Trying to implement EASY but problems with feedng and naps

[fivesey]

Hello,
I am trying to get EASY up and running with my 5 week old but am having problems. She wakes up about 8am and I try to stick to a 3 hour EASY. It starts well with a 45 breastfeed and she is then alert and happy for 45min - 1hour. She then gets tired but will not nap so we go for a walk and she sleeps for about 45min. She then feeds at 11am but usually quite sleepily but we persevere using all of the usual tips to keep her awake so it takes about 1h15. She then stays awake till the next feed which usually happens about 1.30pm. The problem is that she is now both hungry and tired and she feeds/sleeps for 5 minutes at a time. If things are really bad I suuplement with 2oz of formula just so that she will be full (otherwise will be snacking all afternoon). At this point by topping up with breast, she may eventually give in and sleep for 45min - 1hour in her vibrating bouncy chair (takes quite alot of shshing). However, she refuses to go to sleep in her moses basket despite trying this everyday and using shsh. Sometimes despite being exhausted she will not give into sleep and I go do some errands as she falls asleep in the car. She then feeds at 5pm - how well this goes depends on whether she has slept or not - and from then on she tends to cluster feed from 6 - 10pm. She has a happy alert period from 7 - 8pm but otherwise she tends to snack/sleep in 5/10min intervals. Eventually at 11pm we give her 4oz of formula and she goes down for the night in her cot. We have been doing this last part since she came home and she has always gone down and she either sleeps through for 8hours or wakes up once and feeds for 40mins and then goes back to sleep. But any attempt to repeat this during the day is a dismal failure!
She is putting on weight so she must be getting milk from me but all this snacking is worrying. Shouldn't she be able to stay awake for a full feed by now?? The amazing thing is that as soon as she comes off the breast she is as alert as a button! Also, I feel that I am messing up with her naps as she just gets more and more tired throughout the day and therefore more and more irritable and less able to feed efficiently.
If anyone has any ideas/advice I would really appreciate it. Thanks!!
Fiona

[* Paula *]

Hi Fiona,

Welcome to the boards.

I would definitely recommending shortening your A time, as at this age your A should consist of a quick nappy change, a song, or soft talking and then wind down to get ready to sleep.

The fact that your lo will not fall asleep in her moses basket could be because she is overstimulated and extremely tired.  When a lo is overtired, this does result in short nap times.  I would try aiming to get your lo ready to go down for a nap about an hour after her wake up time.

I would definitely persever getting her to sleep in her moses basket in a quiet darkend room, as this will make things easier when she is ready to go into a cot.

I would also suggest an earlier bed time i.e. about 7:30.  You can cluster feed at around 5:30 ish, then bath as her A time, then the 2nd cluster feed after her bath then wind down and in bed for 7:30.  This should tank her up until her dreamfeed at around 10:00pm.

At 5 weeks you can still expect at least 1 night waking.

HTH.

Paula x

[fivesey]

Hello Paula,
Thanks so much for your reply and advice which I shall try out from tomorrow. As you probably guessed I am a first-time mum who read lots of books, started off all idealistically and am now worried as my lo is not fond of napping at all.

The wierd thing is that she goes down in her cot at night (after a bath and a formula feed (she is too tired at this point to breastfeed at all well)) but during the day she will only nap when she literally conks out!
Thanks again,
Fiona x

[* Paula *]

Fiona,

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Paula x