels more secure with you by their side, and this is how nature intended it to be. If they wake up, they are comforted by your touch and your scent, and they may not need to fully wake or cry before settling back to sleep by themselves.

What is the second sleep regression for babies? ›

If you have a child around 2 years old who is suddenly not sleeping like they have been and who's fighting bedtime, waking up multiple times at night, or getting up for the day way too early, chances are your little one is experiencing the 2-year-old sleep regression.

Overtiredness: When a baby goes to bed overtired when they wake up, they often cry hysterically. When babies become overly fatigued, their usual sleep patterns can become disrupted, leading to increased fussiness, difficulty in settling down, and shorter sleep durations.

This is all learned behaviour and will take some time. If you baby is up all night and asleep all day, or waking up frequently or early, try to remember that this is all completely normal. Their sleeping patterns will evolve as they grow and develop. Instead, try to relax and focus on looking after your own sleep.

When a pattern of fussiness seems to come on rather suddenly, it could indicate colic. This could be the case if your baby is suddenly extremely fussy, cries uncontrollably or is inconsolable at about the same time each night for more than three hours.

Their external clock is not yet developed, which takes its cues from daylight and darkness. This means that your baby's sleep patterns are not yet cued to the natural cycle of day and night. In adults, this external, master clock is located in the brain near your vision-processing areas.

Most people find the first six to eight weeks to be the hardest with a new born baby. And while people may not openly discuss many of the challenges in these early weeks of parenthood (if at all), there are a number of common hurdles you may face at this time.

One of the reasons caring for a newborn is so challenging is that you, as a caregiver, are likely to be very tired. You're getting up several times in the night to soothe your crying baby. Fortunately, most babies start sleeping through the night by about 2-3 months of age.

The first three months with your baby often seem the hardest.

In most cases, your newborn is awake at night for short phases of their early months of life. It can seem like an eternity when you're exhausted, but this sleeping pattern often lasts for just a few days or weeks. It's also likely that most of the reasons your little one is awake are temporary and not emergencies.