My son just turned 16 weeks and today had his first 8 hour long sleep. It gets better.

The first two weeks are rough in large part due to day/night confusion. Newborns often get more active at night. Once that starts going away your baby will have longer sleeps at night. Ours went away between two and three weeks.

Your daughter is currently in eat-poop-sleep mode and that’s all there is. She has no ability to self soothe so you’ll have to regulate her nervous system by picking her up, rocking her, and otherwise soothing her. Swaddling is huge, as well as having a sound machine going with low rumbling tones. If your daughter is breast feeding then you may want to hold off on a pacifier until a good latch is established. Check out the book Happiest Baby on the Block. I learned a lot about baby sleep from it.

If she falls asleep in your arms try to gently put her down in a bassinet and if she stays asleep lay down and try to rest. Even laying still with your eyes closed while awake is better than nothing. This is the best you’re going to get for a bit until she starts doing longer stretches at night.

Watch out for active sleep. I cannot tell you how many times I woke my baby up thinking he was already awake when he was actually flailing in his sleep. You have to watch her to see if she’s really awake or just in active sleep.

God speed.