How many naps ok for 5 week old?

[Larissanne]

I just started implementing the baby Whisperer techniques and have a question on the napping part (we are really struggling with this).  In the book it says that babies 1-3 months should nap 3 times a day for 11/2 hours.  My baby is on a 3 hour cycle which means that she feeds 4X during the day before I start putting her to bed at 6:30.  Do I keep her awake the whole time during one of the sleep cycles?  Any advice is appreciated!  Thanks!

[*Natasha*]

This is what your day would look like on a 3hr EASY:

E: 7.00 wake up and feed
A: 7.30 or 7.45 (depending on how long feed takes)
S: 8.30 (1.5hr nap)
Y: your choice
E: 10.00
A: 10.30 or 10.45
S: 11.30 (1.5hr nap)
Y: your choice
E: 1.00
A: 1.30 or 1.45
S: 2.30 (1.5hr nap)
Y: your choice
E: 4.00 feed
S: 5.00 or 6.00 or somewhere in between – catnap (approx. 40mins) to get baby through the next feed and bath
E: 7.00 (cluster feed at 7 and 9 if going through a growth spurt)
A: bath
S: 7.30 bedtime
Y: the evening is yours
E: 10 or 11pm dreamfeed

[Larissanne]

Wow!  I still have a long way to go to get the down correctly!  Thank you for your help.  Right now, I get 1 1.5 hour nap and the rest are 30 minutes and she is wide awake!

[lawmich]

hi, my baby is the same age and i have the same problems.  What i do is try my best to put her back to sleep once she wakes.  Even if it takes a long time to do that and she only gets to sleep a short time before the next feed, i try to do that so i can keep to the 3 hour EASY.    its good to know that i'm not the only one with this problem.

[Layla]

What they "should" do as per book and what they "actually" do can be quiet different. You can try to follow the routine to your best but to be honest, at 5 weeks mine would do something very similar - maybe 1
good nap and the rest were power (cat) naps of 45mins. If your lo is awake before the next feed, and is still cranky/tired, don't keep her awake until the next feed just for the sake of EAS routine. Try to re-settle her back to sleep and if she wont then keep her awake until she is showing tired signs (which could be as early as 20-30 mins). If you have to feed just before the next, in my opinion thats ok as well as long as she does not fall asleep at the feed. Some days will be better than others - you will have the routine down packed but some days your lo might not take a good 1.5 hr nap and you might have to change things around.

I also set a fairly early bedtime, which was around 6ish especially if she had a "bad" nap day.

Good luck
Layla