Easy routine with 5-week babyboy. Please help

[Loan Ngô Minh]

Hi, I'm trying Easy 3h with my son, and I have some problems with it. Please help me to solve this
1. He often falls asleep when eating. I try to wake him up to finish his meal, burp, change diaper and wait until I see him yawn. But when he sleeps, he only sleeps for 10-15 mins and then cry, I wait a little bit and go soothing him. He falls asleep again, and then wakes up crying after 10-15mins. Sometimes he can sleep for 45mins or 1 hour,  but usually get up before the next meal.

[Lindsay27]

Hi and welcome to BW, congratulations on your new arrival! At 5 weeks it is very common for LOs for fall asleep nursing, they are still very much in that sleepy newborn phase and the comfort of nursing just naturally lulls them off to sleep.  Doing a diaper change afterwards is a great idea to help break the nursing to sleep, but I wouldn't worry too much this early in if he falls asleep nursing and you just want to let him sleep.

Is he swaddled at all? If you find he is stiring and waking 10-15mins into a nap I would maybe stay with him during that time and hold a hand on him so that he feels you and you can help him through the jolts.  Activity times are very low at this age (maybe 1hr) so it may also be that by the time he yawns he already overtired.  So what I would do is feed, burp &a diaper change, and then right down for a nap. 

[Loan Ngô Minh]

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, I used swaddler, white noise, lullaby for my baby. I also checked waketime, and he usually yawns when it's about 45 mins. When he yawns, I swaddle him, hold him for a few mintutes and then put him down when he's still awake, but most of the time, he can not sleep by himself, so I use pacifier. He also has a short naps (1 hours longest), but when he wakes up, he cries immediately.

[Lindsay27]

It's absolutely normal and natural for him to want to be held and be near you right now to get to sleep, and totally normal that he can't settle on his own yet.  If his nap is short then I would try to resettle if possible, you can put the paci back in and hold him for a bit if needed until he's asleep.  If he doesn't go back down then I would just do a small A time, top up feed, and down for another nap.  In all honesty many of my DDs naps at 5 weeks were in the swing, or on me (either rocking or in a wrap/sling). 

[Loan Ngô Minh]

Thanks a lot, I will try as you suggest. He is in week 5 now, so I'm not sure whether it's wonderweek or not. He ate well last night, but did not sleep well, it's really hard to put him back to sleep. This morning, he got up late, and ate much more less than usual, only 30ml (he used to drink 90-100ml).I have to change his diaper twice so it's late and he's overtired. Now he is sleeping, but I still stay beside him, afraid of waking up.

[Lindsay27]

There does tend you be a growth spurt around 6 weeks so that could be what he is going through if he was feeding well last night.  Does he take a paci at all?  I am wondering if that might help settle him after his feeds at night.  During the day for naps, don't worry if you need to use a swing or wear him in a carrier, it is very normal and a routine will come I promise you, but if you both need a rest it is okay to AP while he's still so little.  Many refer the first few weeks as the 4th trimester, where LO is learning how to 'be' outside of the womb but still needs the comfort of being close to mom.

[Loan Ngô Minh]

He's quite well today, eat and then sleep for about 1 -1.5 hours, but still wake up in the middle of each nap. I use paci at day, when he can not sleep by himself, or wake up and cry, it works most of time, he stops crying, but sometimes, It does not. He does not take paci at night, just sometimes in the early morning when he wakes up. There's still few things I concern now, and need your advice:
1. He takes paci well, when he falls sleep, if it fells down,  he still sleeps. However, sometimes I have to put it back in for him when he cries and wakes up in the middle of the nap. I am afraid that I become a sleep prop.
2. I make a BR for him (take a bath, masage, feed). Is it ok if I feed him, and when he finished his bottle, he sleeps right away. In day naps, I try to wake up him when he falls asleep. But he sleeps for a long time after the feed. I know it means he has not soothe himself to sleep yet.

Many thanks,

[Lindsay27]

Sorry I missed this!

If the paci falls out and he continues sleeping that is a good sign, often they need it put back in when transitioning sleep cycles/if they wake at the 30/45min mark.  I re plugged it for both my LOs at this age and it didn't end up being a prop for either, and they both learned how to put I back in themselves around 5 months.  It's probably one of those things that it is too early to tell right now if it is a prop, but like I said this was normal for both of mine.

Yes, at bedtime it is okay if you feed and he falls asleep,  This feed is different than the others and is meant to signal that it's time to sleep.  Soothing to sleep is something that comes with time, at this age I would fully expect him to fall asleep during his BT feed.