New here - question about E and S for 2-3 week old

[SarahJaneNZ]

I have mainly read the first baby whisperer book which I found great for all the cues etc.
And we are on a form of EASY but not quite - two questions I have.


Question 1 S:
In New Zealand we have Plunket which advocates baby sleeps for 2-3 hours and awake for no more than 1 hour during the day - I am following this but this is a bit against what Baby Whisperer says - is this bad??
She is sleeping really well though and is waking 2-3 times in the night (twice last night  which was not too bad
Is there anything wrong with this should I gradually move her to less sleep in the day?? - I guess if she wants the sleep then she should have it?  I also look for sleepy signs etc. during A and get her on her way back to bed within 1 hour to just over an hour.

Other question is E:
She seems really effecient and when I have expressed it seems to fill up a 100 ml bottle within 10 minutes after feeding even.  At the moment I am doing an EAES - not to get her to sleep but because she seems to not want any more after the first E no matter what I do and is quite happy to play - but if I put her to sleep straight away she won't last the 2 hours.  Is this bad??  She does seem really hungry the second time round not just comforting or anything.
I think I will try to get her to eat more on the first E and try and phase out the second one gradually?

Any comments or suggestions very welcome.

Sarah from NZ

[rebecaq]

Hi Sarah, and welcome to BW!

Congratulations on your new baby girl!!

Seems to me that you're setting yourself up for uneeded confusion at the moment.  I believe you need to decided which parenting style you wish to follow and then stick to it. Especially if they are contradicting each other.

Now, according to BW philosophy, at 2-3 weeks babies really aren't on a routine yet. They are still getting used to being outside of your womb, eating with their mouths and not the umbilical cord etc.  So for the most part, starting EASY now is to get you used to motions of it and to start a predictable pattern. That way your baby knows what to expect and you know how to read her cues better.

So if you do EAES, and she begins to cry, it may be for a bunch of reasons. She may have gas, or be tired, or need a nappy change etc etc etc. Also, having the E before the S, is a sure fire way to fall into accidental parenting. So she may take longer to learn to sleep independently. Do you feed her as soon as she wakes? Maybe she needs a moment or two so she can fully develop hunger and take a full feed instead of needing 2.

At this age, a nappy change is considered A time, so I do NOT recommend trying to keep her up longer during the day so she sleeps more at night.  Sleep begets sleep. And an overtired baby will sleep badly both day and night.

Like I said, you need to make a decision in which parenting style you wish to do, and commit to it 100%

- Beca