I’m a FTM to a 7 week old baby boy. I go back to work in 5 weeks, and my husband is trying to finish his PhD. So although we know that baby sleep is a huge challenge and a crapshoot, I’m trying to do what I can with the home time I have now to at least improve our odds of good habits.

I know that 7 weeks is way too young in most people’s (literal or metaphorical) book for sleep training, but some sites and sources suggest at least starting to practice “drowsy but awake,” in his crib, for either naps or night sleep. I’ve been practicing it for 1-2 naps per day. And I’m finding a classic pattern as far as I can tell from what I’ve read; with some help (pre-sleep rocking, hand over eyes or stroking head after being put down, hand on chest after being put down, white noise, dark room) I can get him to fall asleep in the crib, but so far he always wakes up writhing and fussing, escalating to crying even if I soothe him, after 25-40 minutes (so maybe .5-1 sleep cycle?)

So here’s where I get confused about what to do. Him learning to fall asleep seems like good early progress. But what next? Should I pick him up and rock him, so he gets another cycle and doesn’t get overtired? Will that teach him the wrong thing? Should I treat the nap as over? Argh.