Brand new to EASY...7 week old

[jlb24]

Hi everyone!  I'm just starting EASY with my 7 week old...he is a mix between a Textbook baby and a Touchy baby (leaning more towards the touchy side!)

Here's a little background...I'm ebf-ing, I pump sometimes and will give a bottle right before bed to make sure his belly is full or on the weekends if I want DH to help with feedings or if I want to have a drink.  He does really well with bf-ing...no problems from the start.  Length of feedings range from 10 min-30 min. 

He sleeps in a cosleeper attached to our bed at night.  We were putting him in there around 11 each night when we would go to bed, but he started getting extremely cranky from around 8:30-11, and we would then bounce him in our arms, rock him, sh him, etc. etc.  After reading the book, I now believe he was overtired and overstimulated!  He wakes every 2-3 hours at night to feed, which I'm beginning to believe is more for comfort, not for hunger.  Last night I picked him up for 2 min. w/out feeding him and he was back out.  As for naps, he was napping in my Baby Bjorn which was tough on me! 

As for activity, he pretty happy when he isn't tired or hungry!  He loves his playmat, loves when we talk to to him and make faces.  He will go in his bouncy chair for 15-20 min. at a time.  His swing he will do for maybe 10 min.

The issue I'm trying to work on now is getting him to nap in his crib.  Earlier today he went down for about a half hour, but I first had to go in repeatedly and pick him up, sh him, and then put him down when he calmed.  I had to repeat this twice before I put him down and got the half hour in.  About an hour later, he started yawning again, so I swaddled and put him in the crib.  He slept for 10 min., I had to go back and pat/sh, and now he's been in there asleep for 15 min. 

Why do you think he wakes every few minutes screaming?  Why is the stretch of time for him being tired so short?  Any tips/advice for starting this with a 7 wk old would be greatly appreciated!!!!  I'm excited that I found this forum  

[Colin Macs Mom]

bumping up the list for you

[~Sara~]

Hi there!  Just saw that you hadn't had any responses yet (sorry for that).  How have the past couple of days been?

Can you describe the winddown routine you use, and for how long you do it?  It sounds like your little guy is a bit on the overtired side, so finding his sleep window and tweaking the winddown will really help.

In the meantime, most LOs at this age can only stay awake for ~1h-1h10 max (watch the cues).  That includes eating, activity time, diaper change, and winddown; all with the goal of LO being asleep by the 1h/1h10 mark (depending on his needs).  I would give 10 minutes for a solid winddown.  In a darkened room, swaddled, and using the shh/pat method.

At this age for the shh/pat, they are basically falling near asleep on you, and you transfer them to their crib pretty much out to the world.  Babies have a series of jolts for about the first 20 minutes of sleep, so gently applying pressure to their arms (or swaddling) will help them not be disturbed by this.

Lastly, here's a really helpful thread that might give you some ideas about what LO's day will look like:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164027.0

HTH a bit...let me know what you think and how you're doing

[jlb24]

Hi Sara!!  Thanks for all of the info.!  Monday ended up being horrible...he barely slept at all.  I spent the entire day picking him up, pat/sh-ing and putting him down, only for him to start screaming immediately.  If I put him in the sling, he falls asleep within 5 min.  I figured I should start with baby steps, so I'm trying to implement the EASY routine, but still letting him sleep in the sling.  Once we have that down, I thought I'd slowly start trying to get him in his cribs for naps.  As for the wind down, I'm really just getting used to his windows of time.  I feel like he only stays up for around 45 min.-1 hr before he is sleepy again and starts yawning.  With that being said, I feel like I am missing the time for a wind down bc the second I put him in the sling, he's out.  I started writing everything down (times he eats/sleeps, how long he's awake for, etc.) so hopefully next week I'll have a better idea of when to start a wind down.  What do you think of that approach?? 

[~Sara~]

I think you've got a great approach!  He's still so tiny, so there's still lots and lots of time for independent sleep training.  Trust me.  For what I've been able to tell, most LOs aren't fully independent sleepers until 5-7 months.  So, like I said, lots of time

Get the hang of EASY, yes!  Then, what a lot of moms will do is work on getting one nap a day in the crib, slowly increasing to all of them.  Nothing wrong with that approach.

He might only be able to stay awake for 45min-1h.  Very possible.  The fact that he falls asleep so quicky is a good sign, I promise.  If he was fighting it, then we'd take another look.  But it sounds like you're on the right track.

One thing I will say about shh/pat at this age is to make sure he is basically asleep when you lay him down, and keep shushing/patting until he's well off into dreamland.

Good luck with things and let me know how you're doing

[jlb24]

Thank you so much!!!!  Do you think having him sleep in the sling is setting him up for a bad habit??  I get so nervous that I'm creating a nightmare over here!  And how do you adjust your EASY when you run errands or you aren't home?? 

[~Sara~]

Sorry to just now be getting back to you...it was a busy weekend!

I think that the important thing to keep in mind re: sleeping in the sling, is that eventually, yes, there will be some transition.  It all depends on how long you wait to tackle it.  If he's under 6 months, the transition should only take a couple of days...after that, it does get a bit more difficult.

Your LO isn't sleeping in the sling at night, though, so that helps.  When DS was little, he took every nap on a person or in his bouncy chair; I finally stopped that when he was about 2 months old, and I don't remember there being a problem because we used shh/pat.

Re: adjusting EASY...well, I always tried to do the best I could.  If it was his E time, I fed him, regardless of where I was (he was bottlefed on those occasions).  If it was his S time, I hoped that he would fall asleep while we were out, which didn't always happen.  The best thing you can do if you miss his sleep window and he's OT, is to APOP that nap, and reduce the next A time (basically a feed, diaper change, right back down).  That was the most helpful thing I ever learned with EASY.  The times might not be "perfect," but all that matters is meeting your LO's needs and keeping the general pattern.

HTH!  How have the past couple of days been?

[firsttimemummy]

hiya - not read this in detail but wanted to mention a couple of things ...

with Murray he would be restless (okay, screaming etc!) in the evening until around 11pm when he would settle for the night; Oliver goes up to our room after his feed at 7pm or so (when we wakens around that time we change him, sometimes bath him, etc then he gets fed, already swaddled, etc) - that is him now usually until 3am or so ..... I think Murray used to be really overstimulated etc and needed his bed MUCH earlier!

Oliver is now extending his A time and now I lie him in his moses basket around 1 hour after wakening although sometimes that is too long for him still.  I find that when he is lying under his arch with toys on it or in his bouncy chair he will cry before he goes to sleep (the womb noises from teh Slumberbear, sometimes with a hand gently on his tummy until his cry settles, work well).  If he just cuddles and "talks" to me he usually goes down a lot better.