6 weeks old. Not doing this right I think

[sahsfree]

My little girl is 6 weeks. We've been working on EASY for a week now.  I know she's supposed to be on a 3 hour schedule. I'm having trouble keeping her asleep at naps and awake during activity.

e 6:45-7 (7 minutes or so)
A changing into clothes, new diaper, staring at fan in the bedroom
S 8 usually yawning by 745 or earlier but I try to keep her up a little.
E 8:45 she's up after 45 min of sleep max
A going downstairs, new diaper, sing a song
S 1045 or so, she sleeps for an hour and a half in a bouncy chair with a lot of shh pat
E 1230
A
S 130 for about an hour. Starts to cry when wake up
E
A
S 4 - 6 If I wake her she screams
E
A
S 7-8
E
S down for the night

This is her schedule on her BEST day.  I feel like I can't keep her awake because she's not napping well. Her activity time looks long enough here but most of it is spent yawning and crying for sleep while I soothe her. I know she's tired I just can't seem to help her stay down

If I hold her shell nap for 2 hours or so but she wakes up the minute I try to put her down. We do swaddle already

I've read all the FAQs.  I track her already. The routine laid out for 3 hour just seems laughable when she's napping for 45 minutes in the morning. How is knowing she should eat at 7, 10, and 1 help when I can't keep her awake or asleep?

Heellllpppppp !!

[*Ali*]

Hi,
Have you tried extending that first nap with shh pat or wake to sleep?
If she does short nap she will need a shorter A time following that nap. So if her A time is usually 1hr I would reduce that to about 45 mins after a 45 min nap. It may mean you have to do EASASE etc. or you have to top her up before her next nap rather than on wake up depending on when she seems hungry. I thinknrightnow she is getting overtired by the end of the day.
She is so small right now but will soon become more alert between feeds and be able to stay awake longer.
Do you have a sling you could wear her in when she is grizzly?

[sahsfree]

Thanks for responding. We're having a very hard day here today.  I've tried extending her naps with a shh/pat but it never seems to calm her down - she just becomes more aware that I'm there and then gets angry when I don't pick her up.  I tried getting her to sleep in her crib today using the suggestions from Tracy's interviews - but instead of 20 minutes of shh/pat it turned into 2 hours of shh/pat lulling her to sleep then 30 minutes later she'd wake up screaming.  I would say she was undertired, but she has dark circles under her eyes and was yawning, and clearly making her tired cry.  We decided to have awake time in hopes that going through the eating, being awake cycle would help her settle down for a longer nap.  After sleeping an hour she just woke up screaming. My husband took over and she fell asleep within a few minutes of being in his arms but it's a very fitful sleep. 

Sorry for the word-vomit, I just am feeling very frustrated.  I can't get her to nap when she's tired, but she's not having enough A time because she's tired and falls asleep... I'm SO TEMPTED to just give up and maybe wait a few weeks so that there'd be a greater distinction between her 'alert' times and her tired times...

We were wearing her in a Moby because she'd be awake and happy and then would naturally fall into a sleep when she got tired, but it seemed to be contrary to getting her on a real schedule so i haven't used it since starting the EASY routine. 

[emily_Mae]

Hi,

Just wanted to say I couldn't start the routine before 8 weeks, I've been doing it for 5 weeks now and baby is falling nicely into routine, except for a growth spurt where she just wants to feed pretty much day and night. I still rock my DD to sleep, she is very good at rubbing her eyes when tired so I know when to pick her up, swaddle and rock. She used to take 20 mins to rock to sleep, but now is asleep by 10mins, although she does fight it!!! I'm always working on adjusting the routine slightly to suit her, I noticed when she wakes for a feed in the am between 6-7, I then give her first A time of the day , but it's always short as she yawns a lot and isn't too interested, so from eyes open to eyes closed can sometimes be 40 mins. At 4 months I will be starting the PU/PD method. Sssht/pat wasn't working and eating into her sleep time trying, I felt it was more important for her to sleep even if it meant sleeping on me for an hour and a half. She does wake but I'll get up rock her and luckily we have an extractor fan in the kitchen which settles her to sleep again but I found turning on the hair dryer for a couple of seconds works too to get her back to sleep.
It's hard work but it pays off and it certainly gives you more time to yourself and structure to your day.
Good luck!

[sahsfree]

Thanks for your response!  I think that was a problem I was having - establishing my priorities. Get her to sleep v. Sleeping independently.  And I think at her age for now I'm going to say sleeping is a priority and just do some accidental parenting and let her nap on me since she's so much more rested when I let her do that. 

Not sure how you're feeding but when your little one wakes up do you feed or do you do a easase so that they're still eating on a 3 hour interval? 

[*Ali*]

Many of us here waited until our LOs were older to do sleep training (I didn't find BW until my DS1 was 3.5mo). It can work out much less stressful if baby is resistant to being out down awake or particularly sleepy.

[sahsfree]

That's so good to hear. I felt like I was slacking waiting this long. . Type a OCD personality. I'll do some spacing out of meals and follow the EAS routine order but ill stop worrying about the training part. .

[emily_Mae]

I'm breastfeeding, and I do try and stick to 3hrly, unless I know it's around a growth spurt when if she wakes i do offer her the breast, then will have a shorter A time if I can tell she still seems tired rather than well rested. If she does wake for some reason often wind I manage to rock her to sleep, although sometimes I've spent so long rocking its feed time again! I agree, if my LO doesn't get enough rest she is very fussy during A time and is no fun.
Around lunchtime, I often take her for a walk in a pouch after A time , she cries to start with but soon settles and can sleep for a full hour undisturbed, the pram works too for walks.
I must say I am looking forward to 4 months to start sleep training as she is getting heavy to rock and I do worry about her depending on me to get to sleep but for now I see her sleep important for her development and she is much happier baby when awake with proper sleep. It's tricky when you have a baby who doesn't fall asleep by themselves, my friend has a LO why will just nap on her playmat if she is tired, must admit very envious but they are all different and I believe the effort we put in now to encourage good naps will make them better sleepers as they get older.