overtired spirited 7 week old

[Kriegs mom]

We've been doing the pat/ssh with our seven week old for about 10 days and he's getting the hang of it. But if I miss the tired window by even ten minutes, it's impossible to get him to fall asleep. Yesterday he only napped for a total of 3 1/2 hours all day. Any help on how to get a Spirited baby to fall asleep when he's overtired? Even rocking him, car rides, etc don't work...

[fifibobandmore]

Wow this is a hard one but do you still swaddie him? If not this might just help as they still like the feeling of security and being wrapped up does carm some spirited babies down. Also baby might just want to be held tightly but in a gentle loveing way if you know what I mean as they also like hearing you heart beat and this is very carming as it reminds them of there time in your womb

[brenda2]

congratulations on your new baby!     7 weeks is still really young to be able to self soothe to sleep.  you are doing great!!  at 7 weeks old the A time is really short, basically just time to eat and diaper change and back into bed.  if he's doing anything else (looking at dangling things under a play gym) it may wind him up too much, especially spirited bubs, and then he'll have trouble calming back down again.  i would keep any activity to a minimum. 

as pp said, swaddling may help him calm down.  also spirited babies do better with less wind down time and they need really dark rooms with no visual stimulus to fall asleep.

just know that you are doing great and keep it up.   

[Deb_in_oz]

how long an A time are you doing to begin with ?  let's check that first.

BUT for those times you miss the window i used all the weapons in my arsenal: super tight swaddle (dh always did tighter than me and that was definitely more effective), blackout curtains drawn tight, noise machine on, pressure on lo for patting until asleep

[Kriegs mom]

He usually stays awake for about 15-20 min after he eats before he gives me the three yawn cue to put him down. We swaddle him every time, though he works real hard at getting his hands out when he cries. We're going to try to make the room darker-see if that helps.

[Deb_in_oz]

but what time is he awake in total - not sure how long he eats.

my TEXTBOOK baby was just that - textbook - and we could watch for yawns and start getting her ready at first yawn and in bed BEFORE the 3rd yawn.

with spirited lo i coudl waiut all morning for the 1st yawn if it ever came - MOST spirited lo's do not use yawning as a sleep cue during these first 6 mo (some even longer).  by the time you see that first yawn most of them are already OT and you have missed their window big time.  from wake up to nap at 6-9 weeks i would aim for 45 min total A time including feed and then work towards 1 hr.  you have to watch your own lo to find their cues when not using yawns - some look away from stimulation, others grab their ears or hair, watch  how their  eyes change as some get a glazed look etc.

defintely need the room dark and no distractions like mobiles or night lights etc - have you seen the spirited baby support threads - there is an archived one that i participated in that is huge and a newer active one for moms who are currently figuring out their spirited lo.
from EASY archive   https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=62650.0
current EASY thread  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=103962.0

most spiriteds also fight the swaddle but most of them need it more than any other lo and the tighter the better.  we used the swaddle til 5 mo old.  HTH

[brenda2]

i agree by the time he yawns it may be too late.  my textbook baby always looked away first then got a glazed look then the yawning started.  really watch him for cues like this and try to get him down before the yawn.  it doesn't matter if you don't think he's been up very long, babies this young sleep a lot!

[Kriegs mom]

he is usually awake between 45 min and an hour. Sounds like the hour mark is definitely too long. I still don't really know what his other tired cues are, but I'll keep looking. Thanks for the link to the spirited threads Those have been really helpful to read. We'll keep trying!

[Deb_in_oz]

at 7 weeks i woudl definitely dial it back to 45 min and build back up to the hour over the next month.  glad you found the threads helpful - read as much as you can because i can tell you it is important to read and understand these lo (i was able to get by just fine with the original secrets of the BW with my textbook lo as she really did everythign tracy said about 80% of the time, with spirited lo it changed constantly so it takes more effort and vigilence to watch them and learn what is going on and understand that they are so easily overstimulated and give subtle warnings (if any at all)