canīt keep her awake during the day

[nanita]

Hello there, I was just wondering about strategies to help baby adjust to day/night. My 5 week old has trouble being awake during the day, and at night she wakes up erratically, and it is hard to get her back to sleep after being breastfed. 

She has been on EASY since day one, and I know since she was born she is a touchy baby. I wake her up after 1 1/2, 2 hour naps to feed her, but itīs so difficult to keep her awake during this time. Then I change her diaper, bathe her, go outside or leave her in front of the mirror, but she doesn't wake up. This happens especially after eating at 4 pm, what is supposed to be the catnap is a full nap, even though I try hard to keep her awake and avoid breastfeeding to sleep. Then I cluster feed at 6 pm, and give her a bath. Then at 7 pm the party begins, she seems overtired and fusses and cries... she can wake up at 10 after going to bed, so it doesn't give me time to dream feed, and wonīt go back to sleep until 12, or wakes up at 12 and goes back to sleep at 2 am, sometimes wakes at 4 and goes back to sleep at 5 am when I feed her.

This has been her routine during the last 6 days

E 7 am WU and eats (I wake her up)
A 7:30 a little sun, wind down
S 8:30 fully asleep after 4 s ritual

E 10, 10:30 am (I wake her up and she sleeps while eating)
A bath, wind down
S 11:30 fully asleep after 4 s ritual

E 1 pm (I wake her up and she sleeps while eating)
A hard to keep her awake, and if she is awake she fusses
S 2, 2:30 fully asleep after 4 s ritual

E 4, 4:30 (I wake her up and she sleeps while eating)
A almost no activity cause she continues sleeping even though two toddlers are playing around her
S sleeps till 6:00

E 6 pm cluster feed
A bath
S 7, 7:3pm cries a lot

E 8 pm cluster feed
A none
S 8:30

Night: wakes up erratically, she is fed every 3 hours. If she wakes up before the 3 hour mark, I shh pad, try to calm her down. Usually cries until its time to be fed again.

Thanks in advance. I hope I explained myself!

[becj86]

Hi, welcome

The 3hr EASY timing suggestion in the book is really what you could hope to get to by 13 weeks rather than what's going to work perfectly from day 1. At 5 weeks old, her A time should be pretty short, likely not more than 1hr including her feed - really often newborns are awake to eat, have a nappy change and go back to sleep again. She probably is overtired at bedtime, especially if you're keeping her up 1.5hr at each A time in the day.

Its very normal for a baby of this age to need to feed every 2-3hr, especially if breastfed. She has a tiny stomach and breastmilk is digested very quickly, so its important to feed her when she's hungry. The most important thing in terms of routine right now is to try to keep to the order of EAS and not worry so much about timing. The value in EASY right now is helping LO to develop some predictability in their day and help you know what LO is crying for.

For night feeds, some things that can help getting LO back to sleep quickly are:
- feed in the dark/with a little light rather than lots of light
- try to change nappy before the feed rather than after
- feed when she wakes - that way she won't be all worked up and losing sleep crying for food
- burp her well before putting her back down - this is important so she doesn't wake with gas pain (usually about an hour after a feed and a different cry)

I know its easier said than done, but try to relax a bit, she's still a sleepy newborn and there's a reason this first 3 months is often dubbed the 'fourth trimester' - its about baby being introduced to the world. She will be most comfortable and happy having cuddles with you where she can hear your heartbeat as she did before her birth, she will likely need a lot of sleep - newborns tend to be awake 6-9hr each day (they all "wake up" in their own time).

[nanita]

this is great! thanks for your advice. I actually take her to bed 50 minutes after she wakes up, which is when she first yawns but it takes 10 minutes to wind down and lots of time for her to stop opening and closing her eyes or jolting... I will try to take her before... Now that you mentioned overtiredness, maybe this is why she is waking up in the night... Thank you for the strategies, I will apply each one and be patient. Having 3 kids under 3 is exhausting and I am not having the patience I had with the first one I will definitely feel more relax with your comments.

[becj86]

Goodness me! 3 under 3 is a handful! Best of luck xx