New to EASY - a bit confused about end of afternoon

[Kst33]

Hi,

I'm just starting to work towards an EASY routine with my 9 week old but I'm a bit lost with what I'm aiming for at the end of the day.

We're on roughly 3 hr feeding. We haven't cracked naps yet - but are working on them...

So for instance if I feed at 4pm or thereabouts:

4pm - feed for 30-40 mins
4.40 - 5pm nappy / activity etc
5pm - 5.45pm  - sleep

But then what do I do until 7pm when the next feed is due?! He won't last that long without eating if he's awake.
And then if I do feed at 7pm. It will take 30-40 mins to feed. So I only start bath, bed routine at 7.30 earliest - so we're ending up not going to bed till after 8. Which by the time I've managed to settle him - could be 8.30. Which seems a bit late. In the example in the book - there's a feed at 7pm and then bed at 7.30 but I don't know how I can get all that done in half and hr!!!

So what we're tending to do is:

4pm feed
5-5.45 sleep
6pm feed (even though only 2 hrs since last one)
6.45 - bath, story, a bit more of a feed if he's interested.
7.15 bed / hopefully settled by 7.30 / 8.15.

But with this - because he's eating at 6pm. He's then waking to be fed at 9ish. So I can't do the dream feed!

So I'm in a bit of a muddle as to what to try and do!

Any thoughts / help would be brilliant.

Thanks a lot,

Karen

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi Karen!
I think you are actually doing great!
I remember times we had to do the same, feed after just 2h at the end of the day and then the NF was a bit earlier than a normal DF. Are you concerned about the 21 NF not being a DF? I don't think it changes the total amount of NF for you, does it?

[Kst33]

Hi,

I wasn't sure if the DF was some sort of magic trick that helped them learn to sleep longer during the night!

At the moment - if we've managed timings right and he's eaten at 6pm before bed then he'll tend to eat again between 9 and 10. And then somewhere around 12 / 1am and again around 3/4am. Which is fine - it was just I heard lots of good things about the dream feed and wondered if it was worth me juggling times and aiming for it!

Another quick question - if timings during the day have got a bit wonky. Do people always try and stick to the same bed time and just adjust naps / feeding around it. Or is it fine for bed time to change depending on how the day has gone. I.e. sometimes nearer 6.30 / sometimes nearer 8?

Also... with the end of the afternoon cat nap - is it important that we only do 45 mins there? Because our day naps are still a bit rubbish - I often find he's running low on sleep by the end of the afternoon and as I tend to use the sling for the last nap of the day, I could probably easily extend it so he gets a bit more sleep. Do you think this is worth doing? Or if he gets too much sleep after 4pm - might I muck up bedtime? I guess trial and error would probably answer that one for me!

Thanks for your help!!

[Ima shel Alon]

The DF can work great, but it doesn't always work, yk? Either it doesn't work with the times or baby doesn't respond to it. Your routine will anyway change as he grows, so you could try it later on and see how it works for you.

Another quick question - if timings during the day have got a bit wonky. Do people always try and stick to the same bed time and just adjust naps / feeding around it. Or is it fine for bed time to change depending on how the day has gone. I.e. sometimes nearer 6.30 / sometimes nearer 8?

I am a big fan of a set BT. It has always worked well for us in the way that DS body clock was set for that specific BT and therefore WU in the morning was more predictable. Some people just go with the flow and that's also ok, it depends a lot on how YOU want things to be. If WU the next morning doesn't matter to you so much then I guess you could adjust BT.
Just bare in mind that if you get short naps during the day then you do need to adjust the rest of the day, i.e he won't be able to do a full A time after a short nap probably and in many cases when there is a whole day of short naps and LO didn't get enough day sleep it's better to put them to bed on the earlier side to prevent OT.

Or if he gets too much sleep after 4pm - might I muck up bedtime? I guess trial and error would probably answer that one for me!

You are right , 'cause some babies will do just fine with a short A time before BT or a long nap in the afternoon and for some it will steal from their night sleep and will make BT difficult.