8 week old will not nap in afternoon - suggestions?

[Jem321]

Hello,

I'm brand new to this forum, so forgive me if this topic has already been posted. I have an 8 week old, and have been trying to implement E.A.S.Y. for the past week. Mornings are wonderful, and we keep the same schedule every day (although sometimes he sleeps in a bit), but afternoons are a different story. He will NOT nap! I'll look for cues, and as soon as I see a yawn, or he rubs his eyes, I'll try to put him down, but as soon as I do,  eyes are wide open and it takes me forever to get him settled. Sometimes swaddling works, sometimes it doesn't. If he does manage to drift off to sleep, 5 minutes later he's awake and fussing. My first thought was maybe he's not actually tired, but is it normal for an 8 week old to be up for 3+ hours straight and not be tired?

Here was our schedule today (this is like most days)

7:45 awake, Eat
8:00 - 8:45 Activity
8:45 - 10:45 Nap

10:45 Eat
11:00 Activity (play mat, then outside for a walk in stroller)
12:00 - seemed tired (fell asleep during walk), tried to put down for a nap - did not work!
12:30 - 1:30 - slept in 5 minute stretches, fussy most of the time, no real napping

1:30 Eat
1:45 Activity - but was showing sleepy cues, so tried to put down for a nap - did not work! Slept in 5 minutes increments again, but acted like he just wanted to play. VERY fussy all afternoon - I'm guessing he was over tired.

3:30 Eat (was only 2 hours since last feed, but was acting really hungry)
3:45-3:50 Activity - then FINALLY was sleepy enough to go down for a nap.

5:45 Eat (only just over 2 hours since last feed but woke up super hungry!)
6:00 Activity

7:15 Eat
7:30 Activity (bath, get ready for bed)
8:00 bed

Still wakes up twice during the night (around 2am and 5am). I tried doing a dream feed at 10:30, but he was still waking up twice in the night, so I stopped.

Once the schedule is thrown off in the afternoon, it makes it hard to get things back on track for the evening. Is he still a bit young to expect him to follow a schedule? Any tips on getting him to drop one of the night feeds?

Any advice/tips on his schedule is much appreciated - I am very new at this and still learning 

Thanks!

[jessmum46]

No, 3h awake at 8 weeks he is most definitely tired but having said that, a lot of newborns will randomly do huge stretches of awake time and seemingly be ok, then crash later on.  My feeling is it takes them a while to properly get the hang of suitable A times.....

I think what happened is because LO fell asleep on the walk, but then didn't get a proper nap (did you try to transfer to bed??), he ended up OT which set you in a bad pattern for the rest of the day.  Could you just leave him to sleep in the stroller if it happens again? 

Two night feeds is perfectly normal at 8 weeks.  I wouldn't try dropping them, he will do it when he is ready . You could always re-try the dreamfeed when he is a bit older and see if he takes to it a little better second time round.

It's important to remember that EASY isn't, and was never meant to be a schedule ie following the clock.  Rather it should be a pattern of events (eat, activity, sleep) but taking account of your baby's cues.  So one day he may be sleepier than another and may want to eat a little sooner, that's ok . At 8 weeks I would say very few mums here would have found their days to be totally predictable.  LO is growing and changing so much in such a short space of time, there are growth spurts and mental leaps and what works one week will not work the next.  The best things you can focus on are learning your LOs cues, trying to separate E from S where possible, and enjoying your baby . Having some naps in the stroller, car, sling or even your arms won't hurt at this age.  If you can ease you both into an EAS pattern that will help the transition to indpendent sleeping and more predictability later on down the line.

Hope that helps x