What time is bedtime for a 5 week old?

[Hadley12]

Dd #2 is 5 weeks. Right now her evening A time seems to fall from 6:30 - 8:00 pm and then she'll cat nap from 8 - 8:45 or so. I feed her at 9 (the 10 or 11 dream feed doesn't seem to work for us) and she's up again to feed sometime between 12m and 1:30 am then again at 4:30 am, up for the day (on a good day!) at 6:30 or so. Should I be trying to adjust this? Dd #1 goes down at 7:30. It just seems that on a 2 hr EASY with dd#2 during the day, her evening A time always happens that way. Would she sleep better at night if we moved her bedtime earlier?

[rob1lu2]

TBH, sounds like she's sleeping great for a five week old! It probably doesn't feel like it, but she's only waking twice to eat, which is totally normal at this age.

I would leave it as it is, but that's just me. Remember, Tracy encourages us to follow our LOs cues, with EASY as a routine to go by, not a schedule to live and die by.

Sounds like you are doing great! And congrats on the new LO!

Lu

[Hadley12]

thanks!

i think the reason i'm thinking she's not sleeping that well is that for the last 3 or 4 nights she will wake up at night 30 minutes to 1 hour after i've put her down. last night's example:

9:15 feed & rock to sleep (we're planning to start shh/pat between 6 and 8 weeks)
10:30 awake crying, feed again but only a few min and rock back to sleep
1:30 am usual feed & rock
2:00 am awake crying, rocked back to sleep
4:30 am usual feed & rock
5:30 am awake and crying, settled her with binky and patting her chest
6:15 am up for the day

i know it seems it's the rocking and maybe she needs me to help her everytime she transitions between cycles but why the sudden problem if that's what's causing it? i'm not sure how to respond to her when she gets up so soon after a night feeding. she shares a wall with my 2.5 yo dd so i am hesitant to let her cry for more than 60 - 90 seconds or so. sorry...probably should have mentioned all of this in my first post. 

thanks!

[rob1lu2]

Does she take a pacifier any other time than at 5:30?

As it is mantra crying, I would recommend that you try to let her go for a little bit. Otherwise, you are teaching her that she needs your help to sleep.

Could you get a white noise maching for DD1's room? Any particular reason you are waiting to shush/pat until 6-8 weeks?

Lu

[Hadley12]

she takes a pacifier here and there throughout the day. sometimes to calm her in the evening and usually for her morning nap. almost never to fall asleep at night unless she wakes when she doesn't need to be fed (not always just at 5:30...I think i gave it to her at 2 am also). she seems to love it sometimes and just get frustrated by it others.

dd #1 does have a noise machine that cuts out a lot of the crying but not all of it. she's a VERY light sleeper due to AP the first time around  i think that if it wakes her at any other time she'd go back to sleep but at 5:30 she'd be up for the day. sometimes is anyway.

because of having a 2.5 yo at home i was just doing what i needed to do to get dd#2 down for naps. i had intended to put her down awake but ended up holding her to sleep while dd #1 plays (she's spirited and also my shadow ). i read in other areas on this site that you don't really have to worry about the sleep training until more like 6 - 8 weeks...