When to start shh pat. How young is too young?

[Kirstenjohnson0529]

I have a 4 day old DD3. I was wondering when we can start EASY and shh/pat. I found baby whisperer and EASY when DD1 was 4 months old. Changed our life. When DD2 came along, I was determined to not repeat the same mistakes. However, I really don't have much of a recollection of "getting down to business" until she was 3-4 weeks old. I knew I'd use this again with DD3. Here we are one day 4 and shh pat doesn't seem to be working. I feel as though I'm doing it correctly but I've been spending close to an hour shh patting with no success. Is she too young. Should I relax a little bit? I'd love some advice/encouragement. I and my back thank you. 

[jessmum46]

Congratulations!

In one sense you can use EASY/shh pat from day 1, Tracy certainly had the view of 'starting as you mean to go on'.  But from my own experience with having two LOs I would say keep expectations low, targets small, and focus more on establishing an EAS pattern than independent sleep from early on.  The sling was a lifesaver for me!  Whilst some LOs seem to take easily and quickly to shh pat and settling, the reality for many is that they will need more help to settle for a number of weeks.  If you only have the baby to settle, then yes you can spend those long periods shh patting, but with other children to consider I personally felt the time was better invested when baby was a bit older and more likely to 'get it' quickly.  I certainly had most success around 8-10 weeks with mine, and both could settle independently fairly reliably by 12 weeks. 

Some useful links:
Getting started - how I survived the first 3 months
Starting EASY with a newborn-What to Expect
Teaching Sleep to Newborns and Young Infants