New spirited baby

[New_mommy_MA]

Hello all, I am recently blessed with a beautiful little girl, now 3 weeks old. My husband and I are both of the opinion that this is a spirited baby. Being a first time mom, I'm falling into the trap of wondering if I'm doing everything wrong. Specifically, we are having troubles with her sleep because we mistakenly taught her to fall asleep with rocking and the comfort of a persons chest. At first this was cute but now we can't get her to sleep anywhere but on us, and only after extensive rocking, and it is causing sleep deprivation and other problems.

I have been following an easy based schedule and waking her every 2.5 - 3 hours and that part is going well, except for a very fussy and crying- filled time in the evenings. My main question that I'm hoping someone has some advice for is how do I train her to sleep in her own bed? Is she too young to train? I'm worried about using CIO or verbal reassurance methods while she is so little and would prefer a gentler strategy anyway. Please let me know if you have had success with a particular strategy for a spirited baby of this age! Thank you!

[becj86]

Hi Sweetie, welcome to BW, so sorry your post was missed. I've split it off into its own topic so some more people can see your questions. We mums of spirited babies stick together

Essentially, you're in a phase of life where you can't really spoil your LO. She is so tiny and this first 3 months is often dubbed the 'Fourth trimester" for a reason - baby is just getting used to being outside the safe predictable world of your womb. What I'd suggest for early on is to keep the predictability going, so follow EAS pattern of activities for her through the day and keep the night dark, quiet and uninteresting. As little light as possible for night feeds, no chats at night and BT should be already 6-7pm. Having a 12hr night early on and having her in her crib for nights (if this is how you plan to proceed) is the easiest way to make your life easier when it comes to sleep training.

She is so tiny, she's still wanting to listen to your heartbeat to help her feel secure - you can mimic this with white noise to help her sleep in her crib. Keep it going through the whole nap. Most important right now is the routine - having a stable routine (not a schedule) makes sleep training easier when the time comes. Its totally ok and actually quite advisable to cuddle your baby. It may help you get things done around the house if you invest in a sling or carrier of sorts so she can sleep on you but you've got your hands free. That's then handy for appointments and other unavoidable naptime outings/interruptions later on.

Fussy evenings is pretty normal, provided its for 1-2hr only and around the same time of evening each day. This is called the witching hour and unless it is extending for many hours or she is grumpy all day, it is within the realms of normal and not something to be too worried about, lots of hugs and love is the best way to get through that.