SLEEP > Naps

4 wk old stays up all day- help!

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CanadianMum:
Hello- my sweet little 4 week old DD has been on a 3 hour EASY for the last two weeks. Nights are going well- falls asleep around 8:30, up at 12:30, 3:30, and then for the day. In the night she settles down within about 20 minutes of shush patting (mostly in my arms, until she is extremely sleepy and then a few minutes in her crib). The problem I am having is during the day: she eats (BF, about 30 min, counting burping), I change her and sing to her or walk around the house so she can look at things) and then she starts yawning so we swaddle and go upstairs to her room. She then is calm and quiet but I shush pat her for 20-40 minutes while she is in her crib and she never drifts off- she is totally alert. I often get only 10 minutes of sleep in an entire EASY cycle or none! She has gone 3x3 hour cycles in a row without sleeping- yes, 9 hours! She never cries, and will just lay quietly in her bed unless I try to leave and then she starts crying. Help! Should I just keep at it? Or is there another strategy I should try?

jessmum46:
Hi and welcome to the boards :D

Tracy was very much of the mindset of 'start as you mean to go on', but my own feeling is that 'as you mean to go on' can be to work on getting an EAS routine established, rather than trying to achieve everything including independent sleep all at once.  At only 4 weeks she is super-tiny!  And if it were me doing it again I wouldn't even be thinking about crib naps right now, though perhaps trying for one every now and again would be starting to set a good foundation.  From my own experience with my two I found that I had little success with naps in the crib before maybe 8-10 weeks or so - lots of effort for extremely little gain.  I would probably focus more on enjoying and cuddling her :D  And yes try for a crib nap every so often, but try not to stress if it doesn't work out just yet.  If she's not slept in 9 hours then sleep is most definitely more important than how it happens!!  So cuddle/pram/car/sling if needed and think about establishing the order of EAS for now - if you are doing that much you are doing great :D  If you keep the end goal in mind and try perhaps for one nap a day for now where possible, then I suspect in a few short weeks you will find that things fall into place much easier.  You'll never regret the lovely cuddle naps - wish mine would still do it now!!

CanadianMum:
Thank you for responding- your post confirms my gut feeling but I was afraid of training a baby who will only sleep in my arms! Nevertheless I think I'll take your advice and just go with the flow for the next few weeks- getting her to nap however she wants to! And then work on the crib down the road. I'll send an update in a few weeks. Thanks again- this motherhood thing sometimes feels overwhelming and exhausting.

jessmum46:
There are some useful threads in the EASY FAQs about getting started with a newborn and EASY in the early weeks - may be worth a read as lots of useful/practical advice there x

Mommyadel:
I am in the same boat with my little one. He is almost 6 weeks and I was so focused on him sleeping in his crib then quality of sleep. They are so tiny at that age, and do what you can to get her to sleep during the day and the rest will follow I'm sure. My little is doing the 30/45 cat nap so it makes it hard to get anything done around the house. But enjoy the moments, if won't be like this forever

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