New mom needs help with my 3 week old's sleeping

[cathomas]

My son turns 3 weeks old tomorrow, so I am new to this and have some general questions where I am looking for advice with EASY -

1. If he wakes up for a feeding at 6am, would you start the day at 6am instead of 7am?  This happened last night and I fed him one breast, put him down, then woke him up at 7am to start the day.  Seemed to work okay, but not sure of longer term ramifications.
2. If he's eating every 2.5 hours instead of 3 at night, does that mean that he's not eating enough?  or should I just expect that a 3 week old needs to gradually move up to a 3 hour schedule?
3. When counting how long they sleep, do you count from the time you attempt to put them down or the time they actually seem to fall asleep?  Some times, it seems like he's getting tired, so I attempt to put him down, but then it still takes a while to actually get him to fall asleep.  I want to make sure I don't get him overtired.

Any help you all can provide is greatly appreciated!

[nevinsmama]

Congratulations on your new son and welcome to BW!
 

1. If he wakes up for a feeding at 6am, would you start the day at 6am instead of 7am?  This happened last night and I fed him one breast, put him down, then woke him up at 7am to start the day.  Seemed to work okay, but not sure of longer term ramifications.

Was he asleep around 6 the night before? Generally you would aim for a 12 hour night and day. Really he is so little it is OK to fudge a little bit

2. If he's eating every 2.5 hours instead of 3 at night, does that mean that he's not eating enough?  or should I just expect that a 3 week old needs to gradually move up to a 3 hour schedule?

At 3 weeks this is fairly typical, especially for a BF baby. Does he nurse about every 3 hours during the day? Has he got plenty of wet diapers?

As far as A time it is counted from eyes open to eyes shut. Wind-down included. At 3 weeks he probably wouldn't be up more than an hour. Basically you might feed him, look at him and cuddle a bit, change him and then begin the wind-down!  Not a whole lot of real A at this age!

Have you seen this link??

Getting started - how I survived the first 3 months

Hope this helps, enjoy those newborn snuggles!

[jessmum46]

Great advice from Maryn

At three weeks I would just go with the flow and try not to worry too much about a routine.  This is a time to enjoy your newborn, get to know him and understand his cues.  Around 6-8 weeks many mums find they can start putting in place the basics of a routine, though it is unlikely to be the same every day.  Until then, totally agreed on enjoying those snuggles - it all passes way too fast!