I've been trying to implement EASY with my 7 week old so that he can sleep a little more, but it's just not happening. I am a FTM and I literally have no clue what I'm doing wrong. This is a sample day for us:
8am- Eat 4-5 oz. in 10-15 minutes (he gulps down the bottle)
8:15am- Activity (sometimes I put him on his tummy, sometimes I just talk to him and make faces on his changing table, and I also walk around with him and point stuff out)
9am- Sleep (I swaddle via Happiest Baby method, sing soft lullaby while swaying until his eyes start to close, put down into crib with white noise machine on)
9:30am - He is awake, kicking his legs, arching his back, and crying (doesn't matter if I put him in "rock n play", bassinet, mamaroo or crib). I change his diaper, massage his stomach to get gas/poop out.
11am- Eat 4-5 oz
11:15am - Activity
Noon - Sleep
1pm - Awake
1:15pm- Eat 3 oz (refuses to eat more)
2pm - Eat another 3 oz
2:15pm - If I put him down for more than 5 minutes, he is awake, and starts crying
3pm - "Sleep" in rock n play with pacifier (his mouth moves while his eyes are closed, if pacifier falls, he starts crying)
3:30pm - Eat 3 oz and then still awake
5:45pm - Eat 4 oz
6pm - Sleep
8pm- Bath time, eat 4-5 oz
9pm - Sleep
Midnight- Eat 4-5 oz
2:15am - Eat 4-5 oz
5am - Eat 3-4 oz
6:30am - Awake and eat 3-4 oz
8am - Repeat as above
He eats somewhere between 38 and 44 oz of breastmilk a day. He sleeps around 10 hours a day if I'm lucky. He has never slept longer than 1 - three hour stretch, usually his "good sleep" stretches to 2.5 hours. I have tried swaddling, not swaddling (which doesn't work because his legs and arms go crazy), side sleeping, sleeping upright in rock n play, white noise, shhh/pat, etc. I try to start swaddling and doing the nap routine the minute he first yawns but it's not working. I can see he is tired but he won't sleep.
He does sleep if I strap him into his bjorn and walk with him. But if I stop walking, he quickly wakes up. I am so exhausted that I don't have the strength to do the walks anymore. He has hiccups a lot, and usually wakes up with the arching of the back, gas noises and crying. I have spent more than 1 night massaging him until he pooped and then he would relax temporarily.
He is gaining weight well and was born right on his due date. Weighed 7 lbs 5 oz at birth, gained back his weight in 3 days, and is now almost 12 lbs. He is very quick to calm when he's upset, but doesn't stay calm for long. I feel like as he becomes more aware (he was very alert in the hospital and not sleeping well from 1st day), it's getting harder and harder to get him to sleep. I need time to pump and make food, and I'm averaging about 4 hours of fragmented sleep a day. What am I doing wrong?
