2 week old EASY issue

[Wink's Marmy]

Hi. After I feed my 2 week old, I change her diaper for her brief activity and then try & put her to sleep using pat/shh. Here are the issues I am having:

1. She likes to suck. When I put her down there is trouble. After swaddling then putting her on my shoulder, I pat-shh her for about a minute until she is calm and then I put her down on her side to begin the routine. She immediately starts rooting. I feel quite certain that she just wants to suck and have confirmed this with other BW on a different thread. Anyway, I have given her a pacifier (caved in before I began EASY and now she loves it). So when she starts rooting if I don't give her the pacifier, she screams. I pick her up and pat-shhh but she just roots all over my shoulder and then screams very loud. So, I have been giving it to her if she roots when I put her down. I know it can cross the line of being a prop, but it just isn't working without it!

2. Diapering of course wakes her up after her feeds. She falls asleep EVERY feed. After waking from the diapering she roots more (again the sucking issue). Being ultra paranoid about her getting all she needs to eat, I often offer her my breast again which she takes for about 2 minutes till she nods off again. I don't want my breast to become a prop for her either! Mind you, she wets well over 6 times a day and poops over 5 times daily too. Oh, and weight gain has been good. Since she falls asleep during feeds, I often diaper her then because it wakes her for another go with the feed. But I don't want to diaper twice (diapers aren't cheap) so how can I do activity?

3. At night is it OK to totally skip activity? (Middle of the night). I diaper during feed when she falls asleep.

[Mariek]

Hi Jenn (again!).

I've answered No 1 in the other post you've made

No.2. Are you certain shes hungry when she starts routing after being fed? How long does she feed for before you change her?

No.3  You don't need to do any activity with the night time feeds. Keep it super low key for feeding (lights dimmed, no talking, no eye contact) and just pop her back down when you've finished feeding her.

She's adorable btw and looks so tiny on your avatar photo. What weight was she born?

love

[Wink's Marmy]

hello again!

no,not certain she is hungry after being fed. think its the sucking issue. she feeds around 20-25 minutes
(thats actual suck/swallow time - doesn't allot for burping & the like.

i do need to diaper her at night though, right? or is it ok to not??

the photo was taken the day she was born. she was 8.9 lbs.

[sue]

She's still such a wee little thing (and absolutely adorable by the way! that everything she's doing is totally normal.  Mine did a lot of dozing off like that in the beginning, especially while nursing because of the oxytocin hormone released.  I find pulling back ever so slightly so my nipple feels a bit of a tug (don't break the latch though) wakes her up enough to get her sucking again. I remember Tracy says in her book that if you can't gently wake her during the feed (she suggests stroking their cheek, rubbing their palm, rubbing their back or underarm) set her in her crib and let her sleep.  
At this age the sucking reflex can be very strong and I personally think it is important to fufill this need whether it's with a soother, or your clean finger until she is able to use her own fingers.  These things aren't props if they are just used to calm your baby.  
As for other ideas for activities (to cut back on diapers ) you can put her on the change table without changing her diaper and talk/sing/read to her, or lay her on a play mat, or give her a bath.  Nothing too stimulating and not for very long at all because babies this little tend to get overstimulated very easily.  At night, you should skip the activity time altogether.  I always feed her than burp her and the burping wakes her up enough that I'm rarely putting her back in her crib totally asleep.  I only change her at night if she is soaked through.  Hope that helps.

[Mariek]

I agree with Sue -  I only change DS after his dream feed if he's pooped or soaking.

love

[rebecaq]

Hello! Welcome to BW and congratulations on your new baby girl! She's adorable!

Regarding your 3 questions..

1. It's ok to offer a pacifer now, it's not a prop at this age. At 2 weeks the sucking reflex is VERY strong in babies and they need it to soothe. I would prefer a thousand times you offer her the paci than your breasts in order to get her asleep. If you keep popping it in her mouth everytime it falls out when she's asleep then it will FOR SURE become a prop. Give it to her when she's first nodding off to help her soothe into sleep and leave it at that. If it falls out and she doesn't notice, then leave it out!

2. At 2 weeks there really is no activity to speak of. EASY and especially the A time doesn't really do much for babies under 6 weeks. It's great you have started now because it's getting YOU used to the motions of it and not starting any accidental parenting. For now all she will do is eat and sleep. And my advice to you is, ENJOY IT!! and also sleep tons yourself. Newborns are hard work and it will also do wonders for your supply.  So for no, don't even worry or think about A time for her, the most you could get out of her right now would be 5-10 mins. And it's important she sleeps alot right now. To sleep is to grow at this stage. just make sure she eat when she's supposed to and the rest will come into paly when she's a little older.

3.At night you MUST skip acitivity. Like Mariek told you, keep it all low-key and with dimmed lights. No eye contact or talking.  Babies don't know that night is for sleeping, they must be taught that. In fact many babies have it backwards because while you were pregnant she napped during the day while you moved and had a rocking effect on her, and she probably kicked up a storm while you were trying to sleep and she was no longer being rocked. So the message you want to send her is that nighttime is when things are dark, quiet and relaxing ie. this is when we sleep.

And yeah diaper her at night, if not she'll get upset. Just do it in sloooooow moootiooooon and as gently as possible. Also warm the wipes so they're not cold and may startle her

Let me know how you get on!

- Beca