Newborn sleep questions...

[karindmor]

Hi! I just had my second son. He is 2 weeks old. I implemented EASY with my first son around 4-5 months. I know it's too early to implement any kind of routine, so I'm just trying to keep him awake more during the day to get his nights and days turned around correctly. I do have a few questions that I couldn't find the answers to in the FAQ... I saw that typical day sleep for a newborn is around 20 hours and A time is 50-60 min. So how long should naps be? He sleeps soooo much during the day and were either holding him or he's in the swing, so when he goes into his bassinet at night he doesn't like being on his back and is waking every 1-2 hours. I know that's typical for a newborn and I'm not trying to change it, I just want to know if there's anything different I can do during the day to help his night time sleep. Also, he hates being swaddled and I find I have to nurse him, then swaddle him and wait until he's in a deeper sleep until I lay him down so he doesn't wake up and realize he's swaddled lol. I used the swaddle blankets with Velcro with my first son and those work, but this little guy hates them! I just purchased and am waiting for the love me swaddle (where the are swaddled with their arms up) so I'm really hoping he loves that one! We'll see! Also, not really a sleeping issue, but I'm exclusively breastfeeding and it's going really well. I don't want to jeopardize my milk supply, but I can tell already he needs to suck. All the breastfeeding websites say to wait 6-8 weeks to introduce a pacifier. I did that with my first son and he never took one and just relied on me to pacify him. Is it too early to introduce a pacifier right now?

[Lindsay27]

Congrats on your new arrival! My DD will be 2 weeks on Tuesday   I'd venture to say that 50-60mins A time right now might be a bit much.  My DD pretty well wakes to eat, have a bum change, and not really much else until she's back off to sleep.  Her naps right now can range from 1hr to 2.5hrs.  She is also napping in a swing however her first nap of the day is usually in the bassinet (which is likely just an extension of her night sleep).  Do you try for any naps in the bassinet right now? Doing daytime naps in there might help with night sleep?  You could even hold him until he's in a deep sleep then swaddle and put into the bassinet for now during the day.

As for the paci, I think it's a personal choice. My DD won't take one but my DS had one from day 1 with no issues.  I'd say that if BF is going well you probably don't have anything to worry about by introducing one

[karindmor]

Thanks for this. He's definitely spent more time awake than the 60 min I mentioned. Sometimes he's been awake for 1.5-2 hours. Do you think this has made him OT? The bassinet I have is actually a cosleeper so it only has 3 sides. I feel weird letting him sleep there by himself in case he rolls on to my bed. Do you have any pacifiers brands that you recommend? My first son was so picky! Also, any advice about the swaddling?

[Lindsay27]

I think 1.5-2hrs would be OT, yes.  Right now I find my DD can do about an hour which after you fit a feed in really isn't a lot of time.  If she doesn't past that then she's in OT territory and it takes her a long time to settle.  I also have found that her tired cues often mimic her feeding cues...she seems to root around when she's tired. 

The paci's I used were called GumDrop...it's what they gave us in hospital so we just stuck with those for DS.

As for swaddling, I just use a Muslim and a swaddle technique called Russian style.  My DD loves being swaddled though so I don't really have much of an issue there.  Have you tried no swaddle just to see?  That said, they really flail about at this age to the swaddle really helps keep those arms under control lol