easy to esay

[Chloevalentine]

My 6 week old went from easy to esay. After I feed him he's falling asleep for about 45 min to an hour sometimes only taking half his bottle  and then he wakes and gets a little fussy and I cAnt tell when he's hungry or just looking for some stimulation.

[Buttonbobs]

Hi hon, these things are always and in the first few months and your LO is still so little.  I'm not sure from your post whether you are BF or Ff but if he's falling asleep on you, then maybe read this thread for some tips:

Tips for Sleepy Newborns

Also, after he finishes a feed perhaps you can stir him with a nappy change or similar and then have some short activity time before beginning wind down to sleep. At this age you would expect an LO to be awake for approximately 1hr to 1hr15 mins and this includes the feeding time, nappy changes and wind down.

If you can avoid feeding him to sleep at this stage you will help him into some really great independent sleep habits, but if it's not possible for now and you think he's getting a full feed before dozing off then maybe don't worry too much, as long as you are aware that it can lead to some harder work later (but not impossible).

If you want to write out your day inEAS format I'd be happy to look at it for you.

[Chloevalentine]

Here's an example but it changes. Today at the 730 am feed he fell asleep righ after there was no A time so he did ESAY. Usually he's up for 1 hr 15 min- 1 1/2 hours then asleep for the same amount of time sometimes 2 hrs. During the day he eats every 3 hrs and at night his long sleep is between 8-1 am and anotther 3-4 hours until 4 am. Sometimes his naps are an hour or under. At times I have to keep picking up putting down for 2 hrs but he really only sleeps and hour or so during that span. He's bottle fed and disposable diapers. Any suggestions. Thank you


E – 7:30– Feed only 3 oz he was too sleepy to finish 4 oz bottle
A – 7:30-8:45 today he fell asleep at 815
S – 9-10:30 Swaddle and lay baby in crib still awake May take 15-20 min. to fall asleep.

E – 10:30– Feed 4 oz
A – 10:30-11:45 playmat/mobile and neck exercises
S – 12-1:30 2nd morning nap.

E – 1:30: Feed 4 oz
A – 1:30-2:45 music, singing, dancing
S – 3-430– Afternoon nap.

E – 4:30– Feed 4 oz
A – 4:30-545 See
S – 6 -730

E – 730 feed 4 oz
A – 7:30 diaper change bed clothes and a little snuggling before bed
S – 8-830- 1 am

E – 1 am feed 4 oz
A – None
S – Put baby right back to sleep.

E - 4-30 or 5 he normally wakes feed 4 oz sometimes only 2 oz becuase he's sleepy
A- none
S- put baby right back to sleep

E- 730 am

[Buttonbobs]

Hi hon, those A times look a little high for his age - the A time runs from the minute he opens his eyes to the minute he closes them, which appears from your list to sometimes be over 2 hrs. This won't be helping with his napping as he's likely to be fighting sleep due to OT (over tiredness). Perhaps if you offer the first feed immediately he wakes up and then following it so a little playtime or whatever you need to do in the rest of say up to an hour. Then pick him up and cuddle him close and do something gentle and not too stimulating like a little walk around the house/garden for five or ten minutes to calm him. Then go to his room change his nappy and swaddled him ready for sleep (or whatever your usual wind down is).

If he wakes at 7.30am you're aiming for him to be in his cot hopefully asleep by 8.45ish and not later. Does that make sense.

Hopefully you'll get a better first nap and this will set you up for the day.

You say that for one of the naps you're doing pick up put down, this is usually very stimulating and not suitable for a baby under 4months old. Have you tried using shh pat?
Shush-pat - How to

There is also a lot of information inthe following link about following EASY with a newborn. Have you had a read?
Sleep Training  - the early days

[Chloevalentine]

Today I tried and after 1 hour of being awake I walked around and calmed him to be out down. Put him in bassinet shh and pat he ll asleep for about ten min then he wakes up passing gas and can't really fall back to sleep I assume because he's unconfortable even with the gas drops I give him so an hour of shh and pat and then he's ready to eat and never really naps. That's the trouble I'm having thank you so much

[Buttonbobs]

What kind of signs of discomfort do you get from him sweetie?

[Chloevalentine]

He has trouble at times with gas. He will turn a little red from trying pass gass , arch his back and tighten up his legs.

[Chloevalentine]

But most of the time I don't think it's that. I don't k ow what I'm doing wrong. After an hour of A I walk him around until he's calm and eyes are sleepy and closing i out him down walk away and five minuet later he's fussing and crying so I do the shh pat put his pacifier and when he's ready I walk away Nd five minutes later same thing we start all over again and this will last over an hour until its almost time to eat again and he's never slept!! Im starting to lose my mind!!

[Buttonbobs]

It does sound like he is uncomfortable in some way and that the discomfort is stopping him from sleeping well. Does he sleep in a sling close by you? Or does he sleep in a baby swing or rocker?

Have you tried any baby massage techniques to relieve gas discomfort?
Massage, Colic, and recognising various cries info.

While you're looking at threads, does he have symptoms of reflux at all? It doesn't sound like it from your post but have a look here and tell me what you think?
Reflux 101 - General reflux information

I would probably try and help him sleep as much as possible using whatever method you need (any kind of APOP). Then when he's more well rested try and sleep train. Any discomfort will make sleep training pretty much impossible. If you can prevent the discomfort, or if he grows out of it, sleep training will be easier. ((Hugs)) honey xx

[Chloevalentine]

The only time he will sleep for more than a few minutes is in someone's arms. Either he is asleep in bassinet or awake. He Won't sleep in swing or chair. Msybe in his stroller when I take him for a walk. He does have gas maybe some signs of a little reflux but not many. Is it possible that he just doesn't need thAt much sleep ? I wonder why sometimes after an hour if trying to put him to sleep with shh pat or pickup he will fall asleep and then I have to wake him to feed at the 3 hour mark. This is so frustrating. He must be tired. Thank you again

[Buttonbobs]

Just a thought hon, so you swaddle him at all? It might be the he is OT from the lack of napping but that you holding him helps him through any jolts, perhaps if he were swaddled he would be more able to sleep.

At this age it can be difficult for Los to settle but it is important for him to sleep in the day, newborns need to sleep for most of the hours in each 24, so it is not likely that he doesn't need to sleep. I'll see if I can think of anything else. Xx

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi hun, just to make sure I understood right - right now you are feeding him to sleep? It's not so clear from the EASY you posted. If you are feeding to sleep at the moment is it something that you want to change NOW or you want to work on it later on?
If you read Naomi's link about the Shush-pat then you could see there that at this age one needs to stay WITH the baby till he is in deep sleep. If you are leaving him after 5min or so then it's likely he will wake up quickly.
I agree with Naomi re the discomfort. A baby in discomfort can not be sleep trained and the pain is actually the first priority. There is not a lot you can do about it, but you could try bicycle movement with the legs, burping him properly and I think some parents use gripe water.
I don't know if others will agree with me but I never woke my baby to feed. I believe that a hungry baby will always wake up and when DS fell asleep after an hour of trying to put him down I couldn't bare waking him up. When he wakes up you feed and start your EAS cycle again.

[Chloevalentine]

No I was not feeding to sleep and yes I do swaddle. He was following the easy schedule just fine until this week and he was awake 1 -/2 hrs and then asleep 1 1/2 hours until next feeding time eating every 3 hours. It was wonderful ! I'm not sure what happened. He sleeps wonderful at night! His last feed is around 730-8 and he sleeps 5 hours until 12:30-1 am I change diaper and feed him in dark and out right back to bed and he settles Down fine. Then he wakes about 4 hours later around 430 and I feed him in dark I don't change diaper unless there is poop and put him back down to sleep and he settles fine but sometimes it takes him about 30 min to fall back asleep but he's moving and cooing not crying. Then he awakes 3 hours later around 730 am and then we start our day schedule of eating every 3 hours.  But I can't get him to nap well. I need some suggestions. What used to work doesn't anymore. I have him awake either on playmat or listing to music or just cuddling until I see he gets real still and in a fog and he will yawn sometimes his eyes get heavy and open and shut I will then put him in bassinet and most times he will shut eyes and five min later he's cooing and looking around and moving his arms and legs. He will do that for a while and the start crying. I will try to settle him which might work and he will sleep for 5-10 min and then he's up fussing. I can get him to sleep but not to stay asleep. I'll try his sound machine I swaddle him I shh pat. Nothing keeps him asleep. We will sometimes do this for an hour until its almost time to eat again at the 3 hour mark. Then it's just downhill from there becuase he's overtired. So he will eat and then I can't keep him awake bcuase he's exhausted ( hence the feeding to sleep ). Last night after trying to get him to settle it was 7 pm I had been tryi to get him to nap since ) 615 I put him on my bed to re swaddle him and he passed out so I let him sleep there while I watched him until 9 pm in then moved him to his bassinet and we both fell asleep unti 1230 am!!! He then followed his normal night time routine.

[Ima shel Alon]

Sometimes it's very easy to miss the window, so either putting baby too early or too late to for his nap. the only way that I can think to go about it is to start and tweak his A times and watch the clock. I am not saying you are going to watch the clock from now till forever after, but when tweaking A times it is necessary. After figuring his right A time you could go back to watching cues because you will know approx. what his A time should be.
I would start with 1h A time and give that for 3 days. After 3 days I would increase to 1:15h A time throughout the day unless you are getting short naps in which case you can offer a bit less so he doesn't get OT. If after 3 days of 1:15h A time you get 45min naps I would go up to 1.5h and stick with that for 3-4 days. If you are still getting 45min naps then we can look at it again. I would think that if after tweaking A times naps are still 45min long then it's developmental and you'd just need to wait it out.
What do you think?

[Chloevalentine]

Ive tried Adjusting the A time and I can tell the sleepy signs I've even tried to either put him down right at the start of the signs, during the signs meaning when his eye are starting to open and close and I've also waited until he just fell asleep in my Arms and each time I put him Down it takes about 10 min or so and he's awake fussing and/or crying. He fell asleep for a hour this morning and then only 30 min this afternoon and just now he slept for 30 min in my arms and its going on About 30 min on my bed (while I watch him) but he squirms and fusses the whole time he never actually sleeps peacefully during the day.