Please help me figure out my 7 week old

[SukieCat]

Hello!

I got a lot of help from these forums when my DS was little, so I really hope someone can help me out again!  I have a 7 week old DD, and I'm having a hard time figuring out her ideal awake time.  The internets suggest anything from 45 min to 2 hours of awake time for this age, but so far I haven't found her sweet spot.  I'm also on antibiotics at the moment, and there's a chance she's going through a growth spurt, so things are kind of goofed up right now.  Also she doesn't self-settle yet, I either rock her or nurse her to sleep.  She usually takes a long afternoon nap, but I can't seem to get her to take a long morning nap.  She had been doing one 5-6 hour stretch at night, but we're back to 3-4 hours most nights.  Here's what our night/day looked like yesterday, it's been pretty typical for the past few days:

BT 8:30pm
E 10:30 dreamfeed of sorts, I'm BFing and don't have a stash but I tried not to really wake her. I don't think she ate much.
S 11 - 1:30am
E 1:30-2:15am
S 2:15 - 5:15am
E 5:15 - 5:45am
S 5:45 - 8 am
E 8 - 8:30
A
S started trying at 8:45, cried/fussed until 9:15
   9:15 - 10:10
E 10:15 - 10:45
A
S 11:15 - 12:30
E 12:30 - 1pm
A
S 1:40 - 4:30 (nursed to sleep at 2)
E 4:30 - 5:15
A
S 6:15 - 6:55
E 7 - 7:30
A including some cluster feeding
S/BT at 9pm

Today I tried 1 hr of awake time before her first nap but she only slept 45 min.  I'm thinking maybe UT?  But she starts to get grumbly around an hour after she's been up so I figured that meant she was tired.  She's hard to read, and she'll always nurse, so I'm never sure if she's tired or hungry.  She almost always still falls asleep nursing, even after a long nap, so then I have to wake her back up.  She also tends to need resettling during naps, sometimes she'll cry for a min and go back to sleep by herself, sometimes I have to help her.  She currently sleeps swaddled in a rock n play, but I'm hoping to move her to her crib in the next week or two.  I'd appreciate any input anyone could give me on her A times.  Thanks!

Sukie

[Domestic Engineer]

This looks like too much day time sleep! If I'm reading everything right, it's over 5.5 hours of day sleep; I think about 4 is reasonable. That afternoon 1:40 nap is long - 4 hours is too long to go between day time feedings at 7 weeks. It's likely cutting into her night sleep. I would wake her up three hours after her last feed, maybe 3.5.

I would try extending all of her awake times at least 15 minutes from where they currently are at first, and maybe even further from there if she takes it well.

Hopefully as you lengthen activity times, you can merge the two afternoon naps (11:15 and 1:40) into one nap. That will mean that the early evening cat nap can be a little earlier, which will also allow for an earlier bed time. (8 pm is a good starting point for a baby waking up for the day at 8 am.)

[SukieCat]

Thanks for the reply. Tried 1 hr 15 min awake times and got much better naps. She also slept longer at night. She may just be at the end of a growth spurt, but I think the longer A times are helping.

[lily_layne]

My DS did around 1h15 at that age. He often did a shorter am nap and a longer pm nap and it was fine. He also liked a lot of day sleep at that age (5-6 hours) and it didn't seem to cause a problem with the nights. I worried a lot about getting DD on a schedule at that age and working on independent sleep and it just caused a lot of needless stress. With DS I was a lot more relaxed and things started falling into place on their own as he got older. 7 weeks is really little still so it's ok to just go with the flow and follow cues if you want.

[SukieCat]

Thanks!  I'm just trying to figure out a loose routine for this one because her tired cues are subtle and she goes from content to overtired cranky really fast.  Now I aim to get her back to sleep by 1 hr 15min A time, but sooner if she's showing signs or gets cranky before that.  It seems to be working.  She's still getting quite a bit of daytime sleep (probably 5+ hours), but her nights have been better recently too.  They change so much at this age, I still feel like every day is different.

[lily_layne]

I still feel like every day is different.

It often is at that age.

[jessmum46]

And every age after it . Just wanted to pop in and say hi and congratulations, I remember you from DSs posts

[SukieCat]

Thanks jessmum!  I remember getting great advice from you!  I'm very happy to report that my 3 yo DS is a fantastic sleeper now.

[jessmum46]