Is 3 weeks too young to begin??

[lro]

Hi,

I used BW for my first child and it was brilliant! she was an angel baby and was able to put herself to sleep by 4 weeks! it was amazing. She is now 20 months and super easy.  I have my second who is 3 weeks old and I am using pat/shh combined with some holding and in dire condititions, some walking  and it seems to be working- can take up  to 20 mins for her to settle- but she does settle. Now I am wondering though if it is too early to "sleep train". She is not quite as easy as my first, but she wants to sleep ALL the time. Should I be trying to keep her awake more after she eats, or just let her fall back asleep? And, is she too young  for pat/shhhh??  Another question- she seems to have her days and nights sorted- in the sense that she goes right back to sleep at night, is it possible that this will change? i feel a bit anxious that as she gets older she may get more wakeful at night- or can i be somewhat assured that if she is sleeping well at night, it will last?

thanks so much! this forum is a savior!
-lauren

[sunnysideup850]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm eager to read the responses.  DS is 3 weeks today and it's also my 1st day alone with him.  DD (3yo) is at school all day and finally all house guests have left.  Therefore, today I've decided is day #1 in his crib with no walking, etc. to get to bed.  I just did a shortened version of our bedtime routine (which usually works well for him and he goes right to sleep from semi-awake) and put him in his crib (as opposed to the bassinet in our room).

Like yours, he seems to know his days from his nights.  As aside from frequent feedings at night (sometimes every 2 hours!) his nights are good in that he goes right back to sleep in his bassinet.

I started DD on EASY very early, but I cannot recall exactly when...maybe week 5?.  Amazing how your memory goes, especially about the details of babyhood.  I suppose we're built that way so that we have more.  If we remembered it all we'd certainly all only have one child!!

Keep in touch, I'd love to be in touch with someone whose second is of similar age to mine so we can compare stories.

Megan
DD 1/31/05
DS 1/16/08

[lro]

Thanks Megan. It is good to know I am not alone in all this. It is a bit daunting starting all over again, since like you, I have no idea when we really began with our first daughter but in hindsight it seems like it was really easy! This time, DD is giving us a hard time and can cry quite a bit before settling. Luckily she goes long stretches at night and also during the day. 3-4 hours during day and 4-5 hours at night. But during the day, she sleeps non stop. Does your DS have any wakeful time during the day or is he also sleeping a lot between feeds? Also, I see a lot of people have their babies on an actual schedule, whereas for us everyday is different depending on the night feeds and first am feeds. I am curious as how to get her on a 6:30, 9:30, 12:30 etc etc sched.
Good luck today! It must be a bit overwhelming to be alone after 3 weeks of company!
-Lauren

[*Nicola*]

Hiya ladies 

Just thought I'd pop in my tuppence worth as we started EASY DD2 (Callie) right away 

I think the most important thing at the moment is that you concentrate on getting the activities in the right order, so Eat then some Activity then Sleep.  Then of course,  You time - or You and older LO time  The timings don't really matter at the moment, most babies don't get onto a good predictable EASY until nearer 6/8 weeks although I think it was about 10 weeks before things were consistent for us.  I really wouldn't focus too much on the 3 hourly feeding at the moment. It will come with time but is often 'messed up' at this age by short naps etc.

At 3 weeks your LO's will only be able to be up for about 1 hour at a time, and this will include feeding, changing, cuddles, wind down.  If you are having nice long naps that is fantastic.  At this age they should be sleeping 1-2 hours out of every 3.   

Now is a good time to begin establishing good nap time and bedtime routines, so that your babies get used to that routine and come to anticipate what is happening next in their day.

As for sleep training, it is up to you when you begin.  We found that Callie 'woke up' around 5 weeks or so and getting her to settle became a bit more difficult then.  That is when we began to use pat/shh for naps and work on independent sleep.

HTH.  Enjoy those tiny babies! 

[hlatreille]

I read in Tracy's book about babies younger than 6 weeks & that it is fine to have them on the BW routine but she said they will be on a 2 hour EASY and to definately ok not to keep them awake after eating because they need to sleep so much.  Their activity will really only consist of a diaper change.  Once they start to get older their awake time will become longer.

[Aly Mac]

Agree with all PP - just remember to enjoy them at this age.... and try not to stress about their routine, or lack of too much. Sucha  precious time.

xx

[lro]

thanks everyone. i agree that she is too young to stress about routine, and that it is just important to be consistent. For me it is also just important that DD2 does not get used to falling asleep in arms, rocking, walking, etc. We recently discovered the pacifier can be useful for helping to fall asleep. makes things much easier for now!