Is it too late?

[Jadzia's mom]

I have a three and a half week old who was delivered by C-Section two and a half weeks before her due date because of some health problems I was having.  I think because of being early, she has been really, really sleepy and was having some problems with inadequate weight gain so I have been demand feeding and letting her sleep with me at night so she could eat a lot and grow. 

At her last weight check she had gained enough so I want to start getting her on a more structured routine.  However, she has already slipped into some habits, like wanting to be held when she takes her naps, needing to be nursed to go to sleep, and waking frequently (every hour) at night to nurse.  I really want to start getting her on EASY, but am so discouraged by the fact that she's so unstructured right now that I can't help but wonder if it's already too late.  I did the attachment parenting thing with my older two children (family bed, baby wearing, demand feeding) but I was a lot younger then and still found it exhausting and disruptive.  I feel life will be easier with my newest if I can get her on EASY--is there hope? 

[Noelle]

It is not too late     I would start with watching when she feeds...I would feed her every 2-3 hours, with the feeds hopefully being right after she wakes from a nap.  EASY helps avoid overfeeding and feeding to sleep and promotes a routine, allowing you to read cues much better. At her age it is recommended putting the baby down awake and doing pat/sshh if need be to put to sleep.  If you want to start independent sleep at this age, I'll be honest and let you know it can be quite challenging and time consuming.  But the outcome is great     You can also start independent sleep after you get her on a 2-3 hr routine by taking her off the breast more awake each time.  IF she is sleeping right now when you take her off, for the next two days take her off when she is almost asleep, and continue to take her off when she is more awake until eventually she goes down awake.  If you don't have tracy's 3rd book, I HIGHLY recommend it.  It has a lot of the same scenarios that you have mentioned and how she recommends "fixing" it.