7 week old short naps

[farmingfamily]

We are not sure how to keep our 7 week old asleep during nap time. She wakes between 45min-1h. She starts by fussing every few minutes then starts crying. We have tried the sh/pat but can't figure out how long to do it. Does it not become a sleep prop? We have a 26 month old as well which makes it more difficult to dedicate time to sleep train. She sleeps well at night. She wakes up anywhere from 2:30-6:30 so we are happy with that. Thank you for your help!

[weaver]

Hello there and welcome to BW
hope you find the support you need here.

The key things at this age are to implement the E-A-S pattern (so Eat-Activity-Sleep) and get to know her sleep cues.  Do you know what they are?  I'd also do some careful listening and try to tell the difference between different cries - there is a thing called a mantra cry which is essentially baby talking to themselves as they settle down to sleep.  Have a look here:
What’s a mantra cry?

I'll give you a link on 'how to sh-pat' but also add that it can be tweaked for each individual baby - some babies don't like to be patted, but they do like a wee shoulder rub, some don't like shushing but do like a hum, hopefully you can see what I mean.  Listen to your baby and follow her lead on that.
Shush-pat - How to
What does a good wind down consist of (Includes 4S ritual)

Sh-pat doesn't become a prop because *you* the  parent are in control, not the baby.  It's a sleep training tool, a way of helping baby to learn that it's sleep time, time to relax, and so on.  Ideally, you should be using it with an eye on gradually reducing what you are doing so baby does more on her own.  So you only do things that are easily controlled by you - shushing and patting.  In my own case, I had to do tons of sh-pat with my LO1, who was touchy, and it did feel like I was doing all the work, but in fact the day came where he 'told' me he didn't need me, and he's been a champion sleeper ever since.

Lastly, bear in mind that average A times at this age are somewhere around 1hr 15-20 mins, not very long at all, from eyes open to eyes shut. 

[farmingfamily]

Thank you for your response. We have been doing the 3 hour cycle and it was working well until the last week or so. She gets fussy after 45min-1h of awake time. Should we be keeping her up longer? We were wondering if it was that she wasn't staying awake long enough but the book cautions us to watch for cues. She often yawns 20 min after waking up!
I know we control the shh-pat but I still feel that if she cries until we come in and do it, that she will feel like she needs it to go to sleep.
We appreciate your help! This is our second child and we had the same difficulties with our first. It makes us wonder if it's worth all the stress. Thanks for your time!

[weaver]

She often yawns 20 min after waking up!

That tells me that yawning is not a reliable sleep cue for your baba!  She might just really enjoy yawning  

I'd say  45-1hr is pretty short for this age so I would try to encourage her to stay awake a bit longer.  Take it easy though, just 5 or 10 minutes extra will be a long time for a small baby. Do a low-key activity in that extra time, literally just looking out the window or walking about.  Stick with the new A time for 3 days or so to allow her to get used to it, and then add more if you think you need to. 

It makes us wonder if it's worth all the stress.

Oh dear   the first days are pretty full on, particularly with two LOs.  Hang on in there, it will definitely be worth it

[farmingfamily]

We have been trying longer awake times and she still wakes at 45 min. How long should we do the shh/pat before we get her up and start the cycle again? 30-45min? How long should this sleep training take? 3-4 days of doing the shh/pat consistently? She still hasn't dropped her middle of the night feeding. We do the dreamfeed between 10-11. Then she wakes anywhere from 2:30-4:30. Is that normal, for a 8 week old, that she hasn't dropped that feeding yet? Our first daughter dropped it at 7 weeks.

[weaver]

3-4 days of doing the shh/pat consistently?

Depends on the baby but in general a few weeks.

How long are A times now? 

Both my LOs had a DF and two NFs at that age (they were BF). I'd say perhaps your first LO was unusual in dropping that feed so early.  I'd expect at least one NF from a baby of this age.  Having had one baby, we're all tend to think that we know what'll happen with the second, but each one is different, an individual with different needs, so I wouldn't necessarily think they will do the same things.

[athenasmom]

May I jump in? My lo is 7 weeks old and we have the same issue. She wakes after the 45 min mark all the time. I try to stay next to her around that time and do shh / pat (actually rub instead of pat) to help her transition into the next sleep cycle but it does not always happen. We can usually extend the 2nd and 3rd naps but not the 1st and 4th naps. Unfortunately it also happens at bt and she keeps waking until about 9:30 when she finally enters deep sleep. We do df around 11 and then she usually wakes for nf between 3:30 and 4. She also yawns all the time so I can not go by that. She gets fussy around 1 hour a time but can do 1 hour 15 min. I usually start the winding down routine around 1 hour 10 min and she falls asleep quickly in about 10 min. I tried extending a time as well but it did not help. It seems to me that as they exit the sleepy newborn stage and get more alert a lot of babies go through this. I am hoping itis a developmental stage and as their nervous system matures it will all fall into place.

[farmingfamily]

Thank you Weaver for your help. She is now 16 weeks old. She has only slept through the night (from dream feed to 6:30-7:00) maybe 7 times since birth. For the last 8 weeks, she has been waking at least once if not twice per night. I haven't been feeding her because the couple times I tried, she did not feed well. I have tried cluster feeding. I have tried stretching the feedings to 3.5h or 4h. She is not napping well either. She often does well during the first nap. She sometimes sleeps 2-2.5h. Then only 45 min on the next two naps. And then she usually screams through the cat nap.
When she wakes up at night, she cries for 10min-1.5h. It doesn't matter if we go in or not. I just don't get it.

[weaver]

Honestly I would not expect a 16 week old to sleep through the night, I think the majority need feeding overnight, at least once. So my answer to the NWs is that she may be hungry. Sorry if that's not the answer you are looking for.

For naps, she's doing well for the first one, the next ones sound under tired to me, as does screaming through the catnap. So I would review your routine and think about extending A times.

[farmingfamily]

Thank you for your quick reply! I thought baby whisperer suggested by 16 weeks for sure she should be sleeping through the night. But if it seems that most babies need feeding then that's a good point. We will work on extending awake times. She tends to scream unless I walk around with her after one hour so it is very frustrating trying to make it longer than 1h15. Thanks again for your imput. It is very appreciated!