Dear BW forum,
I'm a FTM and LO is 5 weeks old. I'd love to get some feedback from you about performing sleep training and understanding how much sleep LO needs.
Something about LO:
- Seems to hate swaddling but really needs it since has very strong startle reflex
- Seems to hate dark environments; goes down for naps better if room is light vs. dark (closed curtains)
- Feedings take quite long (50 min) and after LO is quite active; seems to have 1&1/2 to 2 hours awake time (sometimes skips sleeping completely)
Sleep training:
We are on a very flexible EASY routine focusing mostly on full feedings. Up to now LO used to fall asleep in arms with some kind of rocking/bouncing/walking (by people, no swings/bouncers...) and then be put in the crib. I'm trying now to put LO down in the crib awake. I would get LO to stage 3 then put in the crib sh-ing with hands on chest and legs. I would stay there for 20 mins past the jolts phase.
These are the problems I encountered:
- In order to wind down after first yawn, LO needs holding/rocking/walking to get to stage 3. Generally goes from crying to falling asleep directly, therefore is hard to be put in bed awake.
- If LO is not deeply asleep, the second he touches the crib (even with a smooth transition) either starts screaming (when in bad mood) or becomes completely awake (like ready to start again with feedings).
- If I put LO earlier in bed, it seems there is no way he falls asleep. He is super awake until he gets tired of me sh-ing and starts screaming.
When is the best time to put baby down? Sometimes LO is awake for long going directly into full-crying without previous sleep cues (Ex yawning).
LO almost never takes a pacifier; I'd like to know exactly how to use it in the process before insisting and making it a prop.
Is it maybe too early to try teaching "independent" sleep? (Of course not really independent for now)
Amount of sleep:
Overall LO sleeps around 10 hours a day, which is less than the typical. Is it normal for LO to have such long awake time? (btw, he seems happy and content during the day) This is a problem for the night feedings, since we get little sleep for each EASY cycle (and doesn't seem to go more than 4 hours between feedings).
Thank you very much in advance!
(First time posting, hope I did it right!)
