Starting EASY and BW with 3 week old baby

[Carmela's Mom]

Hi Nicole,

How old is your baby??  Right now my son wakes anywhere from 5:30-7 in the morning.  Now this morning was the first time that I tried to put him back in his crib after his feed (which this morning was at 7:20).  I had him back in his crib by 8:30 and he cried and cried.  I have a 26 month old daughter and I just didn't have the time to deal with him at this point (DH wasn't around) so I put him in the bouncer.  It seems for whatever reason he won't sleep after his first feed.  I don't know why, but he refuses to sleep!  Then I fed him a little earlier with the second feed and then I changed his diaper.  I brought him upstairs.  Did the whole routine again and bam he fell asleep with no pat/shh on my part.  He slept for over 2 hours!!!!!!  The rest of the day we had company and again I didn't have the time to pat/shh. 

Tomorrow I am going to try again the same thing.  I am going to aim to spend the time pat/shh but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen and I will try again the next nap. 

About the dreamfeed, I go to bed at 9 on most nights.  My husband stays up and we feed him at 10-10:30 despite when his last feeding was.  Last night, DH fed him at 11 and it threw things off a bit, but we aim for the 10-10:30 so things are normally pretty set in stone (until after his first long nap)

[Carmela's Mom]

I have another question.  i know most said that their child at 3 weeks old could only handle being awake for 45 minutes.  Did that include a feeding?  We are bottle feeding and it takes him 45 minutes to feed.  Then I change his diaper and put him back in his crib, but then I feel like he's in the crib all day long.  And after the first feeding of the morning, he refuses to sleep in his crib and just cries and cries.  If I bring him downstairs, he is pretty content until the next feed (which he wants at 2-2.5 hours instead of 3) and then after that feed, I change his diaper and put him in his crib and he's usually asleep pretty fast.  That is pretty much the only routine of the day and I'm hoping to do more of an EASY for the rest of the day and work on the other sleeps instead of the first, does that make sense?

[estherofi20]

Carmela's mom, well my DS at that age could only manage beeing awake for 45 to an hr...

but then I feel like he's in the crib all day long.

well that's only in the first month or two... then he won't want to go back to crib due he will be discovering the hole world!!!... LOL

no seriously, i think that if your DS is awake up to 2 or 3 hrs is a bit too much for a 3 week old, i would suggest to feed him (45min or so) and then play with him for like 15min or so, and then try to put him to sleep.

[Carmela's Mom]

Thanks for your response.  I am going to see if I can try EASY for the rest of the day....maybe that first time, he's just not ready to go back upstairs?? Not sure.  But i'll continue to try and see how it goes.  For now, hes doing decent at night so I am trying not to complain too much