6 week old on easy but cat napping!! At wits end someone please help!

[Mommyadel]

My little one is about to turn 6 weeks, the last 2 weeks have been terrible as far as daytime naps go. His nighttime sleep is great, he settles around 8/9pm each night df at 10 and he will wake around 3/4 for a feed and then up at 6/7 for the day.
Daytime naps are a battle, I try to watch for his cues and see when he first yawns and try to put him down and then try to settle him. Sometimes it's 45 mins after he awakes. Sometimes it's longer, I really try for the 45 min mark. Today has been terrible, is seems he will only get good sleep if he is on me or in the carrier. He will go from happy and cooing to crying in 2 seconds he just switches it on. I know at that point he needs a nap and is most likely ot. How can I curb this? Should I try to put him down earlier? I know for his awake time it should be no longer then 45 mins. But sometimes he just won't settle until 1hr or 1:30.
Any suggestions? Today has been extra hard and I've been basically in and out of his room all day trying to get a decent nap!! Please help!!

[Katet]

Probably not what you really want to hear but... that sounds pretty fantastic for 6 weeks.

The first 3 months are often called the 4th trimester & it's not uncommon for babies to sleep much better when they have body to body contact & movement.

I found for my own sanity (second time around where I had learnt from first time) it was better to put all my energy into making sure bedtime was done the way I wanted & one nap in the daytime was in the crib, other than that I just did what would give the best nap in the situation... carrier, stroller or car. 

So much changes in the first year of life so it's important to not get to caught up on the small stuff that adds to the extra anxiety.

My first was "spirited grumpy" which meant he didn't follow ANY textbook patterns, while my younger was far more textbook, but he was/is very Low sleep need, so once again didn't conform to textbook patterns & I've realised its helped long term (esp now with a teenager) to change my natural routine following tendency & be much more able to roll with the punches.

Funny as it sounds, often letting go of the need to have a 'decent' nap is the time that the decent naps come about. Young babies really pick up on our energy & the more they feel our frustration & anxiety the less settled they become. - I learnt that the hard way!

[creations]

Hi there
At 6 weeks the guidance A time is more like 1hr to 1hr 15 and likely closer to the 1hr 15 end so it could be that you are trying to get him down a bit too quickly rather than not quickly enough. It does depend how you are counting the A time though. In the books A time on the guidance routines starts after E but on the forums we count it from the moment LO is awake to the moment LO is asleep as babies take different lengths of time to eat.
Could the sudden crying be something else perhaps? Some wind maybe?

It does take a lot of time and effort in the early days though, try not to expect too much and if it's driving you crazy spending all day in and out of LOs room it might be easier to have a nap or two nearer you or on you.