New mom of a 6-wk old : won't nap!!

[Mimi]

Hi!
I am a new mommy and this is my first time on the board. A friend lent me BW's book at my baby shower and I read it before I gave birth and thought it was great advice. I have been re-reading it over and over since my Emile was born. But now, I have some questions!! Will someone please help me?

Naps and nights
My 6 wk-old son has been on easy since birth. He is on a 3-hr routine, day and night. The shush-pat method works well at night but I've tried it for his naps and it doesn't seem to help. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but he seems to resist going to sleep during the day. I've tried doing it many times for up to an hour and most of the time I just give up and put him in his swing - in which he eventually falls asleep but then he only has about 1/2 hour left before the next feed. I watch his sleepiness cues and start the 4 S as soon as I see the first yawn... could it be too quick? I also try to block out any visual stimulation but it's a bit difficult while holding him and patting his back. Sometimes, he'll just have one nap during the whole day... I know it's not normal and he must be extra-tired. Any advice?

I do 2 cluster feeds (I breastfeed) in the evening plus a df at 11 pm (sometimes 11:30) but he still wakes up every 3 hours (usually 2 am, 5 am and 8 am). BW says a 1-month old would typically wake only once at 4 am and then at 7... I know  all babies are different but it would be nice if I could sleep more than 2 hrs at a time. If I gave him a bottle of formula for his df, does anyone thing he would sleep more? Also, should I still wake him at 7 to start the day?

Pumping milk
I 've had to supplement a bit with formula in the beginning because he had trouble getting back to his birth weight (6 pounds 11 onces) but I usually don't do it anymore. I give him my two breasts each feed because I don't think my supply is sufficient for him to feed on only one side at a time. Also, he usually starts fussing after 8-10 minutes at breast and I thing it's gas but giving him the other breast usually calms him. Then I go back to the first one and so on. If I want to pump milk, when should I do it? I don't really have time to do it between two feeds since I try to put him to sleep for so long and I don't seem to have enough to pump just 1.5 hour after a feed.

Can anyone please help me? Thanks in advance!!

[Deb_in_oz]

congrats and welcome to the boards. i can offer you advice on a few points you mention and hope they help.

1.  you say he is on a 3 hour EASY - at 6 weeks it might be too soon for him... and he may be overtired by the time you are putting him down for naps in the day - how long is he awake for each cycle??  i know that my dd2 rarely yawned when she started getting tired - she usually did it when she was IN the cot and already put down (usually by the time she yawned i had already missed her "window" so the first 8 weeks we had few naps  :cry: )  what i did was (at 7 weeks when i got some help) start putting her in her cot at 45 miin since waking up and 80% of the time this led to a nap with minimal struggle, soon (around 9-10 wks for us) i was able to extend to 1 hour awake time because i got better at learning her cues for when to put down (in her case she got hyper animated - most would think she was happy, but it was accompanied by jerky limbs which is a clear tired sign)... and we built oit up from there over the next 2 months.

2.  he is waking a reasonable amount in the night - some would say you are lucky.  2am is his real night feed.  5am is considered early morning and for some is the start to the day, but usuallu is just a feed and back to bed for almost all babies.  8 am is a morning feed.  in a matter of weeks you will find the 2 am feed will push out to 3-4 am and the 5 am will push out to 6-7am and you will then only have 1 night feed.  you could also find that with the DF he goes through the night (or not!) it is reasonable for a baby to feed 1-2 times a nigt in the first 6 months.  some stop earlier and some actually need 1 night feed for longet than that.

3. i don't recall ever seeing in BW that a 1 month old would only wake once in the night, but remember as you read anything in the books that it is not true for a MAJORITY of babies who fall on either side of "average" - some have to be earlier and some have to be later for there to be an average...KWIM?  the key aim of BW is to get to know YOUR baby so that you can adapt the techniques that Tracy wrote about.  what is your baby's temperament?  you might not have a clear answer yet, but can usually tell a bit by now if he is angel/touchy, etc and then you learn what that type might benefit from (ie - spirited babies will need less stimulation during awake time, fight the swaddle and need a dark room to sleep, etc)

4. if you want 7am to be your start time then do it every day (you could do earlier or later depending on what suits your household). it does help them to develop an internal clock and get the rythms of the day established because if he starts at the same time every day you at least have an idea of when his feed and sleep times will be, allowing for hungrier or sleepier days.

i hope some of that helps you out. it sounds like you are on the right track.

[Meg's Mom]

Deb gave you some excellent advice on naps for your young one!

If you need more help on the other issues, you can also post in the other forums.  But regarding your question for pumping, I too had trouble w/ enough milk and my Lactation Consult recommended that I pump for 10-15min immediately after each feeding. 

Also that I take an herb called Fenugreek - 3 tabs x3s a day (for a couple months)  I read a great deal about this and all feedback was positive.  Only side effect is you smell like maple sweet - your hubby may think your sweet  :wink:

[Mimi]

Hi,

Thanks for all of your advice.
It usually takes Emile 45 minutes to feed so putting him down after 45 min of awake time would leave no time for activities. But I am thinking he is a Spirited one so maybe I was stimulating him too much (15 min to 1/2 hr of activities after feed). Today, I have tried feeding him in his room (contrary to the living room) which is quieter and half way through his feed, I swaddled him and shut the blinds. He didn't fall asleep on the job but was pretty tired. I put him down right after his feed and he's been sleeping a bit more (maybe 1 hr). I might just do that for now so that he gets used to napping and then, as you say, extend slowly his awake time. I'll also try to slow down on the errands with him. Regarding his night sleep, for the past 2 days I've been breastfeeding at 10 pm for the df and adding a little 2 onces of formula right after to make sure he is full. He's been sleeping longer stretches (till 3 am and then at 6 of 7 am). I am thinking of continuing with that.

Meg's mom : thanks for your advice re pumping - I will try that. I am also already taking greekfenu but my husband hasn't said anything about my smelling sweet... I will ask him tonight
 :wink:

[heather10]

Mylene,

If your child has taken bottles before, why not do a yield of your breastmilk just to see how much you ARE producing to put your mind at ease?  It seems you have a little anxiety about how much your are making, and we all do, so why not pump about 15-20 mins before a feed and feed the expressed milk to him.  That will allow you to see how much you are making.  Typically, at this age, they drink about 4 ounces.  I will bet you are making enough!