My Spirited 6 Week Old has Textbook Issues!

[KellyRobert]

I'm new to posting on this site, but have used a lot of your advice and information the past few weeks, so thank you!  My son, Tristan, has a few issues that I need advice on.  I'm not sure what to tackle first and if I'm even doing things correctly!!!  Let's just say I've had maybe one tear-free day in 6 weeks!  The issues we're struggling with are: 1) 45 min naps, 2) Habitual Waking at 5:30 am 3) Not able to sleep more than 4 hours at night & 4) Starting to habitually wake at 1:30am

1) We have spent a lot of money on babysitters and gotten a lot of favors from family so I can spent over an hour/day in the nursury while my 3 year old is taken care of downstairs!  Pat/shh works for about 2 of 3 daytime naps and I just used the paci for one nap today and that made the transition less stressful (less crying), but it still took 25 min to feel confident to leave the room.  Reading message board however leaves me pretty discouraged.  It sounds like I'll be doing this method until Tristan just outgrows the short-napping.  I was hoping to spend 3 solid weeks being as consistant as possible and maybe spending less time helping Tristan sleep longer.  Is this unrealistic?

2) We have tried Wake to Sleep for the 5:30am just one night.  I spent 3 minutes rousing the baby at 4:30, but Tristan still woke at 5:30.  Should I spend more time "waking" him? 

3) I'll list my EASY schedule below.  Tristan is getting 24-25 oz during the day.  We DF at 10:30 and he has made it to 3am only few times.

4) The 1:30 wake time has happened the last few days.  A few seconds of patting gets him settled for an hour or two, so it doesn't seem like hunger.  We may be rushing in so we're going to hold back tonight.  Any thoughts?

Tristan has been on EASY since day one and goes down for naps well unless overstimulated and then it takes a little more p/s.  He does not used a paci to get down.  But he goes down awake and settles himself well at the beginning of the nap.  Here is a sample of our day.  The short-nap varies, however.

E 7:00 4oz
A7:00-8:05
S 8:05-8:50 (tried to get back to sleep for 45 min, to no avail)

E 9:45 4oz
A 9/9:30-11:00 (not sure when A time started b/c of short nap)
S 11:00-12:45 (spent 30 min resettling at mid-point)

E 1:00 4oz
A12:45-2:05
S 2:05-4:05 (spent 30 min resettling at mid-point used paci for first time)

E 4:05 4oz
A 4:05-5:30
S 5:30-6:15

E 6:15 3oz Cluster (first night doing clustering, was just 4oz feed at 7pm)
E 7:30 2oz Cluster
A 6:15-8:00
S 8:00

E 10:30 4oz
E 2:30 4oz

*Wakes at 5:30 and very difficult getting back to sleep.   Sleeps fitfully on and off until 7am*

I'd love to hear from any one.  As you can see were very committed to EASY and I'd love to have some flexibility back in my life at some point!  Thanks!

[Deb_in_oz]

firstly i woudl say the new 1:30 am waking is the 6 week growth spurtand that is why although you can pat him back to sleep it only lasts and hour or 2.  it will probably be over within a week (average growth spurt is 3-4 days)

you say he is spirited so i will go by my experience with Olivia and can say we were where you are now but worse at 6 weeks (she would skip naps entirely due to us missing her "window" and be awake for 4-5 hours at a time)  that is until 7 weeks old when we went back to basics and i started putting her down to sleep at 45 minutes from waking no matter what - suddenly she started napping.  yes, sometimes she took a while to fall asleep but now it was without crying and battles...at least this way there was no chance of missing her window. and amazingly she woudl yawn often just as i was laying her down in the cot (previously we almost never saw her yawn, she always looked happy and alert and never tired looking so we could wait all day for "cues" that never appeared)

within a few weeks we increased her A time to 1 hr and she stayed there for a long time (i think 4 mo when she jumped to 1hr 15 - 1hr 30) at 5 months she reached 1hr 45 on average.  bottom line is most spirited babies give few tired signs if any and they are usually given too late - by the time they yawn it is often at the overtired stage

i suggest you have a read through the thread on the EASY board called "support for moms of spirited babies"  if you have not already.  there are a lot of tips and commiserating going on.

i know how draining it can be getting a spirited baby napping regularly - i used to be in her room for ages crying myself and praying she would just stay asleep - all while my toddler was lookng for me and would suddenly barge into her room  :roll:  it seems like a million years ago - i do think the key to getting them on track though is shorter A time (they are also often later getting to 4 hour easy due to the shorter naps and A time - we did it at 5 months and some others took even longer)