Breast obsessed child won't sleep!

[carlicost]

Hi all, I have a seven week old who is having trouble sleeping.  I have had him on EASY since he was three weeks and generally it has gone well, but lately he hasn't been napping longer than 40 minutes and constantly wakes up looking for my breast.  He will start to root after he wakes from his quick naps and using a soother won't help.  Nothing seems to console him.  I haven't given in to feeding him as I sure it isn't from hunger based on the EASY routine.  He doesn't seem to quite behave the same way when other people pick him up.  I afraid that he only sees me as a food source and when I have him and he doesn't get it, he gets very upset.

I cut back on his activity time to ensure that he wasn't overstimulated but it hasn't seem to help with him sleeping any longer.  He settles more easily, but still wakes early.  Any ideas?  I'm trying to stay strong but I worried that perhaps he is hungry and I don't have enough milk to keep him full or something....?

[lilac83]

Are you trying to have him wait 3 hours between feeds? At his age and with being BF he may only be able to go 2 hours between feeds. I believe my DD at this age (who was formula fed) would even want to eat after only 2 hours occasionally. His activity time should only be about 45min-1hr and that includes the time it takes him to feed.

[carlicost]

I have been trying to let him go 3 hours as it didn't seem to be an issue in the past couple of weeks.  It is just recently that he has been behaving this way.  I thought it may be a growth spurt, but it would have been over by now.  I'm just worried that I will turn him into a snacker.  I guess I can try feeding him anytime after two hours if he appears hungry?
How do I adjust EASY to compensate for that? 

[lilac83]

For now I would feed him if he seems hungry. It may not necessarily be a growth spurt he's going through, but just the fact that his tummy is very small and BM gets digested very quickly. If he seems to start sucking his hands a lot or trying to root, then go ahead and feed. In regards to the routine, as long as you aren't feeding him to sleep things shouldn't get too far off track. Just try to fit in feeds and naps the best you can.

[carlicost]

I have tried feeding him and he starts to fall asleep after about 5 minutes, but of course as soon as I pull him off he wakes up again and will not sleep so I'm not sure if he really is hungry or not.  I will swaddle him and try to put him down.  I sit with him for over half an hour and when he finally appears as though he is deep sleep I will leave.  Ten minutes after I'm gone he wakes up and I can't get him to settle back down.  It is throwing our whole schedule off as he is probably only getting about an hour and a half of actual sleep during the day, although he appears to be sleeping okay at night.  I guess I will just stick with it and hopefully he will come around...

[lilac83]

Are you using the sh/pat technique? Here's a link with some good info about that:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=26672.0

Definitely stick with it. Babies learn day sleep between 3-6 months. So right now he's working out his night sleep and then hopefully the day sleep will start to see an improvement. How long is he generally awake for from the time he wakes to the time he's back to sleep?

[carlicost]

He will generally eat for about 20-25 minutes and then have activity for about half of an hour on top of that.  Sometimes more sometimes less given the day.  I try to have him settled for sleep at the one hour mark after waking up.  He generally settles well, but wakes after about 45 minutes and then wants to eat as soon as he wakes up. 

[lilac83]

Well, adding up all those times comes to about 2 hours between feedings. So he could very well be hungry. Do you think you're having any problems with your supply? The other option you have is trying to keep him awake a little bit longer before laying him down for nap. I would say just an extra 10 minutes. The 45min nap can mean either OT or UT but his A time doesn't seem too long so I'm guessing it would be UT for him.