8 week old diffcult to start EASY

[firsttimemomma]

I have an 8 week old son who weighs 15lbs (10 1/2 lbs at birth). I have just been starting to use EASY. I have realized all along that I have been missing his cues during the day by feeding him when he was tired, etc. We have also gotten into the habit of rocking him the chair and he needs our finger to fall asleep, he absolutely refuses the soother. If he isn't asleep totally when I put him in his crib he wakes up, fusses and then right out cries. I have tried sh/pat but he is far too upset, so I end up picking him up and trying all over again. I try to feed him approx 6 oz on a 3hr schedule, with a couple of cat naps in the evening and cluster feeding every 2 hrs from around 5:30pm, bath at 8:30pm and then bed by 9:30pm. He sleeps until around 1-2am (without a dreamfeed) he then gets up to eat, then back to sleep until 4-5am. After that he only sleeps in his crib for 45min-1hr at a time, until 7:00am when I have had enough. I know that I am probably doing a million things wrong but I can't stand to have him scream. I am having a really difficult time getting him on some sort of routine. Any suggestions?? Please help!!!!!!

[LŠuren]

Hi firsttimewhisperer

Have you had a chance to check out this post? https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=62100.0

Give us a shout if you have any questions 

Lauren

[firsttimemomma]

Hi Lauren

I find it really difficult to get him down for a morning nap. He is so tired and falls asleep in my arms and the moment that I put him in his crib he fusses about and wakes up, we do this over and over and will eventually fall asleep but sometimes only for 10-20 mins. I am not sure if I should be doing the sh/pat when he starts fussing or when he full out cries. Often times he continues to scream while I am doing the sh/pat, should I continue and keep at it and for how long? (I can't find this section in the BW). Afternoon naps aren't too much of a problem but I do have to wake him so that he doesn't sleep for more than 2 hours.  Again evenings, he is grouchy and I have a hard time getting him to fall asleep. I am really convinced that he doesn't want to miss anything! I think I am going to try a dreamfeed tonight too and see if that makes any difference.
Thanks if you can help....

[LŠuren]

firsttimewhisperer

I am going to move this to the naps board.

CAn you post your routine so we can help you further?  It sounds like your Lo is possible overtired and is struggling to fall asleep for the 1st nap....

[firsttimemomma]

Hi Lauren

This is how today has been for us and usually every other day:

E 5:00am
A
S 6:45am-7:45am
change diaper

E 8:00am
A
S (yawns, fussing) 9:15am, needs to be soothed, ie rocked, suck on my pinkie etc. Falls asleep, try to lay in crib, wakes up crying, try sh/pat, he starts screaming, I pickup soothe again and starts all over 3 or 4 times. Sleep for 10-15min in crib, up, overtired and needs to be soothed, finally sleeps 9:15-9:45am.

E 10:45am
A (fussy and cranky)
S 11:30-12:15pm (again difficult to settle)
awakens - fussing, crying manage to settle but falls asleep on couch 12:45-1:45pm.

E 2:00pm
A (falls asleep, but I wake up with diaper change, etc). Maybe go on outing -> falls asleep
S 3-5pm

E 5:00pm
A
S catnap 30min

E 7:00pm
A bath at 8:00pm

E 9:00pm
S rock to sleep, asleep by 9:30pm

Ideally this is how an evening goes

E 1:00/2:00am
awake for 1 hour
S 4:00/5:00am (if we are lucky).

Everything starts all over again.

I know that he needs to have longer naps in the morning but I just can't seem to get him there. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated! Again, sh/pat in his crib doesn't really seem to work as he gets way to upset.

Thanks

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Hello there, welcome to the boards.

Congrats on starting out on EASY - it sounds to me like you're doing a great job! It's a great routine, but it won't all slot into place straight away, a lot of patience is needed first, but it sounds like you are on the right track.

The first thing that jumps out at me from your routine is that your lo's A times may be too long, especially in the morning. At 8 weeks, the morning A times should be much shorter (as the morning naps are really an extention of night sleep). This might be the reason he's getting overtired and struggling with naps.

From your 2nd post, it looks like you need help with 10-20 min naps and sssh/pat. Rather than me going through it all here, may I direct you to our FAQs board (at the top of the Naps forum)? Not only does it have great info on both those topics, it also has some more general info that would be really useful to you, eg Teaching sleep to newborns, and some sleep interviews with Tracy. If you can manage to spend a bit of your time reading these, then it'll really pay dividends when you're next having to deal with lo when he can't sleep.  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=86.0

I would also suggest developing a good wind-down for both naps and bedtime. This is also covered in the FAQs.

Also, I think a dreamfeed is a great idea, it'll really help in your situation. Be prepared, however, for it not to work the first time. I always suggest giving it at least a week of persistence every night, and then you should see an improvement.

I hope we've helped, and, if you have any more questions, please come back to us (and let us know how you are getting on, too)