sleep cues

[doodle]

I am having some trouble with my 8 week old son's sleep cues. I'm not sure when to act on them and start putting him down.  Sometimes I will feed him and he will play for only a short while (15 minutes) and then I see a yawn.  Is that when I start the process or do I wait a while after that?  The book says when you see a sign act on it right away and I want to do that but it also says don't start too early.  I usually do start on the first yawn but then I'm concerned with the schedule.  If he is on 3 hour EASY and he eats at 7 am until 7:30 then he plays until 7:45 and then he takes an 1 1/2 hour nap (if I can get him to!) then he is up again and it's only 9:15.  There is still 45 minutes before the next feed.  What do I do? Should I let him play in his crib before I feed him (if he lets me and isn't crying)  I am scared to stretch the activity too long if he is already yawning for fear that I will make him overtired or overstimulated.

We are also having a hard time with short naps.  I am trying the "wake to sleep" but have just started (I'm new at this!) and it isn't working so far.  I am not giving up but I wanted to know if your baby wakes up can you take them back out of the crib, reswaddle and sit with him until he is back asleep?  Or is this starting a dangerous habit?  I am also reluctant to do the shush pat because he has reflux (unles there is a different version that doesn't include the pat).

One last question.  My son gets very upset when we swaddle him.  He cries for a while and then settles down to sleep.  Is this normal?

Any help with my problems would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you!!

[jade's mum]

Hi there

I'm no expert but I experienced a similar situation when my lo was 8 weeks old.

She would take 1/2 hr to feed and then 15mins later I'd see the yawn, so I'd start the wind down process and put her to bed then to ensure she didn't get overtired. If she didn't stay asleep till the next feed cycle, I'd give her some quiet activity time until the next feed. And during that quiet activity time, if she started yawing again, I'd try to put her to bed again to get a little more sleep before the next feed.

my lo also hated being swaddled, and even does so now... she will fight the swaddling but then calms down as we are doing our wind down process. I personally find that she sleeps much better being swaddled. The times where she gets her arms out of her swaddle, they move around too much and she gets distracted by them!

With the short naps, you may want to check out some of the previous posts and stickys in the nap section, there's a whole heap of useful tips and techniques there.

HTH and good luck!

 

[doodle]

Hi there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out.  Not only am I a new mom I have never been on a message board before!  My life if just full of firsts! 
Has your sleep tactic worked?  Does your daughter sleep longer now for naps or is she still waking and then going to sleep later?
It's funny because this morning my son woke at 7 and had almost a full bottle, went down at 8 and slept until 10!  He is making a liar out of me! tee hee :lol:   I'm just glad he is getting some rest becasue we had a nightmare day yesterday! :cry:

Thanks again!
Robbin[/img]