Help please - new to Easy 7 week old baby

[ShelleyE]

Hello there!

Im Shelley, mum to Ebony who will be seven weeks tomorrow.  I wondered if anyone could help as I really do not understand where we are going wrong with our little girl.

to put you in the picture from when Ebony was approx 1 week old we started with the Gina Ford Contented Baby routine.  Ebony is not an easy baby to wake by any stretch and this really did us all no favours at all as she wouldn't feed properly and I started feeling as though it was my fault she wouldn't adhere to the routine 

We stopped this at the end of week 2 and basically went back to demand feeding to see what kind of a schedule she put herself onto which effect turned out to be feeding every 4-4.5 hours.  I must add here that we always stuck to a 10pm feed and she has only ever woken us once in the night for feeding which now is at roughly 4am.  She is a breastfed baby who has expressed milk twice per day - at 10.30am and 10pm (unless she wakes before).

I read Tracys book a while ago and at 3 weeks we started to implement the EASY routine whilst still remaining flexible - I have discovered that our baby is easily overstimulated but will not necessarily go to sleep when indicating that she is tired.  Our real dilema comes at tea time.  She wakes around 4.30 - 5.30 pm dependent (I don't let her go any longer than 3.5 hours between feeds as Tracy suggests 2.5-3 but I know her own clock is on 4-4.5 hour schedule).  I have to feed her something before her bath otherwise she screams for food and won't benefit from the bath.  We then have a bath, massage cream into her skin very gently and as quickly as possible which she seems to like, have rest of feed, wind, cuddles and I very quietly whisper her a story or humm a lullbye.  Its all very calm and quiet and in dimmed light.  By this time she is normally giving of signals that she is sleepy - yawning and snuggling in, eyes starting to close.  I tell her that i am going to put her down for her nap and that next time she wakes she'll see daddy and then, as she is falling into 2nd/3rd stage of sleep leave the room.  10 minutes later she will be screaming the place down and wonlt be comforted for ages.  When finally she is pacified the whole thing starts again, starts falling asleep, I put her down, leave room etc until its an hour - an hour and a half later and she needs another couple of ounces of milk which I then bottle feed her.  Same thing starts all over again and unfortunately we seem to be ending up running into her 10 pm feed with no break or let up. 

I must add that this is the only time of the day this happens - anyother time she tends to settle well and with mininal fuss. I just do not understand and her body language is all over the place indicating sleepiness, wind and hunger combined with overtired. I just donlt know how to break this cycle or what to do any advice would be greatly welcomed as we are finding it very hard.

Thanks

[hollybush]

Hello!!

I have a 7 week old too so am no expert but would like to ask you if this is something that happens every night like clockwork? If so maybe its a touch of colic?? If its now and again then I would say relax! My bab feeds every 4 hours maybe 3 sometimes, but doesnt always nap on schedule during the day and early pm (i.e tonight she hasnt slept from her 7pm feed right through to now- 10.30pm!)...BUT..she is keeping to the late-night sleep i.e 11.30-12pm - 5am (stirring but no feed till 7am -pacify with dummy) so for me thats whats important so if she doesnt always do a great day nap I dont worry.

Hope it sorts itself out and hope Ive not been stated the obvious to you and been of some help!

keep shining
Holly and Talulahxxxxxxxxxxx

[Kimberly®]

My DD did the same thing untill I started putting her to bed earlier and shortening the wind down.
Can you send me an outline of your routine? do you bottle or breastfeed?

[ShelleyE]

Hi Karita and Hollybush, thanks for your replies.
Karita, a general day would go something like this - sorry in advance its quite long....

7am ish breastFeed, Wind, Change, top and tail, Short play with fisher price mix and match blocks
8.15 ish Wind down, cuddles lullabye, Put down for sleep
10.30 (if not woken previously I wake her) expressed bottle Feed, Wind, Change, Short play on baby gym or playing this little piggy - nothing too strenuous
11.30 ish Wind down, cuddles, place in pram or carseat or sling or cot dependent upon what I have to do at this time as know she'll be ok for a couple of hours as I have seen how much milk she has taken.  May go out shopping, to park, walk dog or nothing.  Sometimes she sleeps, sometimes she doesn't despite all the indicators, she likes to look around at things but generally is not fractious at all
1.30-2pm ish breastfeed, wind, change.
2.15ish she likes at this stage to have long cuddles it seems and despite appearances of being asleep is actually only dozing - generally in her cot about half an hour or so after this.  My friend describes this as my baby "putting her feet up and having a cup of tea" - she doesn't want to play but she doesn't want to sleep
5-5.30ish short breastfeed, wind, bath, massage, dressed for bed, nursery dimmed lights, rest of breastfeed, wind short story or if indicating tiredness lullaby.  Gets sleepy during cuddles, put down all hell breaks loose! start again.  if she does go down, its about half six/seven and she'll generally sleep through until woken for her 10pm feed
7ish if not settled, couple ounces bottle feed, start over again
9ish if not settles couple ounces bottle feed, start over again
10.30ish rest of bottle feed, sometimes sleeping while feeding normally tends to go down ok
4am ish (when she wakes) quick change,very short feed -maybe 5-10 mins - cuddles to wind, straight back down  maybe takes half an hour tops?

Should I be taking notice of her yawning on waking?  I have generally been ignoring this as we all tend to do this very soon after waking and have put it down to this - only going with the yawns that commence after a feed. maybe a bath is too much for her at this stage although i would dearly love her to be in this routine early on and she loves her bath.  She will also go into her cot and look about a bit (eyes seem to ping open as soon as I put her down as if by magic) maybe fuss a bit but I leave her to it and within half an hour she is normally zonked.