Hello all, this is my first post, and I am hoping I will be able to get some tips on how to improve my son's sleeping habits.
The little man is 9 weeks today. He is breast fed. We have issues with both day and night sleeping.
We are trying out the EASY routine during the day, but it has always been more of a EAES routine. He is reluctant to go to sleep in his own bed in the day, so ends up sleeping on me… unless we are out and he is knackered - he might then sleep in his car seat or pram. As soon as I put him down, eyes wide open! I have tried doing it when he is dosing off, and when he is in deep sleep (which I think is deep sleep), but no luck.
In the evening, baby has a bath, gets fed, and then we spend significant amount of time walking about/bouncing on the exercise ball with him in order to rock him to sleep. Again, as soon as he is in his crib - he wakes up.
We have been "experimenting" with the evening routine in the last week, and have noticed that if we start at 8 pm, baby will be asleep in his crib at 9.30 pm. Then awake for a feed at midnight, 3 am, 5 am, 6 am. These times are typical and vary from night to night though.
Yesterday, he woke up from his afternoon nap (approx. 1 hour) at 5.20 pm. I gave him a bath at 6.30 pm, and he was asleep at 7 pm. As soon as I put him in his crib, he was awake again! I finally managed to put him into his crib at 8 pm, but he shortly woke up. I was downstairs by then, and did not go up. He was happy to stay there on his own for a little while. We finally managed to get him to sleep at 8.45 pm, and he slept for 3.5 hours. So, basically it seems like his "bed" time is around 9 pm. (It is 9.15 pm, and he is currently in bed awake…after the third attempt at putting him in his bed after he has fallen asleep in dad's arms.)
He also seems quite selective at when he is happy on his own. For instance, for the last two days, he has woken up just after 5 am, and spent about an hour just chatting to himself. By the way, he wakes up at exactly 5.10 am most mornings, even if he has been fed at 4 am! I think this is now a habit more than anything else.
I guess I am after some tips/advice/guidance on:
- how do I train my boy to sleep in his bed during the day?
- how do I get him settled for the night earlier than 9 pm?
- how do I get him to sleep without rocking/swaying him?
- how do I get him to remain sleeping at 5 am every morning?
Thank you in advance, any input will be more than greatly appreciated!
P.S. We did the personality quiz, and it appears that the little man is "textbook", if that helps at all?
