Author Topic: How do you keep them awake?  (Read 1709 times)

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Offline evan's mom

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How do you keep them awake?
« on: August 15, 2006, 22:21:33 pm »
My son is 6 weeks old.  After certain feedings it is absolutely impossible for me to keep him awake.  I am trying to be extremely consistent with EASY, but this is stressing me out.  There is no nice way to keep him up.  I've tried everything that Tracy suggests.  I don't want to torture the poor kid and just make him cry and that's what happens.  Any ideas?

Offline Erin M

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2006, 00:07:04 am »
Hi!
Congrats on your new baby!
First off, DON'T stress (easier said than done I know).
Remember that the whole purpose of EASY is to make your life easier and it is designed to be a flexible routine, not a set in stone schedule.
Have you ever seen this post?
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=1993.0
I found it very helpful in the beginning when getting started.  At 6 weeks, if he needs to sleep, he's going to sleep and there's just not a whole lot you can do about it.  The longer awake times will come as he gets older.  Enjoy your time with him, it goes so fast!

Offline EmMUK74

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2006, 12:52:07 pm »
as Erin said, try not to stress.  I remember being really worried about getting Rachel into a routine when she was about 6 weeks and it was almost impossible to do a pure EASY because she wanted to sleep for big chunks of the day.  but then I realised that she was happy and that EASY should make our lives easier together so I relaxed and let her do ESASY if she wanted that or EAESY if she was in the middle of a major growth spurt.  the great news though is that by 3 months she was on a very easy EASY and still now at 1 year it works like a dream for us.

good luck and loads of congrats
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Offline Mum-of-Two

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2006, 02:28:37 am »
I started EASY from practically day one and remembered what a friend told me, even if its just a diaper change so long as baby is awake for a bit after eating, consider that A time.  After awhile, the pattern started to open up into something more typical.  Sounds like you're doing just fine, keep with it!


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Offline GG

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2006, 02:36:36 am »
I agree that A time could simply be a diaper change. Sounds like your lo needs a lot of sleep. I would suggest going with that until you notice that he can stay up longer.

Like Erin said, don't stress! It goes against what EASY is all about!
Georgia, mom to 3 sweet babes: touchy Foti, spirited Lena & not-so-tiny Joanna




Offline Sylvia.

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2006, 02:40:44 am »
it's hard isn't it, my dd is some weeks older and there is no way she can stay awake longer that 75 minutes sometimes even much less, your lo will wake up more soon, enjoy this precious time

Offline GG

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2006, 02:57:55 am »
Hey, 75 min is pretty decent. If dd (2.5 months old) can stay up an hour, it's party time.
Georgia, mom to 3 sweet babes: touchy Foti, spirited Lena & not-so-tiny Joanna




Offline skibbit

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #7 on: August 23, 2006, 07:25:35 am »
our baby is 8 moonths old today and can only stay up 45 min to 1.5 hours at max still!! just ENJOY the sleeping!! I MEAN IT! i have learned this and rejoice in the fact that he sleeps more than other babys! also, at 3 months old he was on a very consistant easy and all the work paid off big time! be gratefull and try this... whenb he falls asleap when you get done changing a daiper, or if your playing with him and he falls asleap in your arms, take 10 or 15 min or so to stare at the lovely litlle person you have just made. it keeps your thoughts off of stress and brings you to tears. you are a lucky mom and be proud you have a little one sleeping! :)  this will also help becasue when my baby was that young i did that sometimes and now that hes older i can still look back and know that he really WAS that little. sometimes i still go into his room when hes asleep at night (now that he doesnt wake when i pick him up at night becasue hes older, so dont do this yet) i go into his room at night and pick him up and hold him and rock him and hum and stare at him and put him down after a few min. becasue he wont stay still anymore during the day to cuddle. this will keep the goal in mind. enjoy what you can, dont stress over the baby, use him or her to DESTRESS and remember it will be over soon, and its a roputine, not schedual. and when you get it down it will change! :) good luck.
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Offline MackMum

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Re: How do you keep them awake?
« Reply #8 on: September 03, 2006, 21:45:49 pm »
Don't worry - babies vary quite a bit in their ability to stay awake. My DS (now 4.5mo) cant seem to handle as much awake time as many babies his age. 1.5hrs usually - and that can be a bit of an effort sometimes. Even at 3mo he could only handle 50mins before he started to fuss - definitely no longer than 1hr. I used to worry a lot about it and sometimes it frustrated me cos it made EASY harder (he was a 45min napper), but they are continually changing and these things sort themselves out in time.

So don't worry about your sleepy baby. So long as there are just a couple of minutes awake between the feed and being put into bed (e.g. nappy change) then you won't have to worry that they are making the association of needing a feed to get to sleep. It wont be long before your wee one becomes much more alert and you won't have to work so hard to keep him awake.
Anna