Not sure which EASY to be on

[anniemo]

Hi there. Long post coming up............

I've tried implementing EASY since ds was about 8 weeks old which was when I read the BW book. It's been hard as he became a short napper at about 6 weeks and has only started napping longer now at 4 months (17 weeks). He's still having short 30min naps now and again sometimes extending them himself to 1-1.5hrs and other times not. I never had much luck extending his naps even though I tried W2S techniques so I resigned to putting him down for many more naps during the day. Oh and he falls asleep independently.

Depending on how long he naps, as there is no pattern yet, I feed (bf exclusively) every 2.5 - 3hours. I know he could go longer than 2.5hrs (not sure about 3hrs) but because his naps are short, I can't always keep him awake long enough to feed at 3hrs as he'll be tired and ready for his next nap and I wouldn't want to feed to sleep or feed him when he should be sleeping. I guess I could try EASASE but then if he manages a nap longer than 30-45min I'm concerned he might then wake due to hunger - and the cycle goes on. So far he hasn't slept long enough in the day to get to 3.5hrs for his next feed so I'm still not sure he can last that long. His A time is anywhere between 1.15-1.45 and reduces as the day draws on - can only manage 1.45 in the morning befeore the first nap.
Night wakings are erratic and depending on what time I put him to bed - between 6-7pm -he'll wake every 3, 3.5hrs or sometimes 4hours. I assume this is hunger as it's not the same time every night. Once in a while he'll do a 5 or 6 hour stretch in the night but this is really a one-off.
So the question is should I keep him on a 2.5-3hr EASY till the naps get longer? At 4 months the average baby is ready for a 4 hour EASY but I'm not sure if ds - who was small at birth (not premie) and now weighs 12lbs 8oz is ready for this especially since he still wakes twice or thrice in the night for feeds. Whether I feed at 2.5 or 3hrs he feeds well so I can't use this a a gauge.

Sorry for rambling on but I need some guidance please..........

Annie

[LŠuren]

can you post your current routine please. 

[anniemo]

Hi there

Here's a typical day though the naps may vary in length.

E: 7:00
Awake till about 8.45/9.00
S: 9.00 - 9.30
E: 10.00
Awake till about 11.00/11.15
S: 11.15 - 12.15
E: 1.00
Awake till about 1.45
S: 1.45 - 2.15
E: 3.30
Awake till about 4.00
S: 4.00 - 4.30
Bath, feed at 6.00 then bed at 6.30

Depending on what time the last feed is, night feeds are at around 10.00/11.00, 2.00/3.00 then 5.00/6.00. If he wakes at 6.00 I feed him and I'm not always able to put him back to sleep so we just start our day then and I put him to bed earlier in the evening.

Cheers
Annie

[anniemo]

Hi there

I think my post has moved further down and I wouldn't want it to be forgotten. Any chance I could get a bit of advice please? Thanks.

Annie

[rebecaq]

Hi Annie,

Have you done yield to see how your supply is doing?  Some babies don't sleep through the night for a while, but with him waking ao often during the nights and eating make me think he's not getting enough calories to sustain him through the night.

- Beca

[anniemo]

Hi Beca.

Thanks for your reply. I pump once a day every morning (I'm freezing a stash for the next 2 months when I'll be away from ds once a week all day Saturday) about an hour after the first feed and I get 3.5oz from one side. I think this is quite ok and I've never worried about my milk supply. Ds doesn't empty the breast anymore (used to as a newborn) so after every feed when I check I still have some milk coming through. Could that be a good enough measure of my yield?
Also I'm beginning to think it might be habit as I've observed the waking times a bit more and they're usually the same i.e anytime between 10 and 11pm then between 2.45-3.00am then he'll wake at 6.00 to start the day. So how can I know for sure that it's not hunger? Ds will always feed for the same amount of time 10-15min during the night as he does in the day and he always appears to be hungry regardless so it's difficult to tell. Last night he had his last feed at 6.30pm, was asleep by 7.00pm then woke at 12.30am. After that he woke again crying at 1.45am (that's another story altogether as sometimes he wakes an hour or so after a feed). I managed to settle him without feeding though it took me about an hour and a half. Just as I was about to give in and feed him as it had been 3 hours since his last feed he slept until 7.00am when I woke him! Hmm very strange. This could be a one-off but couldn't it also mean that he doesn't need as many feeds in the night? Sorry for all the questions...........

Annie