Baby catnaps and I have a 3 year old to tend to

[Megjames]

Hi everyone

I’m making my way through the book as my friend donated it to me when I told her I wouldn’t be attachment parenting my second (we had no routine and we’ve suffered)!! I love the idea of more routine but my 9 week old sleeps for 20 minutes MAX during the day (it’s more regularly 10 mins). So I’ve been doing the shhhh pat, setting the scene, watching for tired cues but it takes at least 30 mins to settle him and with such short naps, that means I’m leaving my poor eldest to it for a lot  of the day which isn’t sustainable (he’s nearly 4 so can play a bit on his own but doesn’t want to).

Additionally come 2-3pm the baby turns savage (he’s a fussy baby) and it can take over an hour to get him to sleep and often I wind up feeding him to sleep because he’s been crying so long he starts telling me he’s hungry and he escalated to an unbearable degree.

I really really want this to work but I just don’t know how to manage with my situation and such short naps. He doesn’t sleep any longer on me, or in the sling but seems permanently tired which I think is making him grumpy.

Any advice? 😊😊😊😊

[creations]

Hello and welcome to BW forums

If your LO is always waking at 20 mins (and often 10) and there is not improvement if you use a sling I suspect he may have some pain or discomfort, is there any sign of reflux or silent reflux for example?
Feeding smaller feeds more frequently can sometimes help with reflux (not always) and certainly if he is crying with hunger then you should feed without worrying about whether it is time or not.
It could be worth a trip to the doctor to discuss reflux.