struggling with easy

[cassidy&Jamie'smom]

DD is 4 weeks old today.  So far i have been just "winging it" but now would really like to get her on an EASY plan since it worked so well with my first.

problem is that jamie (dd) is so hard to keep up after a feed DURING THE DAY.  It seems she eats, sleeps eats, sleeps.  if I try to keep her up even just with a diaper change or some face to face interaction she demonstrates all the classic signs of becoming overtired, so I listen to her cues and let her sleep, tho not for more than 2 hrs. 

At nite it is a whole other ball game.  I always have the lights low, minimal interaction, etc.. but she is still difficult to get down after her night feeds.  She is not much for being rocked or held, so I really don't know what to try.  I read the post on pat/shh technique for babies under 3 months but she sleeps on her back so i am not sure how to do the pat...

I am just a little frustrated.  I know that she is only 4 wks, but i don't get some sort of structure in her day and nights I fear i will soon lose it..

Any advice?

Sheri :cry:

[Jaime]

hi,

think your post got lost in the Christmas rush - hard time of year to be a newborn!   :wink:

jamie sounds a LOT like luke was at that age.  it was sooo hard to get him up during the day to eat - and stay awake while eating - but at night he had no problem waking every 3 hours on the dot.   :roll:

sounds like she has her nights & days confused.  luke came by it honestly - he was that way while i was pg, so it was hard to change his biothythms, but eventually we had some success.  what helped me was to talk as much as possible to him during the day, expose him to sunlight a few times a day, take him outside if possible.

it took until he was 7 weeks old, but i think he was just an especially hard case.  my dd only took 2 weeks to switch around.

good luck & HTH 

[Mom2katiebug]

What would happen if she slept 2.5 or 3 hours during the day?  Will she last that long?  With my DD, I would wake her up ever 3 hours to eat.  If she took 25 minutes to eat and 5 min for a diaper change, she'd be back down and sleep for 2.5 hours. 

Does she fall asleep during the feed (my DD did this and it was a bugger to keep her awake).  If so, there are some things you can do, like blowing on her face/ear, jiggling arms/legs/hands/feet, burping her frequently, fake diaper change (remove clothes; undo diaper; redo diaper and dress).  Sometimes holding them in a sitting position will rouse them. 

At night, are you swaddling, do you have white noise, pacifier, lullaby, a wind-down routine?  Is her room really dark?  At night, I suppose it is...My DD really responds to the routine (took about 2 days to implement) and if she's really fussy, I'll undo her swaddle walk around a bit and then start the routine all over.  Seems to help her figure out that she needs to go back to sleep.  And, let her sleep as long as she can at night.  What do you do when you feed her at night?  We used to do diaper changes too, but it was too much activity for our DD.  So, we started using the diaper doublers and now she can go all night.  All we have to do is feed her and pop her back in her crib.

Try to nap a bit during the day (easier said than done, I know) and know that Jamie will sort the days and nights out.

[cassidy&Jamie'smom]

thanx for the replies, took me a while to find them..

What I have been trying to so is as you suggested.  Keeping her active after daytime feeds with diaper changes, once a day a bath, bright rooms, etc..

She seems to be ok for about an hour then i bring her to her room for usually a 2 hr sleep.

Some cycles go better than others.  In the morning after her first feed it is almost impossible to keep her up for more than five to ten minutes and then she has a really deep sleep.

I am trying to only let her sleep no more than 2 hrs during the day.  I always let her sleep as long as she can at night.  I also stopped the nitelite in her room at night and only have a crack of light from the hallway ( so i don't stick the bottle in her ear instead of her mouth!
and i don't do diaper changes unless she leaked or pooped.

Last nite was the first nite when she went right down after her 2am feed.  I went in as soon as I heard her rousing and kinda plucked her up and fed while she was half asleep.  the next feed at 5am, did not go so well.  she was WIDE AWAKE and it took me till 6:30 to get her back down.

I forgot how utterly exhausting a newborn can be.  It is hard to sleep during the day as Cassidy needs mom too.  I suffer from a lot of guilt ovwer my lack of time to spend with her...

Thanx for all the advice, i will keep on truckin!!

[AZMOM]

I just wanted to let you know you are not alone.  My ds is 4 weeks and he fortunately is doing pretty well the last weekand a half with the days and nights. We would have to wake for his day feeds and then of course he would wake up himself at night.  Now I have noticed he has become more alert over the last week.  In fact he takes a few cat naps now and at 1:00pm eats and goes down until about 3:30.  He continues the short naps and the evenings have gotten better.  He ate at 9 last night and woke at 1:45am for his next feed.  That was a first for us so we will see if it continues.   I did have trouble getting him to go back to sleep after this 1:45am feed though.  It took a little bit but eventually he went to sleep.  As for your other lo I know about the mother's guilt thing.  My dd is 3 years old and it is so hard during the day.  SHE has been a little trooper though.  Things were easier with her when I implemented EASY - seeing she had my undivided attention.  GOOD LUCK!!!

Lisa (AZMOM)