Extinction At About 6 Weeks of Age.

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24.228.130.172 Submitted on 2011/07/11 at 10:39 pm

Dr. W – I'm wondering it I'm on the right path starting much earlier than most of these commenters, so I'm hoping you can reassure me or advise me. My 7 week old is colicky and until the end of last week needed to be held for all day sleep and a lot of night sleep. We noticed she was starting to have increasing difficulty sleeping on people and around the noises of our 18 month old son and started putting her down in her crib for night sleep. That has been going generally well. She often goes down after about 10 min of crying around 6:15 (the earliest I can do since my so goes down at 5:50/6), and wakes anywhere from 5-45 min later with lots of crying and can then take up to 3 hours to get back down for the night (at which point she starts giving us 3-4 hour stretches until 6am). We do graduated extinction at this point. Naps are a complete disaster. She always goes to sleep after about 10 min of crying, but has yet to sleep more than 10 min before waking and crying. After an hour of back and forth with graduated extinction (or less by the end of the day, because the screaming gets more frantic as the day wears on and I am less able to deal with it), I end up taking her out and trying to lay down with her or otherwise soother her to no avail when it comes to getting sleep. Today it seemed like the entire day was spent trying to get her to sleep, and she probably slept under 2 hours total. Am I doing the right thing? Should I just go to extinction already with a 7 week old? After the train wreck today was I'm feeling very unsure. Right now she went to sleep after 10 min or crying for the night but then woke after 8 and is completely frantic. I plan to give her 12 min to resettle but it's killing me listening to the breath-holding cry…

I think that there may be circumstances when a trial of extinction or extinction with a cap is warranted at night, after about 6 weeks of age (counting from the due date) because night sleep is becoming organized around this time. I hesitate to list the exact circumstances because my list could not cover all the possible variables that might go into making this decision. Briefly, when the parent is extremely stressed, sleep in the child is worsening or not improving despite parent's heroic efforts, and graduated extinction or check and console is not working or is considered by the parents to be unlikely to help, I think a 5 night trial of extinction or extinction with a cap may be considered for some families in dire straits. Ideally, you try to maximize day sleep and minimize day time crying by whatever soothing method that works and you start the night sleep before the baby gets a second wind (6-8PM or earlier if needed). Practically, this might be started on a Saturday when both parents are available to work together as a team. Feed your baby at night whenever you think she is hungry. If after the fifth night there is no clear improvement in night sleep, I would give it up, take a break, do whatever works to maximize night sleep and consider trying it again in a couple of weeks. Discuss your situation with your pediatrician and be comfortable with the knowledge that your child is healthy.

I know that this will help some babies sleep better at night. I do not know when this fails whether the lack of success resides in issues involving the baby, the parents, or parent-child interactions

Marc

Filed under: Colic