7 week sleep questions

[Buba444]

Hi

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice on the issue below:

My lo is 7weeks old, and for the last week he almost forgot how to go down on his own. He manages 45 minutes awake time(this includes his feeding and nappy change) and he starts jawning. My first son was on EASY too and still is in a very structured routine, but he never did what his brother does. I have been shush patting him to sleep but i am worried he started using me as a prop.

As i put him down, he fusses a bit and eventually starts crying. I give him dummy but he is still restless. After about 20 minutes i have to shush pat him as by that time he is now overtired. He then sometimes sleeps 50mins nd then i hv to shush pat him again to sleep. but sometimes he sleeps for like 20 minutes(which i think its my problem as i leave to early).

Should i persist with the shush pat? When do i actually go in and do the shhush pat? Should i be using dummy? I am just so tired as this has been going on for 7 days now.

Also, he has been sleeping trough the night for the last 2.5 weeks, from 7:45pm till 6:30-7am.(no dream feeding either).

Please help as i dont know how to do this anymore....he has been such a great sleeper (napper) up to now.

Many thanks to all...
Kaelan's mum

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hi Kaelan's mum, I'm just going to pop this post over to naps for you x

[~Sara~]

Hi hon!  Would you mind posting his EASY routine?   I think that will help give some insight.

To answer some of your questions in the meantime:

Yes, I'd keep doing the shh/pat.  If you think he's bothered by either or both components, you can try tweaking them or changing them a bit.  I know some moms use a particular shh or pat...some omit one or the other all together.  But, I think your routine will help determine whether or not that's necessary

When you're using shh/pat to extend a nap, I'd do it once he wakes up, until he's asleep again, and then for about 10-15 minutes afterward.  I know it's tough--I remember my back aching ALLLL the time because of shh/pat at naps.  As he gets older, he'll resettle sooner and sooner.

If you want to use the pacifier and he still needs it, then I say use it.  It's up to you.  But if you're not using it now, then don't start.

So, we'll wait for your response and go from there

[Buba444]

hi there,

thank you very much for your post.

Kaelan is at the moment on a 3 hour routine. he usually wakes up round 6:15 to 7 am every morning, after a very good night sleep. He then eats and has activity for like 20 minutes(this really depends on the day and how he is feeling, sometimes shorter sometimes longer). And if then his window is read properly, the rest of the day is easy, but if we miss the window on his first nap, the rest of the day he is finding it very hard to go to sleep on his own.

If he doesnt settle i then shush pat him until he goes to sleep and sometimes takes just a little bit of the time, but sometimes i do spend the whole of his sleeping time shushing or in his rrom as he wakes up after 10-20 minutes....

My question is, when i put him down for a nap, he winges and sometimes goes to sleep like that, but other times he winges and winges and eventually cries when i go in and shush him to help him go to sleep. This is then usually when he is finding it hard to sleep for longer periods. So do i shush pat him immediately before he winges, or do i leave him to go on his own?Also, isnt 30-40 mins a bit to short for his activities as he is 2 months old...?he is also quite a big baby....he is eating 5-6oz per feed(formula feed).

So this is our usual routine

6:30 Eat
6:45-7:10-25 activity
7:10-25 Sleep(this includes the window, swaddling)- then this also depends on  him going down on his own or me shushing him.
9:30 or 10.00 Eat(sometimes he goes 3 1/2 hrs between feeds which i think is great for his 4 hour routine when he is 4 months)
10:15 Activity and so on until
7pm where he wakes up, has a bath, dressing, a massage and 7:30 Bottle and sleep until 6:30-7am next morning.

Thank you very much again....

[~Sara~]

Sorry that it's taken me a bit to respond to you...

Looking at his routine and how you've described things, I think that we need to find his A time "sweet spot"   You're going to have to gently increase his A time so as not to make him overtired.  I'd start with the first A time of the day, and extend by 5-10 minutes.  Then after a couple of days, just keep increasing across the board.

His A time (which includes eating, activity time, and wind down--or in other words, eyes open to eyes shut) should be about 1h15 now.  Granted, he might start yawning a bit before, so unless he's just a high needs sleep baby, I wouldn't put him to sleep based upon that first yawn.  I know what Tracy says in her book, to have them in bed by the 3rd yawn, but my LO would start yawning even just 5 minutes after he ate...he would then refuse/fight going to sleep because in reality, he wasn't tired enough yet.  He was just yawning

I think that's what's happening with your LO--that he's taking UT (undertired) naps...at least that first one.  Usually 45 minutes is indicative of an UT nap.  I've personally found it impossible to extend an UT nap, regardless of how much shh/pat I did.  Normally after an UT nap, you have to decrease the A time and put them down for their next nap a bit earlier.  If you try to make them do a full A time here, it will result in them being hard to settle, but now because they're OT (overtired).  I'm thinking that he's fighting sleep and the shh/pat for both of those reasons, so, again, we just need to find his perfect A time.

So, for example, if he woke up at 6:30, ate, played with you for a bit, etc., I'd try to have him asleep no later than 7:45 (maybe 7:50 if he needs even more A time).  That means, that however long he needs to get nice and settled to start drifting off, say 15 minutes, you'd want to start the wind down routine/shh/pat at 7:30.

He should calm and drift off fairly easily--maybe a little fussing as some babies do that, but he shouldn't fight it or wake up after 20 minutes.  If you get a 40-50 minute nap, I'd say that was an UT nap.  If you can't get him to go back to sleep, then scale back on the following A time; perhaps make it 1h long, so that he can catch up on his sleep and so that he doesn't become OT.  Then, once he's got a good nap in him, try gently extending the A time again.

If you get a 30-35 minute nap, then he was probably OT, and you'll need to scale back on his A time in general, i.e. maybe do 1h10.

Give that a shot and see how things turn out.  You can gauge if the A time is right by 1) how he reacts to going to sleep, and 2) what kind of nap you get.