Hi! Well, last night was my third night and today is starting my 4th day trying to implement EASY and decrease night wakenings/feedings. My DD is 18 weeks old but was born 5 weeks early (2 weeks in the NICU). I have mostly been following her lead with BF on demand (she is EBF and actually has refused bottles for the past 6 weeks), napping when tired, some co-sleeping in early morning, etc. The past few weeks I have worked hard on implementing nap times and bed time and trying to get her to sleep more in her bassinet but she still was falling asleep on the breast or being rocked to sleep 90% of the time during day and night. About 2 weeks ago she started waking every 1-2 hrs wanting to BF for a minute to fall back to sleep (basically sucking to sleep with almost every sleep cycle, I think at night). Obviously I am EXHAUSTED and found the BW book. Read almost the entire book in 24 hrs and started to implement 4 days ago.
I have tried to do a 3.5hr EASY, my goal being the following:
E:7am
A:1.75-2 hrs
S: 8:45-10:15
E: 10:30
A:1.5 hrs
S: 12-2
E: 2:00
A: 1.5hrs
S: 3:30-4:30
E: 5:00
A: 2 hrs (including bathe)
S: 7pm Feed and Sleep
DF: 10:30
Here is what actually happened yesterday:
E: 7:15
S: 9:05-9:35 (tried and tried with SHH/Pat and could not get her back to sleep, up at 10am)
E: 10:30
S: 11:20-11:55 (woke, couldn't get to go back down (30 mins Sh/Pat), hungry so fed)
12:30-1:10
E: 1:10 (to try and get back on schedule) Super tired
S: 1:30-2
A: 45 minutes and exhausted
S: 2:45-4 (one brief awakening but put self back to sleep YEA!)
E: 4
S: Catnap in swing 5:30-6
A: Play, bath
ES: brief feed and 2 sessions of Sh/Pat to get to sleep at 7:30
Night wakenings: 10:25- NF
12:20- NF (seemed hungry)
2:20- Sh/Pat for 30+ minutes back to sleep, refused to feed
4:15- NF
6:00- woke crying but then just awake, let her play in bassinet with some assistance for play until 7am when I got her up, changed and feed for first feed today.
So the schedule is completely wrecked due to her short nap issues, now I know this is not unusual, but I am at a loss as to how to handle it when then she gets so exhausted and I have to nap her off schedule. She wakes up after her half our naps crying and most of the time I just can not get her to go back unless I continuously Ssh/Pat for the entire time. Also the night time wakenings are absolutely killing me. I have not slept more than 2 hours straight in weeks and it is taking its toll. My partner works a lot and also has a back injury, she can not do sustained Shh/Pat and Alayna doesn't take bottle so she can't do any feeds (I am working on bottle but this is a secondary issue at this point). I also have a 4 year old who has activities to work around.
Specific quesstions:
Should I be aiming for a 3.5hr EASY or do a 3 hr for a few weeks, especially since she is developmentally only 13 weeks old?
Am I handling the night wakenings right? feeding when seems truly hungry or it has been over 3 hours and not on other instances? Will she stop wakening during those other times soon? Should I try to DF her for the 2 projected night feeds to see if that keeps her asleep longer? She has not slept more than a 4 hour stretch (first hours of sleep) in weeks, although she did sleep 5-6 hour stretches somewhat regularly before then. Prior to trying this system she rarely went more than 3 hours between feedings and only eats for like 5-7 minutes at a time, I think partially efficient, partially a snacker.
I have so many more concerns/questions but I want to get this posted now and have to take my older daughter to a class. I have been scouring the boards for advice, info as well but wanted to post my own situation to see if anyone had any specific advice or similar experiences that resolved well! I am totally a believer in this system but so far things are getting worse, not better, Thank you so much!!!!!!!!