3 week old-already doing 40 min naps, help!

[abaker89]

My 3 week old appears to have started the 40 min nap already, my older child didn't start it till 12 weeks!  She had been napping for 2-3 hrs with an hour of awake time, it takes her most of this time to nurse and get changed-she is a slow eater.  Now she wakes right at 40 min and is OT all day long.  It is so hard to care for my older child with these short naps.  My dh spent 40 min patting and rocking trying to get her back to sleep after the 40 minute morning nap.  Then she was too tired to nurse, she would suck and then fall off and milk would roll out of her mouth.  Finally I gave up as she wouldn't even take it anymore and put her down, now she is awake after 40 min. again.  Nothing seems to get her back to sleep, not patting, rocking, dancing.  Please tell me what will fix this! 

She actually falls asleep by herself, I pat (she doesn't seem to like shushing) and then leave and she blinks for a few minutes and is out.  I thought that was going really well and she was taking nice long naps. 

What do I do when she won't eat after trying to extend her nap?  She just gets more and more OT as the day goes on.

Thanks, Aileen

[~Sara~]

Hi Aileen

Since her naps have been getting shorter, perhaps she's ready for a bit more A time.  Most 1 month olds are doing about 1h to 1h15 A times, and while she's only 3 weeks old, maybe 5 or 10 minutes more is all she needs to help her settle into a nice long nap.  So, try that for her first A time tomorrow and see what happens.  Hopefully she'll be easier to settle, too.

If she starts to get OT, and she needs sleep more than sleep training (there comes a point), then let her sleep on you, in her swing, wherever just so that she can catch up on her sleep.  Then, try again the next A time or day.  She's still very young that doing some APOP (accidental parenting on purpose) for a nap or two shouldn't cause you to turn into a prop.

When she won't eat, have you tried feeding her, say, 20 minutes later?