4 week old - 3 hour EASY so hard!

[Millie2]

My son is four weeks old tomorrow and although I've tried to implement EASY from day one its still not working!  I think my biggest problem is how long it takes to get him to sleep.  For example this morning he woke at 7.20, I fed him and dressed him and he then sat for awhile in his bouncer.  At 8.15 he was showing sleepy signs (yawning and a bit grizzly) so I took him to his room, swaddled him, shut the curtains, cuddled him and then put him into his cot at 8.25.  He was completely quiet but had his eyes wide open so I patted him for a few minutes and then left him as he was so quiet that I figured he would just drop off.  Not so - by 9.03am he was still awake.  He was quiet pretty much all this time, just let out the occasional cry and would then stop again.  I decided to go and have a shower even though I'd rather wait till he's asleep and by the time I checked again (9.17) he was asleep. 

Now to keep on a three hour EASY I need to wake him at 10.30ish because I know he won't wake up himself until about 11.30 but I also know from experience that if I do wake him he's not going to feed very well because he is so sleepy still.  So what do I do?  He is problematic at night (wakes at 12am to feed but is up for at least an hour and then wakes at 3 or 4am and is up for at least 1.5 to 2 hours!!) so I need to get his days right.  I'm just getting very desperate to sort this little man out as its stressing both me and my husband out which is of course having a negative effect on our relationship and on our 21 month old daughter.

[rebecaq]

hi Millie,

Welcome to BW and congratulations on your new baby!

For now, don't worry about EASY to much. It's good that you're going through the motions to get yourself used to it. But a baby as young as 4 weeks will pretty much eat and sleep all day and night.  They don't really get it until 6 weeks of age. So just roll with it for now and try to not nurse him to sleep. I used to bf and then do a diaper change which was basically his activity and he was ready for bed again.

It's normal he's made the day/night switch. When he wakes at night remember to keep the lights as low as possible. Not to diaper until it's totally necessary, no eye contact nor speaking out loud. It will take a few days for him to get it, but he will.

Hang in there hun, It will get better 

- Beca

[* Paula *]

Hi Millie,

I agree with Beca, at such a young age, you are not looking to implement easy as such, but to just get them used to E A S times etc.

Keep on going as you are and things will slowly start to fall into place.