45 min naps and long, long wake times with my 6 week old!

[mrstgass]

Hi there! I'm new and after looking around on the boards, I thought I would just make a post to see if I could get some advice.

I'm sorry if this is jumbled or not allowed because it's a repeat post. I saw some others where they are struggling with the 45 min nap, but baby will only stay awake for an hour. I'm having the opposite problem - baby will only nap 45 minutes but will be awake for 2+ hours!

My daughter is now 6 weeks old, and we have had little to no success in getting her to nap for any real length of time. I've used the E.A.S.Y method with my older daughter (who is now 18 months), and we had great success with her becoming a great napper & night time sleeper. I wish this were true for daughter #2!

She is breast fed, and currently wakes 2-3 times a night still. Although the last two nights we have managed 4 and 3 hour stretches. I implemented the dream feed last night and she slept 4 hours. She's been a pretty good night sleeper since the start, and will wind down for the night at about 8 pm, and will sleep until 6-7am with a couple of feedings.

We are really struggling with day naps! I just can't get her to nap longer than 30-45 minutes, and she will be awake for 2-3 HOURS. She will doze off for a few minutes here and there during the 2-3 hours, but nothing significant. This morning I watched for her tired cues and tried to get on top of it before she was over tired. 2 hours later she is now asleep, but I had to go in 3 separate times to help her go back to sleep. She takes a paci but I'm about ready to toss the thing since she wakes up as soon as it falls out (but only during naps - she does fine with it at night!) I'm also swaddling her, but once she breaks free she is awake again. I know I must be missing something here, because I don't remember my older daughter struggling this much with naps even this young. My 6 week old will nap if I hold her, but it will still take her 30-40 minutes to actually get to sleep and then I can put her down. We also struggle with my older daughter startling the baby awake while she is trying to fall asleep since I can't leave her unsupervised.

I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to do. I've read and re-read the BW book to try and find something that will help, but I can't seem to nail this down. Any, ANY, advice would be greatly appreciated for this frustrated mom!

[weaver]

Hello and welcome to BW Hope you find the support that you need here.

The first thing to say is that day time sleep is a tricky thing for babies to master, it can take some of them a while to get the hang of it. Don't panic!   Average A time for 1-2 months is around 1 hr 20 mins to 1 hr 30 mins.  Your baby might be low sleep needs.  Have you noticed any pattern to her A times at all? Is she happy while awake?

If you find already that the paci is waking her up then I would ditch it.  She's so tiny it hopefully will be easy enough to do without it from now.  My LO1 still has a soother (as I call it) but it has always helped him to sleep, not hindered him. 

What sort of swaddle are you using?  There are lots of different sorts and another one might be better for her.  Here's a way of making a great swaddle out of a sheet. I think most mamas find it pretty indestructible!
Swaddling Technique (aka "Aussie swaddle")

Have you done the BW baby personality quiz?  It's another tool that might help figure out her sleep issues. 
The BW "Know Your Baby Quiz"

And lastly, having BTDT with two LOs, let me beg you to go easy on yourself.  You've a lot to handle!  Baby is still very young so I wouldn't worry about naps too much for now.  It's great that you are thinking about her EASY so soon. If you can get her to do some naps in the cot, or start all naps in the cot, or whatever, that's a great start.  I wouldn't worry too much about APOPing some naps, ie carrying her in a sling or holding her or in the buggy, when you need to. One thing that might help is popping her in a carrier when she wakes from her nap, she might go back to sleep.  Your sanity is the most important thing!  There is some good info here too:
Introducing EASY to a 2nd child

[mrstgass]

Overall she's pretty happy while she's awake! She does have her fussy times since we're also working through a bit of tummy troubles.

Thank you for the resources! I'll have to check them out. My older daughter takes a soother and we've never had an issue with it. She still uses it for naps/bed time now. I think ditching the soother for #2 may be the way to go.

We're just swaddling her in an oversized flannel receiving blanket. I do have one of those sleep sacks with the velcro swaddle bit, but can't seem to find it! I'm hoping to find it today some time, haha.

THANK YOU for that last link!! THat's what I have been searching for all week! All the EASY stuff never references if you're doing it with a second child!