6 weeks old - having really short naps

[Loan Ngô Minh]

My LO is 6-week old and is following 3 hour Easy routine. He sleeps quite well at night, have DF at 10-11pm, NF at 2pm, and usually wakes up and sleeps again around 4-6pm. However, he has really bad naps all day. Here's a sample of his day:

7: wake and eat (for about 20-30mins)
7.30: activity
Then I check his yawning and put him to bed
7.45: window time (hold him, turn on music or white noise, put him to bed when he's awake)
Then he starts crying right away, I wait for 5 mins and then go back and put paci. Sometimes he sleep right away, sometimes he stays awake for 15-20mins, then I hold him and he falls asleep. Just after 15-30mins later, he wakes up and cries, I wait and then come back, put paci or pat him, then he falls asleep again just for 15-20mins... The longest time he sleeps is about 1 to 1.5 hour.

Can anyone help me with my problem? Did I do wrong with his routine, or just because he has problem with sleep transation?

Many thanks.

[Scottishmummy]

Hi there and congratulations on your new baby!

6wks is really young for a baby to be able to fall asleep completely by himself.  I wonder whether the short naps come from him getting a bit OT from taking a while to fall asleep? Lots of LOs need help with swaddle and sh-pat to fall asleep at this age. Both of mine needed this help until they were around 3-4mo.

Here's a some links which might be useful:

What does a good wind down consist of (Includes 4S ritual)
Swaddling Technique (aka "Aussie swaddle")
Shush-pat - How to

That said, short naps are also really common at this age. Newborn sleepiness wears off & babies become more alert and aware of the world and harder to get them to sleep and to stay asleep. I used to alternate cot naps with naps in the sling/buggy my arms which were usually longer to get mine used to some cot sleep but also get longer naps in to avoid them getting OT.

[Loan Ngô Minh]

Thanks so much for your reply. I used swaddler and my LO loves it, he sleeps well at night, but not at daytime. Sometimes I nurse him to sleep, but he wakes up right away, or after 10-15 mins. I did use 4s for windown time but it did not work for my son, he cried whenever I sat and held him. I have never tried pram/sling before because I am afraid of getting him used to this and can not sleep without it

[Scottishmummy]

I have never tried pram/sling before because I am afraid of getting him used to this and can not sleep without it

I completely understand this and it is a personal choice. I found I could only ever get short cot naps though at this age. Personally I found that as long as 1 or 2 naps were in the cot, we were fine with some in pram or sling & both mine were good cot nappers by 6mo and it also allowed us to leave the house which was an essential for my sanity!

Have a go with sh-pat though to help him get to sleep and let us know how you get on.