Nap time

[twinsisters]

I have a 4 wk old who does not take very good naps during the day. He usually falls asleep during his feeding (has from day 1) so therefore I have a hard time keeping him awake. Then when I try to put him down for his nap he fights sleep REALLY bad!! I really don't think I overstimulate him but maybe I'm the cause of this. I have also tried the shush pat method and not having alot of success. I really would like to get to the point where I can just put him down to fall asleep on his own. Please help. Thanks!

[malialeanne]

Hello there. Welcome to the boards and congrats on your new baby!

Can you post your approximate routine? At 4 weeks A times are super super short--40 minutes, if that. Just a feed, diaper change, and back to bed. We had terrible sleep problems at that age, mainly related to too-long A times. When I fixed A times things got a lot better in a hurry.

[twinsisters]

hello, i'm not sure if i'm replying the correct way, but here is the feeding schedule  i have for him : i do breast feed and bottle feed

start 4:30am
8:00am
11:00
2:00
5:00
8:00
last feed of the night 10:30pm
then start over again @ 4:30 am.

I try to put him down 10-15 min. after he finishes eating, but it usually takes us 30min.-1hr. to get him to sleep on his own w/o me holding him or feeding him. And then once he is asleep it's only a 30 min nap. i hope this will help. If you have a suggested schedule I would appreciate it. thanks,twinsisters

[malialeanne]

Hello. It does sound like overtiredness. I know you're not keeping him up long after feedings but at 4 weeks feedings can take a long time and be very tiring for a lo. If he's taking 30 minutes to feed I would do a diaper change and go straight into wind down. At this age we didn't really have a set "schedule", just very short A times which ended up being about a 2.5 hour EASY schedule until 10-12 weeks or so when it was 3 hours consistently.

How are you winding down? Tracy recommends a "4-S" winddown ritual which worked really well for us: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64277.0 A very dark room can also help.

Shh/pat is hard work but it does work. I had to do it up to 45 minutes for all naps and bedtimes the first week or two. When you're 15-20 minutes into it and they're still not sleeping you feel like it's not going to work, but if you stick with it they will start to learn to go to sleep in their crib--I promise! At this age I would get dd good and drowsy before putting her down--almost to the point of sleep or just barely asleep (when they make those funny newborn sleep faces at the very first part of sleep). It just made things easier for everyone. She would still cry and bit but not nearly as much. As she got the hang of things I gradually put her down more and more awake.