Using sh, sh, sh, pat with a baby that won't nap

[ljewell]

I'm new to the discussion board and am only on my second day of E.A.S.Y. though my DD (6 wks old) has been on a routine for several weeks now.  We made a huge mistake by sleeping with her in a recliner (she was suffering from acid issues and was completely inconsolable.  out of desparation for sleep on our part, we started this bad habit).

I've been trying the sh, sh, sh, pat  to get her to sleep in her crib but have a few questions:

I've been sticking to the Eat, Activity, Sleep outlined on the EASY plan, but she has not been making it into deep sleep once we go to the sleep portion of the routine.  I spend the entire 1.5 hours putting her back into her crib and watching her drift off while patting and shhing (she has never been a good napper).  Before I know it, the E in EASY is here again.

My questions are the following: 

1.  I really can only make it once or twice in the day to hit the EAS, because she is so cranky from not having a decent nap.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

2.  Last week was when we realized she has/had acid issues.  Our pediatrician told us to give her a small dose of Mylanta.  This seemed to immediately change her actions for the better.  We have since stopped giving her the mylanta and her disposition is still better.  Could this acid issue also be a factor in her waking up before her deep sleep hits?

3.  After reading about EASY and the shh pat, we have decided to take the baby whisperer's advice and only work on the daytime issue (which is obviously a nighttime issue too.)  This means we are not trying the shh pat or putting her in her crib until we get the daytime issue resolved.  Have any of you encountered this issue also?  I would love to know how it worked out for you.

I thank you all so much in advance for your help

[* Paula *]

Welcome to the BW website 

You say that you have stopped the meds, is there any reason why you are not carrying on with them?  Reflux is an ongoing issued, and only gets better as they get older.

You could be battling with sleep as your lo may be overtired.  How long are you keeping your lo up for before trying to put her down for a nap?

Can you post your current routine like this?

Wake up for the day
E - how long
A - how long
S - icluding windown and how long she naps for

With regards to pat / ssh, at this age you can do it on your shoulder until your lo is nearly alseep and then transfer into the cot and carry on the patting until she is asleep.

Is she swaddled?

[ljewell]

Thank you so much for responding!

We stopped the meds because the pediatrician said that it was really a short term medication (not intended for prolonged use).  He also seemed to believe that this would just be needed to help regulate or adjust her little tummy.  As the days progress, I seem to think we will be needing more medication, something more appropriate for long term use.

Well, to answer your question about how long we're keeping her up before her nap and the routine, they are as follows for yesterday and today:

6/29

Wake up for the day: 7:15 am

E: 7:20 (1 hour, she is a slow eater and being breast fed)
A: 15 min (set her in her boppy pillow and talked to her)
S: 20 min sleep (not including time to get her down into crib)
E: 10:25 (1 hour)
A: Set her in an inclined seat and talked to her (10 min)- This seat vibrates, could this overstimulate?
S: 10 min first time, 20 min second time (not including time to get her down into crib)
E: 12:50 (1 hour)
A: 10 min talked to her on changing table after changing diaper
S: 10 min, 20 min
E: 3:45 (1 hour)
A: none, too cranky showed signs of needing sleep immediately
S: 10 min, 20 min, 15 min
E: 7:05 pm (1 hour)
A: bath (20 minutes including diaper change)
S: 8:45
 She then slept from 8:45 pm until 12:50 am,  which I did a 1 hour feed.  She then awoke again at 4:50 am and I fed her again for an hour, then waking at 7:00 am for the next day.  Today has pretty much been the same.  I don't think I'm overstimulating her, but she is an extremely alert baby.  Do you think that since we are continuing her same night time routine (sleeping with her in a recliner chair) that we are being counter productive?

I'm just concerned that if we try to tackle both at once we will burn out. 

I've been doing the pat shh while holding her cradle style, waiting until she is Very Dozy/nearly asleep and carrying on the patting.  Once she hits around the 20 minute mark, she wakes up.  I have very little knowledge of her true disposition since we have been having problems with her crying and being cranky from the beginning.  When she was on the Mylanta she was more at peace, not so jerky and fitful in her sleep.

We called the pediatrician and are looking into a long-term antacid...but I'm unsure if that is the problem.

Oh, and yes, we are swaddling her.

I appreciate any insight you may have.  I have been very upset and not well rested as you can imagine.  We wind up putting her down and doing the shh pat the entire nap time without her actually achieving a real "nap"

[Grace's Mom]

At 6 weeks A time (including the feeding) should only be about 1 hour-1.25.
If your lo is taking 1 hour to feed then your lo need to go right back to sleep after that.
Short naps usually indicate that your lo is really OT.

At 6 weeks your lo should be taking three 1.5-2 hour long naps and a 30-45 minute cat nap.

Is your lo really eating for the entire hour or is your lo just sucking to soothe?

[ljewell]

Well, I think she's resting part of the time and eating the other part.  I have tried to knock down her feeding time, but she cries and wants to eat sooner that the 2.5 to 3 hrs.  She's always taken an hour.  She often cries after the hour and I just give her a pacifier and she seems content with that. 

I don't know if she's getting in some of her nap time on the breast or if she dozes because she isn't sleeping during nap time.

The interesting thing is her disposition is not all that bad until around 5 o'clock pm.  I'm going crazy because I spend the ENTIRE NAP TIME doing the sh, pat and then picking her up to start over again once she wakes at the 20 minute mark and cries!

She really doesn't act overtired once I change her diaper and get ready to start the activity.  But, once we hit activity, like I said, it often is very short or doesn't happen.

I guess I could try cutting down on the time of her feeding, but as I said, I've tried before and wind up feeding her sooner than I would like. and she is the type of baby that cries to show signs of hunger...

I'm just so frustrated at this point.  Even as a brand new baby at 2 weeks she was not napping.  I just don't understand and it's making me crazy.  I CANNOT get anything done because I have zero down time.  Plus the recliner situation is awful too. 

I really feel like giving up with the EASY stuff because i feel like we're not making any progress.  I would sit in there for the entire hour if I could ever get her into the deep sleep phase, but it's not working.  Even when we were using props (jostling, white noise, etc) it was still 20 minutes.

[EmMUK74]

I don't have very much advice I am afraid but I do have a lot of identification since your story and mine are so similar.  rachel had reflux and it made it difficult for her to nap.  she also got (and stills gets) easily overtired and would need to go down for a nap much earlier than I could imagine.  until about 8 weeks she barely seemed to be up at all apart from eating.  however I stuck with EASY from 5 weeks and although at times it seemed like I was making my life harder it did work after 8 days, she seemed to get that she needed to sleep and I got better at reading her signals.  however she never napped more than 45 mins at a time (until she went to 1 nap and now she can nap 2 hours easily) and yet would be happy with that and slept 13 hours at night straight through from 11 weeks.

all I am saying is that I know how you're feeling and I really advise you to stick with EASY because it's amazing how it will all fall into place and I know I would have gone insane withot it.  and also remember that it's about reading your child, some babies needs lots of sleep, some less; it's about being able to see if they're OT or not and working with that

lots of good luck

[Grace's Mom]

Can you try feeding for about 30 minutes or so....even 45 minutes and then give her the paci...do a diaper change, cuddle, sing, etc. then start the nap routine.
She may be eating slowly and going for an hour out of habit.
I bet if you lessen the time she start to actually drink at a more average pace and be done in 30 minutes or less. 
Go ahead and use the paci for now to help her get on a good routine.

Babies may not always seem OT, but that doesn't mean they aren't.  It's tricky.
Sometimes when they seem wide awake it's a sign they are already OT and past the point of no return.
You want to make sure your lo is down before that point.