Author Topic: How to start EASY with a 4 week old  (Read 1625 times)

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Offline Swanseacat

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How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« on: August 05, 2015, 14:15:18 pm »
Hello and thanks for reading.

I have a 4 week old baby (and a 5 year old). Due to weight gain issues the baby has been breastfed on demand up till now and fallen asleep nursing. However I want to get into some sort of routine and have tried the EASY programme, but cannot get baby to nap more than a few minutes. So I have two main questions: is it too early to start this with the baby? And if not, how long do I give it before giving up an a nap and what do you do then? Throw them in the pram? Thanks.

Offline Kellyjs

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2015, 19:06:12 pm »
Hi and welcome to the forums  :)

Congrats on your LO! Tbh it's still so vv early, so yes anything you can do like a nice pram walk or a walk in a carrier to get him/her to get some sleep in the better. Especially as you have a 5yr old which I presume is now around with the school holidays?

This is a really good link I used when my DD was tiny. I just concentrated on these few things up until around 8weeks I think, then I started trying for naps in her cot.

Getting started - how I survived the first 3 months

This one has lots of link in it too, if you fancy a read xx Starting EASY - all you need to know and more!



Offline Swanseacat

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2015, 02:03:15 am »
Thank you for the reply. Yes I have my 5 year old daughter at home now too so it's hard to be spending a long time trying to get the baby to sleep. I'll try as you suggest and just work on getting the timings right for the moment, especially as we've been feeding far more frequently because of the weight issues. Once the eldest goes back to school baby will be 8 weeks and I can focus on lunchtime nap, do you think that will be ok?

Thanks for your help.

Offline Kellyjs

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2015, 06:02:59 am »
That sounds brilliant and probably good timing too. I'd probably try with the first nap of the day as it's *usually easiest! but if you pop back then we can make a plan?

Found this link which might be helpful for you to have a read through too? How can I sleep-train a second baby when I have a toddler running around? xx



Offline Swanseacat

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2015, 09:36:30 am »
Thank you for those links they are really useful.

I have tried the morning nap the last 2 days with very little success, I think though our problem starts earlier. Max goes to bed after a FF (his only one of the day) about 7pm, he sleeps till 11/12, I BF, then he sleeps till about 3. After that he struggles to settle for very long. He's often up again at 4, 5, 6. I struggle to get him settled without BFing him. This morning I decided to try to just follow his sleep cues and get him to sleep however. I put him in the sling at 7.15 and he slept for an hour, woke up grumpy, I fed (although didn't really believe he was hungry), he fed for 5/10 mins then fell asleep again for another 1h 15! Still grumpy when he woke up!! So I am wondering if I will struggle with the morning nap until we get the early hours of the morning sorted. All thoughts welcomed!!!

Offline creations

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2015, 18:11:01 pm »
Hello and welcome to BW forums :)
I found a BW book when my DS was 4wks old and started right away so it's really not too early to start but I also think it's important to take the whole family's needs into account, as you are doing.
I set out just adding a minute of A time between E and S, and that gradually lengthened until we had the EAS pattern (or EASAE).  It took mine a full 20 mins to fall to sleep, exactly as Tracy described in the BW book, you could set the clock by his 20 mins to nod off.  I didn't put him to bed in his own room though, I used a travel cot play pen thing in the living room so I could give him an extra pat or even rock the cot a little to help him get off to sleep or re-settle. I also saw that he sometimes woke and just stayed quiet watching us all, then eventually after an hour or so drifted off to sleep again which I think helped towards independent sleep.

One thing though, as you will be doing the school run etc I would probably recommend keeping one or two naps in the stroller or sling and habitualise those naps (so do the same naps in the stroller at the weekend as well as school days) as I found it almost impossible to get mine to sleep in a stroller because it just wasn't our habit.  I think you really need to be able to get out and about when you have an older child.


Offline Swanseacat

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2015, 17:19:36 pm »
Thank you creations :-). We will definitely try that after the holiday. For the moment all naps are car, pram or sling, I'm just focussing on enough sleep to hopefully help the night times.

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2015, 09:10:04 am »
For the moment all naps are car, pram or sling
You might find you want to keep it all this way - even if you are home you might use the pram so that baby has a regular place of nap-sleeping which continues to allow you the freedom to get out and about with your older child.


Offline Swanseacat

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2015, 13:48:18 pm »
Back again! So my 5 year old is now back at school and we've had a couple of days to see what happens. My 2 month old falls asleep on the school run, so about 8.15-9 in the pram, having been awake since 6/6.30 he is knackered. But he wakes as soon as we get home and is really grumpy until we get more sleep (in car or pram). He seems to need at least 2 hours. After that he can get by on a few 30 min naps but because he falls asleep on afternoon school run (3-3.30) it's hard to get a final nap in without compromising bedtime.

I've tried 3 times to put him in cot for nap, once he went off by himself, twice I shush patted him till he went off and he wakes after about 20/25 mins.

All thoughts welcomed. What should I do when he wakes screaming with tiredness at 9? Transfer to cot? Should I just keep persevering with cot maps with shush pat?

Thanks


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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2015, 15:50:07 pm »
Is it possible to keep him in the pram sleeping and just bring the pram indoors? Rock it a little through the 40/45 min transition time to help him into the next sleep cycle?  If he only sleeps in the pram when walking I would think it worth an extra ten mins around the block to help him transition, you might then find you get a 1.5hr nap.
I know Tracy was not for rocking but you also need to work with the families routine and necessity of school runs.
What do you think?


Offline Swanseacat

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2015, 10:54:42 am »
Hi again. So I find that usually we can't get past 45 mins in the pram in the morning, even if I keep on walking. Once home he is clearly still tired, I am putting him in bed between 75-90 mins later. He is now swaddled for naps, with a bit of shushing he is going to sleep (sometimes I leave up cry up to 10 mins before he goes). But he is almost always waking after 30 mins and I can't resettle him. I have read this could be because he is overtired. What is average awake time at this age? He is 10.5 weeks. Should I be putting down sooner? At nights he goes down around 7, dream feeds at 10.30 and then usually wakes around 3 and 6, finally up at 7.

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Re: How to start EASY with a 4 week old
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2015, 16:36:52 pm »
Average A times are here:
Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!
Your looking at around 1hr 20/30 which is roughly what you have with a 7am WU and the 8.15 nap on the school run.  There's a chance LO needs a little longer A to be able to transition into the next sleep cycle - and some help to transition too - is he transitioning from one cycle to another independently during any other nap yet?
So, one way to increase the first A time would be to wake him a bit earlier in the morning, as you can't change the school run time.  Another option is to accept the first nap as a CN and just go for longer naps thereafter. Don't forget EASY can be adapted to fit around family and LOs needs.
For the second nap 75mins may be a better estimate of A time considering the short first nap. I'd try that (rather than 90min) for several days, plus if possible be there for the 30 min wake up (so sneak in at 25mins and be ready to shush/pat or hold him through the jolts).  If he's a litle OT from teh short morning nap having a slightly shorter A time should help.

You have great nights! :)