Help please...short naps and crying outburts from sleeping?!!

[careenk]

Hi,

I am a first time mom and have really loved the book, but am struggling at the moment and cannot seem to figure out how to help myself!!  A couple of my friends have also followed EASY with their babies with lots of success.

My baby is 10 weeks old and has been on EASY pretty much from week 3.  He has been on a 3 hour routine mostly unless I think he is hungry and will then feed him a bit earlier than normal etc. 

My issue at the moment is with our day time naps.  He firstly goes down with a massive struggle - as soon as I swaddle him, he fights it and starts crying and arches  his back.  I understand some resistance can be normal if they are maybe a bit overtired, but even when I keep activity to a minimum and very short times, it still happens.  He cries so much sometimes that he starts struggling to catch his breath!?

Then, once calm (or even if he went down easier) he wakes after 30/45mins crying.  Not sure why as sometimes his eyes are closed to start off with and then opens later throughout the crying.  I try to calm him and once calm will keep him in his bed to try to get a bit more sleep time for him, but generally he doesnt go back to sleep.  I have now started feeding him a bit earlier as I am worried that leaving him, say, another hour before E and then to still have A will cause him to be overtired by the next nap. 

And even if I feed him, just change his nappy as activity with the next feed, he still wont sleep much longer than 45mins.  So that with the next feed once again, he was up for almost 2 hours again.

He sleeps fairly well at night, although goes down with a bit of crying...again starting once we swaddle him.  He falls asleep much quicker at night now than at the start, so that is great and I will feed him at 10/10:30pm his DF and he has gone a few nights without waking till 4am, then back to sleep when I put his dummy in.  Last night I had to feed him 3:45am as he was much more awake and not going to sleep once his dummy in.

Do I start to not swaddle him for his naps or at night?  Not sure if it is possibly teeth issues...I know it is early, but he has flushed cheeks, lots moer spit and keeps almost chewing his tong.  I have used a bit of teething gel last week which seemed to help a bit.

Just not sure what to do with his early wake ups from naps?  Do I leave him in his cot/bed (as long as he isnt crying) or do I start the E again earlier?

I am so confused!!!  sorry for the loooonnnggg message! 

[anna*]

How much A time is he normally having these days? Can you give us an idea of what a typical day looks like in EASY format?

[careenk]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.  Here is his typical EASY:

E: 7am
A: 7:15am
S: 7:45am  (generally sleeps well in the mornings, but has now also started waking during these sleeps)
E: 10am
A: 10:15am
S: 11am/11:15am
E: 1pm
A: 1:15pm
S: 2pm/2:15pm
E: 4pm
A: 4:15pm
S: 4:45/5pm
E: 7pm
A: 7:15pm - bath
S: 7:30pm

E: 10/10:30pm as dreamfeed

He was pretty much on that schedule all the time, but now the last week or two had these shorter naps and it really throws me off!

I reaaly try looking for his sleep cues, but since he loves his dummy, its hard to tell when his yawn would come! I try ti restrict dummy use to when I put him to bed, but he has been moaning for it a lot more...or I have given it too much which is probably my fault too.  Not sure if I should avoid use of dummy altogether during A times?

Thanks in advance!

x

[michaeljacknnugg]

Hey there,

You're in good hands with Anna 

But thought I'd pop along to say we had short naps too - I ended up feeding roughly on schedule and doing nap timings by cue,, which meant that sometimes a feed was in the middle of A time. What EASY is trying to do is prevent feeding to sleep and therefore in becoming a prop.

I would try weaning the swaddling, just to see what response you get. Some babies love it, others not. And I would avoid the dummy during A time (easy for me to say. My DS never took one!) and try to use distractions instead.

[careenk]

Thank you so much, will try leaving the dummy during A time...a bit of accidental parenting there I think! 
I was also going to add what typical EAS is like now, but heard an explosive eruption from the little man, so thought a nappy change would be best asap!

A typical EAS now is:

E: 7am
A: 7:15am
S: 7:45/8am
but only till about 8:30/8:45am

I then use the dummy to try to get him off to sleep again, which sometimes works so he nods off a bit more, but wakes frequently.

E: 10am
A: 10:15am
S: 11am/11:15am

Now he also wakes after say 45mins, but causing me to feed gim earlier than the 3 hours because I dont want him up that long! Does it not mean I go backwards going from 3-2.5hrs between feeds (apart from when ingrowth spurt)

Thisseems to go on the whole day and that throws me off  completely for normal bed time, so sometimes he will be awake by 5pm again....and need to go till 7pm (roughly) till E and bath/sleep time.

Thank you for the advice, its much appreciated!

x

[michaeljacknnugg]

How does he cope with longer A times? It may be that he is low sleep needs like my guy.

I would feed at 1ish if the last one was at 10. Stick some activity eg nappy change in after the feed to make sure he's not feeding to sleep. Feeding too early could result in snacking, which in turn will disrupt sleep - and most babies will lengthen their naps as they grow.

Think there is a short naps support thread around here somewhere?

[anna*]

Those A times do seem low to me. At 2 months he'd probably manage 1hr15 and at 3 months 1hr30 so he's probably in between there somewhere. The short naps would bear that out. I'd try extending his A times a wee bit, just 5-10 mins - more like a slightly extended wind-down that any fun and exciting new activities.