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ACTIVITY => E.A.S.Y. Forum => Topic started by: Tammyj on April 01, 2016, 00:42:18 am

Title: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Tammyj on April 01, 2016, 00:42:18 am
Hello all.  Second time mom. Had it sooooo easy with my first.  DD is quite a bit different.  On 3 hour EASY, with some 2.5 hour feedings.  EBF.  My question is what to do after 7pm feed? We do bath time or wind down routine, but that's about 20 mins worth and done by 7:30 or so.  She cluster feeds again at 8:30 or 9.  Between this time, she cries and fusses.  What am I supposed to do during this time? She may fall asleep with pacifier, or she may fuss the entire time with me trying everything.  I'm assuming it's not A time? Do I move cluster feed up? Also, how do I stop cluster feed at 9 and start dream feed?

Please help and thank you!!!
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Lindsay27 on April 01, 2016, 01:14:26 am
This is just me personally, but I have never really cluster fed either of my LOs in the evening.  It sounds like if she is fussy between 8:30-9 she is probably just tired and it may be doing her more harm than good by making her OT.  I think would would maybe just try to do your wind down routine at 6:30/7 followed by a feed and then straight to bed and a DF.  If she can go 3hrs between feeds during the day she should be able to go 3hrs from bedtime feed to DF.  What do you think?
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Tammyj on April 01, 2016, 01:27:36 am
That would be ideal for us! How do you suggest we break that habit? When she does fall asleep around 8 or so, she wakes back up. If she falls asleep at 9 (her current bedtime), she's out for 5 hours... Is that a sign she's not ready for an earlier bedtime?
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Lindsay27 on April 01, 2016, 01:45:09 am
Have you tried an earlier BT, like 7pm? I am thinking her waking up shortly after she goes down at 8 is an OT waking, so if you bring BT forward (if possible) it might actually be better?  She is still so little that I know a consistent 7pm BT might not always be plausible. 
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Tammyj on April 01, 2016, 13:50:04 pm
I will try an earlier bedtime. Might take some time to get her to transition to it.  She is sleeping great at night - her longest stretch is now up to 5 hours.  Maybe I should keep Bedtime as is right now? Will it work out to earlier as she gets older? I'm confused. 
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Lindsay27 on April 01, 2016, 15:41:17 pm
It probably will work out to earlier BT over time, she's still so little having any BT routine right now is a plus :)  If she is doing a decent stretch I'm not entire sure I'd want to mess with that yk?  Just know that if you feel like the cluster feeds aren't working if you are keeping her awake you don't have to do them.  Tracy just recommended it as a way of tanking them up so they'd do longer stretches.  Like I said I never did it and actually never DF either because I found it disrupted sleep too much and also felt like it was just another thing I'd have to wean, but lots of people find cluster feeds and the DF super helpful.
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: becj86 on April 01, 2016, 22:56:07 pm
I did the cluster feeds in the afternoon from 3pm onwards with BT around 7, FWIW.
Title: Re: 7 week old - Introduce Dream Feed?
Post by: Tammyj on April 02, 2016, 00:46:35 am
Thanks for your input ladies.  As I mentioned, she goes to sleep between 7:30-8 after her 7pm feed.  She usually wakes up and then I feed her.  I think maybe my goal should be to delay that wake up (or eliminate it) and do a dream feed instead around 10.  Would that make sense? I did the DF with my first and it worked great.  But this baby is sleeping longer without the DF so I wonder if I should introduce the DF at all.  Any ideas?

She just woke up and I was able to get her back to sleep with a pacifier and the shusher (love that thing, but I'm sure it's going to be a crutch later!) Maybe this will be the first night for the DF?

Wow--- so much to think about.  I'm probably over analyzing it!!
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Lindsay27 on April 02, 2016, 17:45:41 pm
Replied tit your PM about the DF, but yes if you think she is doing a good stretch without it you can choose to do BT at 7pm and just feed at NWs or do BT at 7pm and do a 10pm DF...it might just be trial and error ya know, until you figure out what works best :)
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Tammyj on April 21, 2016, 23:32:02 pm
Hello again! More advice please!

So I moved the bedtime up the last two nights and she's out like a light - only to wake 20-45 minutes later.  It's like she is treating it like the last nap of the day. (She takes 4.)  Is she just too young and needs this nap?
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Lindsay27 on April 21, 2016, 23:42:30 pm
How old is she now hun? 10ish weeks? And how are her naps during the day and what A times are you using?  It could be that she needs a slightly longer A until bed, even possibly just 15mins.  If you can post your day in EAS format I can take a look and see if anything jumps out :)
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Tammyj on April 22, 2016, 01:36:26 am
Hi Lindsay,

She wakes anywhere between 6:35- 7:30am - usually between 7-7:30
Eats right away
Stays awake for 1 hour
Naps for 45 minutes EVERY TIME. She goes down very easy for this and all naps. I sit with her until she's fast asleep, then put her in crib. (I know I need to work on putting her down drowsy... One thing at a time!)
I can get another 45 minute nap if I put her in swing.

9/9:30 Wake and feed
Activity 1 hour

This repeats every 3 hours until 4pm.
4pm she eats, then we pick up her sister so she's in the car.  Get back around 4:45-5pm and she's cranky and ready for a nap. Sometimes I'll also feed her a bit more if she didn't feed well at 4pm.
I'll put her in the swing for this nap.  She's out for 30-45 minutes. 

On an ideal day, she's up just before 6. We play together and she tends to get hungry before 7, so I'll feed her around 6:30-6:45.  Then it's bath, jammies, pacifier and rocker.  She tends to go down quick around 7:15/7:30 and in a deep sleep by 8 usually (ideally). Otherwise, Ill place her in the crib and she wakes up 15 minutes later.  I'll pick her up and she'll close her eyes right away, but goes crazy sucking on her pacifier on and off so I know it's not a restful sleep.  Hopefully she goes asleep but sometimes she can't and screams at me for a bit. At that point all bets are off and I'll nurse her to sleep.

I've started the dream feed. Had 1 or 2 good nights where she sleeps to 2/230, but she mostly wakes at 1:15 or so.  She eats and then goes right to sleep in my arms and out again until 4ish.  I'll feed her and she's out again until I wake her between 7-7:30.

My questions now that I've reflected on the schedule:
1 - will naps naturally get longer?
2 - should i drop DF or will it get better?
3 - what is the best schedule for the evening?
4 - should I be on an 2.5 schedule? Im wondering if I moved to quickly to 3 hours?
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Tammyj on April 22, 2016, 01:38:37 am
Two more questions -

1 - I loved the pacifier for my oldest. Wondering if it's hindering sleep with my second.
2 - for A times, she's usually up until I notice her cues and she starts fussing a bit. It's usually at the 1 hr mark. Is that too late?
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Lindsay27 on April 24, 2016, 01:29:10 am
I actually think she may need a little push in A times.  By 12ish weeks she should be up around 1.5hrs so I am thinking if you push her A times by 10-15mins that you mighty get better naps.  That said, it does take some babies a while to learn how to transition through sleep cycles, my DD has just begun to start to take longer naps (not always) about 3 weeks ago.  If you bump A times and you are still getting 45mins then you can try sneaking in at the 35min mark and just gently patting her to help her through the transition.

As for the DF, it really is just personal preference.  If you don't feel like it's helping then you don't need to keep it.  I never DF either of my kids just because I was afraid of messing up their sleep cycles and also I prefer to go to bed early. 

For the evenings, if the naps begin to lengthen you will probably find that the evenings sort themselves out.  I think they are just crazy for you right now because you are likely dealing with some OT which is probably why she doesn't settle sometimes.  Also, if you want to feed her right before sleep at BT that is fine too, we treat BT differently than day sleep.
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Tammyj on April 24, 2016, 11:26:37 am
Lindsay, you are the best.  I'm trying extending the A times today.  Fingers crossed!

What is your bedtime routine? We do bath, jammies, feed and cuddle/Rock.  Problem is that she can fall asleep anywhere between 30 minutes or 2+ hours (like last night).   I would love to put her down, but she starts talking and eventually cries. I have
To wait until she's in a deep sleep.

Sorry to take up so much of your time! ☺️
Title: Re: 7 week old - what to do after 7pm?
Post by: Lindsay27 on April 24, 2016, 18:34:43 pm
Our bedtime routine is more or less the same, but we only really do a bath every other night.  If she is taking 2 hours to settle it is probably a bit of OT.  After her last nap/CN I would almost start your BT routine soon after.  Assuming you do a bath, jammies, feed...all of that likely ends up taking close to an hour.  You may have a bit of time before bath for some other A.  Also, when I put my DD to bed at night I rock her until she's really super drowsy...pretty much asleep. When I put her down she might do the eyes open/close/open/close for a few minutes but she is tired enough that she's not really laying awake in bed for a whole pile of time.   It's not really 'independent sleep' so I really shouldn't be promoting that (lol!) but it's what works for us and I simply love rocking babies at bedtime.