Author Topic: EASY for 6 week baby  (Read 2954 times)

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Offline Jojo290615

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EASY for 6 week baby
« on: January 04, 2018, 22:43:02 pm »
Hi
Can anyone help me with a EASY routine for my 4 week baby? I’m a great fan of the baby whisperer techniques and it worked wonders on my son who is now 2,5. We started later with DS so wondering if it’s possible at 4 weeks?

This is what our day looked like yesterday

E: 8:00. 115 ml
A change diaper , wash and some activity on playmat.
S 9:15 swaddled and put down drowsy ( was very proud ha ha )
E 11:15 . 100ml
A : change diaper some cuddles and activity on play-mat
S: 12:15 swaddled put down drowsy .. ( couldn’t believe it happened 2nd time )
E: 14:30 :100ml
A same as above
S 16:15 , difficult to put down
E: 17:30 but woke up at 17:10 woke while we were eating with toddler so we had to leave her to fuss a few minutes. 100ml
A bath pjs cuddles etc
E: 18:15 cluster feed? 40ml
S 18:35
E: 22:00 dream feed 100ml
A none
S 22:30
E:2:45 woke alone 120ml
A none
S: 4:15 .. fussy and restless .. wind?

So I think most of the afternoon is good .. except when she stays awake 2 hours! And also at night !

Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
What exactly is a cluster feed .. I ff her so how much should she have ?

We always change diaper half way through a feed .. then put her pjs on at the end. She gets a bit sleeoy half way though ! We don’t rake pjs off at night though if we can help it.

Thanks !!!

Little update for today... today was all over the place.. she didn’t want to be put down .. and was wide awake! So wanted to snack a lot ! The night feeds were better and she went back to sleep quite quick but always seems a bit fussy from the night feed until the morning feed
« Last Edit: January 15, 2018, 11:46:57 am by Jojo290615 »

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Re: EASY for 4 week baby and wide awake after night feeds
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2018, 09:27:11 am »
Jojo wrote:
Quote (selected)
Our LG is now 5 weeks .. things have g changed much. Sometimes we are able to stick to the routine but a lot of times she wakes up in the evening and wants to cluster feed .. and is very much awake but could also be overtired !
Right now she pretty much wants to be in our arms...
next week hubby goes back to work, and I will be taking my little boy to daycare 9am to 3pm. We walk there with the pram so don’t have to worry about taking her in and out car seat etc ..

Would be grateful for some guidance regarding being awake in the evenings .. and if I should keep her awake late afternoon?
Maybe she is a bit young for self soothing ... right now we rock her in our arms. And she wakes up sometimes after 20 mins
This morning I have put her in her pram and I’m juggling it a little so I don’t have the issues of putting her down and her waking. It seems to be working .. she woke up after 20 mins and I jiggled the pram a bit and she resettled.


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Re: EASY for 4 week baby and wide awake after night feeds
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2018, 09:58:40 am »
HI there
Sorry you had to wait for a reply.  As I said via PM I've been away due to ill health and the forum system seemed to have an error yesterday.

We started later with DS so wondering if it’s possible at 4 weeks?
I also started at 4 wks. Well, my DS was 4.5 wks when I read BW book and I tried to implement the routine right away, we gradually moved from 2hr feeds to 3hr feeds, gently. I had also been trying to gently introduce independent sleep since birth although I was using Harvey Karp's methods as I hadn't discovered BW yet - Karp's methods work well alongside BW anyway and a few here have used those methods with very young babies.
So - yes I really do think you can start at this age but just take into account how tiny your baby is, she needs lots of help, lots of cuddles and bonding (independent sleep and confidence comes from the strong bond with you so never feel bad about giving extra help or if she needs some in-arms naps) and it will take time.  I think you already know that.  With no other child to care for I was able to put all my time and attention into my DS and his sleep and I'd say he was sleeping independently from 8 ish weeks.  He still needed help if UT/OT/ill/teething etc of course.

S 9:15 swaddled and put down drowsy ( was very proud ha ha )
E 11:15 . 100ml
A : change diaper some cuddles and activity on play-mat
S: 12:15 swaddled put down drowsy .. ( couldn’t believe it happened 2nd time )
This is brilliant!! Don't worry if it doesn't work every single nap, you'll get there.

right now we rock her in our arms. And she wakes up sometimes after 20 mins
This morning I have put her in her pram and I’m juggling it a little so I don’t have the issues of putting her down and her waking. It seems to be working .. she woke up after 20 mins and I jiggled the pram a bit and she resettled
I actually think jiggling in the pram is a good approach. I know jiggling isn't really the BW way but if you stay alert whilst doing it you can reduce and reduce in the same way that patting is reduced with the shush/pat method and not necessarily become a slave to rocking a pram for 2hrs straight to keep LO asleep.  I think if you keep your goal in mind and follow the BW principles (always respect and support but reduce the jiggling/patting when you can, gradually and gently teach her to sleep alone and with the confidence you will always return when needed) this is likely to be the best way forward for you taking into account that you will need her to be happy to sleep in the4 pram for the school runs.  Just bare in mind babies like their day to be predictable. if you give her pram naps during the week for the school run she may well expect that to also be the case at the weekend rather than going down in her cot.

right now we rock her in our arms. And she wakes up sometimes after 20 mins
You could try an adapted shush/pat where instead of rocking in arms and then putting her down and leaving her (and then she wakes) you could rock in arms to drowsy, put down and put a firm hand on her and jiggle her a bit, producing a similar movement to benign in the pram.  Initially you may need to continue into deep sleep (past 20 mins) but you might also find you can resettle with a firm hand and jiggle in the cot instead of picking up - of course if she needs picking up then do that.

With cluster feeds - Tracy did give some guidance times which I'd need to look up (there is probably a FAQ on the formula feeding board) but I think you can basically follow LO's lead on this. If she wants to feed more frequently in the late afternoon it's fine.  One thing I always did was feed after the last nap and then feed again at BT even if this was only 1hr after the last feed. This could be classed as a cluster.
Very many babies are awake and active in the early evening, that's what's called "the witching hour" it can be exhausting and worrying as a parent but it's very normal so try not to get too stressed out by it.  Try for a nap or CN after her normal A time length but if she is totally resistant maybe on;y try for 30-40 mins rather than hours. Get her up have a bit of A and some milk and try again later.

There's this info about cluster feeding in the bottle feeding FAQ section :
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=54662.msg517037#msg517037


Offline Jojo290615

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Re: EASY for 4 week baby and wide awake after night feeds
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2018, 14:55:26 pm »
Thanks creations! Just a few questions.

Regarding the 3 hour routine. Our little girl will pretty much wake every 3 hours for a feed.. but doesn’t get much A time as she tends to fall asleep quite fast afterwards while I’m burping her on my shoulder.. she is more awake in the morning.

Sometimes only 40 minutes after eating, changing burping etc she falls asleep
My feeling is to let her sleep and she will gradually get used to more A time .. what do you think ?

Regarding your comment regarding being consistent during the weekend with the pram .. not sure this will always be possiblr .. if I’m alone with my little boy.. and she won’t settle I’ll have to use the baby carrier so I can have free hands .. or she might have to sleep in the swing.
Would this have a big effect ? I’m hoping to use the pram as much as possible , we will be going to the swings and so on with DS1 ..  also when she is a bit older she will be sleeping in the pram outside on the terrease .. I live in Sweden and this is very common as we believe it’s good for babies to sleep in the cold (( wrapped up of course)
I also love the practicality of sleeping in the pram .. my Ds would sleep in his pram in the evenings when we were on holiday so we could eat out .. I guess that’s over now hahahahaha !
xx

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Re: EASY for 4 week baby and wide awake after night feeds
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2018, 14:36:11 pm »
Sometimes only 40 minutes after eating, changing burping etc she falls asleep
My feeling is to let her sleep and she will gradually get used to more A time .. what do you think ?
Count the A time from when LO wakes up, so it includes how long it takes to eat as well as burp, change nappy, play (not that she will do a great deal at this age) and also the wind down.  As young babies often only stay awake an hour or so this is mostly taken up with eating and the wind down for the next nap.



Offline Jojo290615

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Re: EASY for 4 week baby and wide awake after night feeds
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2018, 11:46:11 am »
Thanks for your reply!
Having some different issues now haha!

Last couple of days .. wake up has been around 6.. we are funding it very difficult to settle her after her A time, we go on an hour A time She isn’t crying, we try rocking her, she just lays there eyeballing is hehe! She will probably sleep 30 mins then wake up again.
Same for her 9 am routine.
This morning our easy looked like this
E:6
A:
S: 6:45.. woke up 7:20 when I put her down. Didn’t have time to resettle as my little boy called and had to he him ready for daycare. I tried to leave her in her bed a bit longer .. but she fussed.
E: 9:15 after daycare drop off
A
S: 11:00!! I tried to put her down drowsy in her pram. Jiggled for a good 20 mins but she was wide awake!! Rocked her in my arms until 11:00!

Just had to wake her at 12:15 for her bottle .. only took around 50ml and fell asleep within 30 minutes :(



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Re: EASY for 6 week baby
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2018, 18:54:27 pm »
She might do better if you aim for more like 1hr 15 A time now rather than the hour.  Maybe see how that goes?
If it takes a long time to get her to sleep and then she is sleeping well I probably owuldn't wake her for the feed but let her sleep a bit longer.  Healthy babies will wake if they are hungry and might prioritise sleep over food if they are tired so you don't need to wake her, just adjust the next EAS cycle.


Offline Jojo290615

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Re: EASY for 6 week baby
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2018, 19:25:59 pm »
Hi creations

Thanks for your your reply.

LO is now 8 weeks and although I can see a bit of a pattern, I could really need some advice for naps bedtime and self settling.

The easy routine is more or less the same as I wrote above.
But I have great problems settling her in the morning for her first nap, the other naps I go out with her in the pram and she sleeps instantly.

The first nap is a tough one because I have my little boy to get ready for daycare and make breakfast for.
I normally give her a bottle around 6:00 and then my little boy gets up just after 7. So I try to settle her before that , sometimes it. Works but most of the time it doesn’t. So i pop her in her bouncer while I get big brother ready ( he is 2,5) she is pretty cranky around 8.. when we have breakfast so normally I’m bouncing the bouncer with my foot and she will drift off... maybe for 20- 30 mins and then i put her in her pram at 8:45 for daycare drop off. And she will then sleep until 9:30. She has her bottle just after.
I’ll then go for a walk with her in the pram around 10:30 for just over an hour and she will sleep mostly until 14:00. I have noticed she will always go into a light sleep after 30 minutes then again after another 30 mins. That why I go for over an hour:)
She then has her bottle just after 14:00. I change her, “play” time then I get her ready to pick up DS1. She will then have another nap in the pram while I take DS1 to the swings. We come home around 16:30.
Most of the time she will wake up straight away or if not around 17:00.. she then has her bottle. We have diner and she will sit happily in her bouncer next to us.. staring most of the time at her big brother haha!
I have noticed that in the evening she starts getting sleepy around 5:45-6 so I aim for the bedtime around then.
I take her into big brothers room which will also be hers in 4 months:) everything is calm and dim, I change her, give her a wish and get her into her pjs. She will then have a little top up bottle. And then she falls asleep by me rocking her.
Now here is the dilemma .. as she only goes into a deep sleep after an hour, I hold her during an hour and transition her through every 30 mins.
She sleeps next to us in her nest on the couch until around 10:30 , where she will have her dreamfeed... and then sleep until around 1:30- 2:00. Sometimes she is difficult to settle after that night feed. :( she then wakes up around 5:30.. where I can kind of settle her with her pacifier until around 6:00.

Can you advise me on what I can do better?

I think it would be nice if she could go to her bed in the evenings in our room. The bedroom isn’t far from the living room
I tried it once but it was very exhausting and she got over tired :(

Is she too young to self settle ? How can I teach her ? I’m guessing I need to work on one nap at a time ?

I also have a trouble sometimes when she falls asleep straight after her bottle.

Thank you :)

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Re: EASY for 6 week baby
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2018, 22:04:56 pm »
Have you thought about maybe trying to shift her morning WU until more like 7.30am so that her A time is 1hr 15 and she is due a nap as you set out on the daycare run?  You might be able to switch her routine around so that instead of putting her down for night sleep at 6pm you do your normal nap routine at that time followed by an A time and do night sleep at more like 8pm.  this offers 11.5hr night sleep which is about what she's doing if she is waking at 5.30am.  Something to consider maybe?

around 10:30 for just over an hour and she will sleep mostly until 14:00
is this a 3.5hr nap??  That's really long.  I wonder if this is too long and disrupting your day?  Is she going 4.5hrs between feeds here?

I think it would be nice if she could go to her bed in the evenings in our room. The bedroom isn’t far from the living room
I tried it once but it was very exhausting and she got over tired
It might sound like an attractive idea to get her into her cot for the night but if it is difficult it's because she is young and happier close by you.  It is safer for babies under 6 months to sleep in the same room where their parents and carers are anyway so don't beat yourself up that you can't get her into the bedroom.  I had planned to have mine do the first half of his night sleep in the family room up to 6 months but my DS had not read the SIDS guidance and at 10 wks refused to sleep in the family room and I ended up letting him go to his night bed instead of using the travel cot.

Is she too young to self settle ? How can I teach her ? I’m guessing I need to work on one nap at a time ?
She is still very young, yes.  It isn't so much that she is too young to learn but the learning at this age is a gradual process and takes a lot of time.
Yes you can do one nap per day, understanding that the entire sleep training process will take longer (but there are benefits too - getting out and about, holding her or sling naps builds the bond etc).
For how to teach her, it is the basic shush/pat method where you give as much help as needed and no more, gently reducing and weaning the need to be patted or touched. I'm assuming you are familiar with it.


Offline Jojo290615

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Re: EASY for 6 week baby
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2018, 10:38:07 am »
Thanks creations!
Lo is now 3 months. We are getting there with the EASY routine, but struggling with self soothing, naps and bedtime.
I’ll post a thread in the general sleep issues. Maybe more appropriate there.