1 m.o establishing the E.A.S.Y method night-time query

[taziekins]

at a month old i don't think my l.o is quite ready for sleep training yet, and since he's mostly a textbook baby i'm not as overtired as i was with my firstborn.
so far the E.A.S.Y method is working for me, not counting the frustrating times where i end up with a meltdown on my hands when i've missed or misread a "cue", i'm just having a little trouble getting him to reliably settle well at night.
sometimes he'll settle easily, other times he almost seems to be fighting it, even while giving out all the cues that say he's tired.
what would be the best way to help him settle at this age? i don't want to get him into any bad habits like relying on rocking or being held and walked, but the idea of letting him him cry until he settles himself makes me feel anxious.

[Erin M]

Hi sweetie, welcome to the boards and congrats on your baby!
At 1 month, I honestly wouldn't worry too much about creating bad habits -- they're still so little and new to the world that many of them need a lot of help going to sleep.  However, you can definitely set the stage for him growing into some good sleep habits -- is he swaddled, sleeping in a darkened room, white noise, etc?  Those are all good ways to help a LO settle as they all simulate a womb-like environment.  Also, creating a good bed time routine was another good habit that we got into early that helped us.  As for the independent sleep, some days it does seem to work ok -- on the days when it doesn't (if your LO is overtired, overstimulated, etc) I would try to rock them to being very drowsy and then putting them in their crib -- some days, I would just rock them all the way to sleep.  In the baby whisperer books, Tracy Hogg recommends using pat/shh for helping a LO settle -- it's something that can be phased out over time and lessened so they don't become dependent on it (Pat/shush for babies under 3 months old)

[taziekins]

thanks for the fast reply :-)

at the moment he won't sleep in his moses basket and i'm waiting on my partner building the cot so t can go in the nursery. he currently sleeps in his car seat at night (hoping to phase him into the basket soon) i try to keep our bedroom dark but i think my bedside lamp is a bit too bright. i have musical/light-show cot mobile which i have set to sound only and that plays classic lullabies, nature sounds, or heartbeats depending on which he prefers.
from about 2 days home from the hospital i was swaddling him for sleeps/naps but in the last week or so he's been straining to get his arms free, so i'm thinking he's growing out of it a little sooner than the book says to expect.
about a week ago i introduced short baths to the start of his bedtime routine, and he's taken to it really well - he just lays there quietly.
on an average day he'll feed every 2-3 hours (4 oz bottle), or at night if he sleeps longer it can be between 2 and 6 hours

[Erin M]

from about 2 days home from the hospital i was swaddling him for sleeps/naps but in the last week or so he's been straining to get his arms free, so i'm thinking he's growing out of it a little sooner than the book says to expect.

2 of mine had that total love/hate relationship with swaddling -- they were always trying to get out, but wouldn't sleep as well if they did.  It's probably worth leaving an arm out to see if it make a difference (maybe for a nap) -- at least then you'll know what works best for him.

You sound like you're doing exactly what he needs -- so much of it comes with time.