7 week old 45 min naps

[hayley66]

Hi

My 7 week old can self settle (with a bit of grissling or me picking her up if really distressed and putting her back down, she'll often go off after doing this once or twice as I'm always checking for wind). However, we keep having 45 min naps, she cries when wakes and I leave her a little to see if will settle again but she doesn't. After I pick her up 20 mins later she doses in my arms or falls asleep in the swing but I cannot get her back down in cot, have tried but she cries too much, any ideas?

So far today

E 8.00am
S 9.15 for 45 mins, awake from 10am
E 11.00am
S put down at 11.45, slept 45 mins

Now he's in swing looking exhausted.

If he can self settle I'm not sure why he can't go back to sleep if he needs to!

It's messed the whole Easy schedule up and I'm getting so frustrated!

[lauradj]

Hugs hon, it can be really hard in the first few weeks, especially if this is your first!  Though my LO never really suffered from wind, I wouldn't worry about checking for it while your DD is napping, as this may disrupt her sleep (unintentionally of course!).  She will let you know if she's in discomfort.  When you go in to help her resettle, what prompts you?  Is she crying (the sounds escalates in volume and pitch), or is she just fussing (lots of little noises, some occasional squawks, but no general distress).  It can be really hard to stop and listen to the difference in the sounds LO's make but that is part of the BW, really getting to know your LO.  It sounds like you try to give her 20 minutes to resettle, which is great, however if she's still just making noises and not crying, maybe try to give her a little more time to settle. 
PU/PD is typically not effective with babies under 3 months of age, so you might want to try Shh-Pat, or Shh-Rub (my DS hated the pats, loves the back rub!).  That also allows you to potentially leave her in the cot while still helping her settle.
Having said all that, 7 weeks is still very young.  You might want to try wearing her in a sling or baby carrier to assist in longer naps.  At this age, all accidental parenting can be undone once your LO is getting enough sleep.  Try not to focus on set naps or rigid schedules, just go with the general order of EASY.

Getting started - how I survived the first 3 months

[hayley66]

Thanks so much for the reply.

We've got much worse now. He just won't self settle at all now in a cot. I put him down at the hour mark after a couple of yawns, he lays for about 15 mins (awake as I peek at him) and then cries and cries until so over tired I have to walk him in the pram or hold him to sleep etc. He was brilliant at self settling. I could just put him down and walk out. We had a busy weekend where he was out and about all the time but surely they can't forget how to self settle within 3 days?

Driving me insane as I've worked so hard to keep him self settling :-( we had a nightmare with my daughter where we had rocking her to sleep for 6 months, and everytime u put her down she'd wake. Arghh

[Lindsay27]

Have you thought about trying to introduce shh/pat at all?  I think newborns self settle into sleep because they are just so sleeping all the time, but as they get older and more awake/aware it sort of comes undone.  I would maybe try to put him down awake and try shh/pat to see if that helps him drift off at all.