Regular waking during naps

[emmamw06]

I have a baby who is only 3 weeks old. We are doing EASY 3 hourly 7am to 7pm. At night she is an angel with only one wake around 3am following dream feed. Goes back to sleep immediately. During the day though she is crying/calling out around every 20mins or so. What happens is I put her down successfully (swaddled) and then 20 mins later she cries out. She manages to settle herself fairly well after a few cries, however continues to do this every 20-30 mins for the entire sleep time. Sometimes she cannot resettle and needs my help but each time I go to settle her, her eyes are still closed and she seems frustrated at not being able to sleep. If I hold her to sleep for the full 2 or so hours this does not happen. Any thoughts what might be preventing her from achieving a full sleep? Thanks

[Kellyjs]

I'm afraid she's jolting herself awake as she's going into the deeper sleep cycle hun. She won't wake up whilst your holding her as you're essentially holding her through the jolts (HTTJ).

One things to try is applying light pressure on her arms and legs (tricky to do with only two arms) around the 15mins mark, wait till you feel the jolt and ssh softly until you feel her relax again. Remember 3weeks is so very little, it will get better hun. You're doing so well already actually getting her to nap on her own, amazing in fact xx

[emmamw06]

Thanks for the reply. She has a fairly loose swaddle so I might try a tighter one to minimise the jolting. Will let you know how it goes xo

[Kellyjs]

Good luck hun, it really is a tricky time the first few weeks  x