5 week old Sleep Issues

[kris dg]

This forum is truly helpful and is worth donating to! 

Up until my DD was 3 weeks old, I was feeding her every hour because I thought she was hungry until I realized she was overtired half of the time after reading posts here.  So thanks!!

She is now almost 5 weeks old and we have been on EASY for almost 2 weeks now.  A sample of our routine is as follows:

700: Breastfeed 1
745: Take her out for exposure to morning sun/ change diaper
815: Nap 1 (including wind down of at least 45 min)
1000: Breastfeed 2
1045: Morning bath/ Dress
1115: Nap 2 (including wind down of at least 45 min)
100: Breastfeed 3
145: Play/ change diaper
215: Nap 3 (including wind down of at least 45 min)
400: Breastfeed 4
445: Play/ Change diaper
515: [Attempt at] catnap
600: Cluster Feed 1 (including wind down of at least 45 min)
645: Bath/ Jammies
700: [Attempt at] catnap (including wind down of at least 45 min)
800: Cluster Feed 2
845: Back to bed
1000: Dream Feed

My problems are as follows:
1. I go through the whole 4S wind down but it still takes me 45min - 1 hour to get her to sleep.  She screams, flails in her swaddle and resists her pacifier.

[When she goes to sleep though, she is like a rock and I always have to wake her for the next feed.]

2. Because it always takes at least 45 minutes to put her down, I am never able to achieve the catnaps with her.  Are the catnaps important?  Will not having them affect the night sleep?

3. Even with the cluster feed and the dream feed, she still wakes up at around 2AM and 4AM.

I took the quiz and she seems like a textbook baby except for the sleeping.  It seems like she just doesn't want to miss a thing even if she's so tired. 

Are my problems normal for her age?  Will things get better?  Should I be doing some things differently?

[*Nicola*]

One thing that sprung to mind reading your post is the amount of awake time your LO is having between naps. 

At this age she should only be awake for 1 hour maximum, and this activity time should include feeding, changing, cuddling, out in buggy, etc etc PLUS the wind down time. 

It really is a very small amount of activity time she requires. 

It is not clear from your schedule if she is awake for longer than 1 hour but I *think* that is how it reads.  If so, it will mean that you may miss her 'window' of sleepiness meaning that she, in turn, becomes overtired and difficult to settle to sleep.  Look out for her tired signs, yawn, rubbing eyes, red eyes etc and start the wind down as soon as you see these!

So, if she wakes at 7am for a feed, you would be looking at her being back asleep by 8am.  7am-8am would then be feed, out for some sun, nappy change, wind down and sleep. 

Hopefully, if you get the window of sleepiness right then it will take much less time to settle her down for her nap which means that the rest of the day will follow on. 

HTH  please post back with any questions.  Of course, if her activity IS only 1 hour then we will go back to the start and work from there ! 

[kris dg]

Thanks for the quick reply Nicola! 

When she breastfeeds, most of the time she's actually eating while asleep until it's over.  Does that count as sleep or awake time? =)

Then after we breastfeed, we do a little activity, sometimes she yawns as early as 5 minutes after breastfeeding, sometimes later (mostly it's 20-30 minutes after) and we do the whole wind down routine.   However, for the last 2 weeks, I don't think we've gotten her to sleep without 30-60 minutes of crying and screaming, regardless of whether I put her down on the first yawn or after the third.

If she needs only 1 hour of awake time, does that mean naps should be at least 2 hours?  Because sometimes, she only sleeps for 1-1.5 hours (due to all the crying before the naps) then I'd be forced to wake her for the next feed.  Should I give her more time to sleep?  But that would mean extending the time between feedings.

[KathrynK]

hi there
it does sound like she is overtired. I would follow Nicola's good advice and have her back asleep no more than 1 hour after waking- even if she appear to be asleep while she is feeding. WHen they are this tiny it really does feel like all they do is eat and sleep, because that really is all they do! But as she gets older she will be able to stay awake longer.
For example if she is awake for an hour at the moment, then by your post it looks like she feeds for 45mins, is that right? Then you have 15 mins to get her back to sleep. So your "winddown" begins the minute she has finished sleeping, change her diaper first then swaddle her ready and go to her darkened room, do lullabies, etc, whatever you do to relax her ready for sleep, and make sure she is in her cot 5 mins before the hour is up so she has that 5 mins to fall asleep. 
hope this helps a little x

[kris dg]

Thanks so much! 

I have started to do that since Nicola's reply and things are getting better now after only a few days.  She doesn't scream so much and only "cries" like she's talking to herself.  Is that what a mantra cry is?  It's also quicker to make her go into sleep.  But I have to stay long still beside her patting because she stirs very quickly.

How many weeks will she be when the A time stretches out?  I'm sorry I couldn't find it in the FAQs but is there some sort of guide to let me know the Awake Time by Age?

Kris

[KathrynK]

hi Kris

here's the link with the average A times:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.0

bear in mind all are different and your lo may need slightly more or less than is listed. Sounds like you are doing great at watching her cues and knowing what she needs to sleep. It does sound like that is her mantra cry, so that will help you know when you can leave her to get herself to sleep, and when to go in to her, which is handy.
Let us know how you get on and if we can help more x

[*Nicola*]

Kris,

glad things are starting to work out for you and your DD  It sounds like you are really able to tune into what she is try to communicate to you 

If your daughter's crying is like she is 'talking to herself' I would leave her alone and it is likely that she will settle to sleep.  Ciara used to do lots of crying noises but not proper full on crying if you know what I mean.  If they are just making noises/mantra cry and you go in to them, it will disrupt them and may mean you will have to go back to the start of the wind down/risk overtiredness etc.  Of course, if your DD beings to cry harder or you are concerned with her crying then go right in to her    It is difficult at first to identify the cries but you soon become expert at knowing whether they are making 'settling noises' or whether you need to be in there with them. 

Regarding the patting, at this age you probably will need to spend a fair bit of time with her patting her to sleep.  Babies this young 'startle' lots and easily ... you know the feeling when you are just falling asleep and you do a big 'jump'?!  They usually aren't able to settle back down and will need you to pat/shh them through this.  Initially, I would stay with Ciara doing pat/shh until she had completely stopped jumping and was in a deep sleep.  As she learned independent sleep I would then reduce the length of time I stayed in the room.  It is a bit of a pain  but it is really worth it in the end as 1) they go into a proper sleep and 2) you really are helping them learn to sleep in cot and to self soothe. 

I'll just pop and have a look for the links for Awake Time and Age and also some sample EASY routines for you.   

[*Nicola*]

Kathryn beat me too it!!

HTH, like Kathryn says let us know if you need any more help 

[yaya]

nic get yourself over to sleep boards...I demand u become a mod along with the fab others LOL

[*Nicola*]

LOL Michelle, Bless you 

I'm just paying it forward before I need to frequent these boards ALL OF THE TIME when this bubba gets here.   

I love the sleep boards 

[kris dg]

thanks nicola and michelle 

after a couple of days, were back to screaming and crying for 30-45min before naps again.  so i just really have to be patient in observing and putting her to sleep, i think.  as a lot of the posts said, the first 6 weeks are really erratic in terms of sleeping.

i hope things get better.  i cannot imagine how i can get back to work in september though.

[Colin Macs Mom]

nic get yourself over to sleep boards...I demand u become a mod along with the fab others LOL

LOL Michelle, Bless you 

I'm just paying it forward before I need to frequent these boards ALL OF THE TIME when this bubba gets here.   

I love the sleep boards 

Do I see a volunteer?!?!?!