need help for sleep deprived baby and mom

[musicmama]

Hi,

I have a six week old breast-fed son who is on a 2 1/2 hour to 3 hour routine right now.   It flexes 15 to 30 min. either way.  Our eating schedule:  6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, and then he sleeps until 1:30 - 2:30 and wakes at 4:30 to 5:30 but we don't feed until our morning start at 6:00.   Usually waketime follows and consists of playing on a play mat or with mom or dad.   I usually don't go very long and since I just started looking at the Baby Whisperer book last week, have been watching for tired signs to start wind down routine and have stopped rocking/bouncing him to sleep.   That routine consists of changing diaper, swaddling, and laying in crib and stroking his forehead.   Sometimes I can get him down, but he's been waking after 10, 30, etc. minutes.   Sometimes he will fight going to sleep in the first place, his eyes never completely close, he won't give up the paci, or he will jolt himself wide awake if he was starting to get drowsy.   Then, by evening he is so tired he is either cranky and very fussy for the whole time including feeding or he konks out immediately during or after feeding and then doesn't seem to sleep well at night.   Our nightime is better with him falling back asleep a lot better than he does during the day.   I'm not sure what to do anymore to get him to take consistent naps and hopefully start sleeping longer at night.

A few other questions:

Should I start wind down routine immediately if he is yawning during a feeding?
Is making him wait until 6am to feed in the morning causing all our problems? Should I feed when he first wakes up at 4:30-5:30?   Not sure what to do about the rest of the day as far as schedule goes.
Do I pat/shush him until he falls completely asleep?   Can I do something else besides pat?
How should I correctly use the paci?   I'm afraid he's using it too much.


I'm just so confused and tired right now I don't know what to do but let him cry to sleep.  Which I hate!  Someone please help.  I have little time to read all the postings and figure something out.

THANKS!

[Grace's Mom]

I am having major napping issues at the moment as well.  I greatly understand.

For your feeding question....I would feed you lo when  he wakes at night and just put him back to bed.  Then when his normal awake time comes get him up and feed him again.  He may only need to top off but it will keep things consistant in the morning. 

Melissa

[summersusu]

Okay so I have said it before and I'll say it again     I have read about every book I can find on sleep and the one that rings true atleast with my child is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"  Tracy's book is great and you should go by it but something that stuck out in the "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" is that babies do not develop a nap schedule or are really capable of doing so until 4 months old.  I killed myself trying to get my LO to go to sleep in his crib with sh/pt and all the other things and it made me and him miserable.  He went down fine at night and after night wakings to feed but I couldn't get him to nap in his crib for long periods so here is my advice: take it or leave it because all babies are different: do what makes mommy and baby happy for now for naps, if it is rocking, swinging, whatever.  As your LO continues to grow and go down fine at night then you can slowly try naps.  Maybe just one nap a day in the crib with the sh/pt or whatever technique works.  You LO will learn but it is a learning process so take your time!  Your LO is so young right now swinging or whatever helps him sleep for a lengthy amount of time is ok for now.   Mine was in the swing all the time it seemed to nap, but now he sleeps like a champ in his crib.  1st we tackled night time at 10 weeks and then at about 4 months he just started going down for naps without a fuss.  Of course I ptried here and there before 4 moths to get him to sleep in his crib for naps but most of the time I failed.  I'm not an expert, but that is how my situation worked.
About the feeding... if he is not really hungry at 4 or 5 when he wakes, don't feed him but if he is, feed him and then feed him or top him off at the time you would like for him to start his day.
It sounds like you and him are doing an awesome job if he is only waking at those times!    I think my LO went to two nights waking about that age.  So congrats and good luck.  Hope I didn't ramble too muck