confussed at 6 weeks

[Sylvia.]

today i took dd2 to visit the health nurse for check up, as i have been have real problems putting her down for a nap in the mornings i ask her about it, she said that dd2 could stay up for 75/90 minutes, that seems way long,

the mornings are not going to good for us at the moment and i am really feeling the pressure, i have so many questions

here is our day yesterday lets include the evening and night before as i feel it is relevent, maybe

8pm dd woke, bf, nappy, straight back to sleep 

10.30 dd woke, bf, no nappy, straight back to sleep

1.40 dd woke, bf, nappy, straight back to sleep 

4.30 dd woke, bf, no nappy, straight back to sleep 

7.15 dd woke, bf, no nappy, straight back to sleep - not sure i should have done this, i was so tired

8.40 dd woke, bf, nappy, activity, tried to put dd down at 9.15, no luck, 10.10 big poo, bf again , still no luck 12.00 bf again  , straight to sleep

3.00 dd woke, bf, nappy, straight back to sleeps

6.00 dd woke, bf, nappy, straight back to sleep

8.30 dd woke, bf, nappy, tried to put her down at 9ish, shh/pat, pu ...... asleep by 10.30 ish

11.10 dd woke, bf, no nappy, straight back to sleep

2.50 dd woke, bf, nappy, straight back to sleep

5.35 dd woke, bf, no nappy, straight back to sleep

7.55 dd woke, bf, nappy, tried to put dd back down at 8.30ish, heaps of shh/pat, pu, tears from me, feed again at 10.15 into pram as she had to go for check up, straight to sleep, has been in the pram since then with one waking by nurse, shh/pat in arms, sleep, it is nearly 3 hours so i will wake her

i may be doing the 4s wrong or the shh/pat, i feel very uncomfortable with the shh/pat, when i am holding dd after screaming ... she calms down say 7/8 minutes and then starts to close her eyes, 1. is this the point i put her in the cot? 2. do i start shh/pat straight away? or wait until she needs me? do i let her cry at all? what i mean give her time to settle herself? 3. when do i stop shh/pat? when she is quiet? or when her eyes close? or minutes after her eyes close?

so sorry about all these question, so exhausted already, feeling so alone with this, so i have to do shh/pat forever, like until she is 6-9 months old, or could she learn this sleep quicker, dd1 never had many sleep issues, this is all so new to me, and by the way when i try to do shh/pat i have to wrap dd many many time, she is kicking her legs around also

thanks so very much if you got to the end of this

[Katet]

Hugs it is hard in the early weeks with the 'juggle' of 2
I am no expert on naps but I would have though 60-75 mins was the norm at 6weeks old
Also with my ds#2 I had heaps of problems at one stage with the first wakeup - to nap timing... after struggling with it for days, I worked out he was awake LONG before he made any noise so I then had to work "backwards" & try to work out when to put him down for the first nap... it worked out to be after abut 5 mins activity... he was a bit older at the time. but I just wondered if that might help

[Sylvia.]

thanks for your reply, where do you go to find what the activity time is at a certain age?

also after struggling for so long with dd this morning, when i woke her at three hours she fed well i did a nappy and she went straight back to sleep, that means she was only awake for 20 minutes, so can the morning activity times be long and the later activity times short?

yes i wondered about this, i will have to get up earlier, as if, dh will have to do it, and watch her, she is in our room, i would have thought i would have heard her, good idea well worth the investigation, gee this is hard, not sure if i can do another day like the last couple and it is only monday so many days until dh is home for a day

[Katet]

I have a guide that I got from Karitane (one of 2 NSW sleep help & "schools")
Here is a link to their guides for 'awake time'
http://www.swsahs.nsw.gov.au/karitane/images/sleep_guide_0_6months.pdf

[Sylvia.]

thanks again, if dd is awake for ... if the up time is 1-1.5 hours and the down time is 2.5-3 hous how does that fit into a three hour cycle, boy am i confussed and tired

[Katet]

Karitane work more on the 4hour cycles  ... I'd work on sleep for 1.5-2 hours for a 3 hour cycle... although I admit with ds#2 because ds#1 was on a good routine, I kind of did 2 x catnaps in the am 2.5-3hour nap when ds#1 napped & then catnap in the pm... that was what worked for me