Hi and congratulations
. I'm just popping on to offer some support as I have a fairly new LO too - DS is 8 weeks. I can totally sympathise with the feeling of wanting to 'get it right'! Naomi has given you some great advice though and I very much agree it's about keeping expectations low at this stage.
I'm trying to keep in mind that DS is still so tiny, and that a stable predictable routine and independent sleep very much come with time. It's been helpful for me to think of it in 'baby steps' of what we're trying to achieve, with an idea of where we want to be in a few months time.
So things we've aimed for so far:
- learning cues
- trying to avoid feeding to sleep so having some A after E, even if the day frequently looks like EASAS or EA(no sleep)E, short A,S
- starting a BT routine and putting DS down awake at BT
- avoiding OT as best we can - less successful!!
- more recently, trying for one nap in the crib each day - getting more successful, but still not happening daily
I wouldn't worry about keeping her awake at 2 weeks old. She probably only has an A time of 45 mins or so including eating so really there isn't much time for any sort of activity other than a nappy change. That will change a lot in the next few weeks so just follow her lead and let her sleep when she needs to. And certainly if she is clearly hungry don't try to force her to wait to be fed until a particular time. I've found it helpful though just to keep in the back of my mind that I know if LO has taken a good feed, and is crying an hour later, it's probably less likely to be hunger and more likely to be tiredness if he hasn't slept. But if in doubt, offer a feed. When A times lengthen a little and you're not in the newborn haze, then hopefully the cues will become a little clearer and you'll be more confident in knowing when to feed and when not to
