9 Weeks old - need help with Easy

[sarabande]

DD is almost 10 weeks old.  I've been trying to get her on a 3 hr easy since she was born, but haven't had much success.  She'll have a few good days in a row.  However most days are full of 30 -45 minute naps.  The first nap of the day is usually good - almost 2 hours.  But then the rest of the day is bad.  The short naps also make it hard for her to go 3 hrs between feedings.  She's ebf and gaining well.  I try for 15-20 minutes to get her back to sleep every time, but usually doesn't work,.  Sometimes I'll take her into my bed and she'll nap again until almost 2 hrs. 

She usually wakes between 5:00 and 6:00, and I've been bringing her into bed with me to nurse, then she sleeps until after 7.  Since she doesn't go down for the night until 9:00, I've been doing that to try to get her more overnight sleep.  I've been wondering today if that's what's messing her up.  I'm just so frustrated right now.  I feel like I spend all day in her dark room trying to get her to sleep, and never get any time for myself.  I've tried shorter A time and longer, with no change.  Any advice is appreciated.  The last two days are below.

Thursday
5:45 - Eat, brought into bed with me
7:45 - Wake
8:10 - Eat
9:12 - asleep, 1 hr, 43 min
11:03 - eat
12:15 - sleep, 45 min
1:00 - eat
2:17 - sleep - 45 min
3:50 - eat
4:33 - sleep - 34 min
6:32 - eat
6:50 - sleep, 10 min
7:40 - sleep - 33 min
8:19 - eat
9:08 - down for the night


Friday
1:33 - NW1, eat
5:16 - NW2, eat, brought into my bed
7:15 - awake for the day
7:35 - eat
8:34 - sleep, 2 hrs
10:38 - eat
11:49 - sleep35 min
1:11 - eat
1:53 - sleep, woke at 40 min, I laid down with her in my bed and slept total 2 hrs
3:57 - eat
4:45 - sleep, 45 min.  We were in the car, picking up her brother and running errands.
6:40 - sleep, 35 minutes, being held.
7:23 - eat
9:00 - asleep for the night.

[newkidontheblock]

Hi hun and welcome. I feel your frustration. DD's day was so similar at that age. The first nap was and still is the longest and easiest nap for us, and luckily that's the one that sticks around:) Short naps (30-45 mins) are part and parcel of the first few months, and honestly, they are due to development more than anything else. As long as you keep things very low key and put down before OT sets in, you are on the right track. After a short nap, you could reduce the next A by 10-15 minutes before putting down again.

I just had a few questions - Firstly, is there any reason that she is going to bed at 9pm? How about putting her down at 7 instead where you have that catnap. That way she's in bed early and gets more sleep, and you have your evening to yourself to relax.

Secondly, after the 5.45 feed, is it not possible to put her back in her crib to sleep? Just keep an eye on this as it may become a problem after a while:)

What really worked with my DD was sticking to a fixed WU time and a fixed BT. This really helped to set her body clock. We firmly stuck to a 7-7 day and I found that no matter how awful the naps were, she would sleep off just fine at BT. I kept things very very low key before nap time. A dark room, good swaddle, white noise from our fan and one fixed tune from the music box also helped a lot to lengthen naps. {{hugs}} hun. We've all been there. Here's hoping things get better

[sarabande]

The 7pm catnap and 9:00 bedtime is just what she does. It jus takes that long for her to get back to sleep after waking up. It doesn't matter if I keep her in her bed or get her up. She doesn't stay down until 9. This is an improvement, it used to be 10 before she would stay down.  She only seems to need 10.5 hrs overnight. A week ago, she ended up going to sleep about 6:45 after a busy day at a family reunion. I thought that was going to be a catnap, but she never woke up. The next morning she woke and started the day at 5:15.

I'm going to try putting her back in her bed after her early mornin wake tomorrow and see what happens. I've been bribing her into my bed partly so I can get more sleep. I guess the worst thing that happen is that we start our day earlier.

She is swaddled for sleep, though she often works one arm out. There's a white noise machine in he room and the room is dark.   I'll jus keep trying and hope things get better.

[newkidontheblock]

Strange about her not settling till 9. DD was like that in the first month with the witching hour. She wanted to nurse for ages and would fall asleep only by 8/8.30. I think in this case though, it is probably over tiredness since she is waking in 10 minutes. Do you have a bedtime routine in place yet? It really helps when they know what's coming. That's how I started. I started with a daily bath, then massage, nurse, swaddle, burp, sleep song, hold till drowsy and PD.