Help with EASY please and my OT/OS LO

[Hippo Mum]

I wonder if someone could have a look at our EASY schedule and maybe offer some advice on a couple of things:

We started EASY when our LO was 3 weeks old.  She is now just over 12 weeks, and has recently gone through her growth spurt.  She is on the 3 hours EASY at the moment, and for the most part has been fairly textbook, I find that an average day looks like this:

E-    7:00 – Wake up and feed (normally a 5 minute hungry efficient eater)
A-    7:05 – Few minutes of quiet time because of the short E time, Nappy change and a little playtime on the changing mat and tummy time.  Normally after about an hour and 10 minutes I start seeing tired signs, and start the 4 S ritual about 8:15, as it takes her about 10 minutes to settle to sleep.
S-   8:30 – She sleeps for about an hour and a half – although we recently have experienced the 45 minute monster.  I’m trying W2S and white noise with some success to extend these short naps.

E   10:00 As above
A   10:05 – As above
S-     11:30 – As above

E   13:00 As above
A   13:05 – As above
S-     14:30 – As above

E   16:00 As above
A   16:05 – As above
S-     17:30 – Catnap normally happens somewhere between now and 18:00  she has a 40 minute sleep

EA-    18:30 between- 19:00  – Bathtime, Feed and ready for bed.
S-   19:00 between 19:30   – Bedtime

Her sleep ritual is normally using white noise and a dummy in her crib, she settles quite quickly with this, although sometimes needs Ssh/Pat from us to settle her, as she is easily OT.  She is fully swaddled at the moment.

We have been battling OT and OS for a while, as she was ill for a few weeks, and it has taken a time to get her re-settled.  Saying that, the last couple of days have been great, she started managing 1hr 30 min naps, and was sleeping from 19:30 till 7:00 with just a DF between 22:00 and 23:00 and a further feed between 2 and 4 am.   

The above routine is based on a normal day, when I’m at home with her.  I have been really keen to let her get better and fully over her illnesses, and then let her get into the routine, so have put her needs first for a few weeks, rarely going out of the routine or even out of the house for long periods. 

However, I have a slight problem where I have to go out for an hour or two in the day.  Yesterday we took her out to go shopping, but as she rarely sleeps in the car or the pram, it meant that she missed her afternoon nap.  When we returned, I tried to get her settled, but she was fighting sleep, clearly OT, and it took over an half an hour, just to get a few minutes sleep out of her.   And she was clearly distressed at being OT, and it took a lot for me to settle her.  I am set against CIO, and find it difficult to settle her sometimes.  We eventually got her settled, by white noise/ blocking her eyes/ sshing and patting- basically the whole caboodle, and she went on to have a fitful sleep that night, and of course, her naps were interrupted the next day, and we are still trying to get her back into her routine again today. 

My question is this really- is there anything I can do to reduce the impact of changes in her routine?  Apart from the obvious of not going out, or restricting trips to her 45 minute A time, I’m struggling to come up with a solution that won’t upset her.  Is there anyway I can re-jig my EASY to help her.  Clearly, she is a little TOUCHY when it comes to sleep and stimulation, but my problem is I can’t go to any of the mother and baby groups as they exceed the 45 minutes, and I don’t really want my LO to have to be so distressed every time she misses a nap.  Or, if there is no solution, I presume that the best way to get her back into her routine is to focus on reducing stimulation and letting her catch up on sleep. 

I’m finding it a little upsetting as I want my LO to be content and rested as much as possible, but at the same time, don’t want to be tied to the house and EASY.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


Hippo Mum

[jana224]

Hi Hippo Mum,
That first A time may be a tad bit long... usually the first A time of the day is the shortest.  If you're noticing tired signs after an 1 hour and 10 minutes, I'd plan to have your LO already diapered, swaddled, and wound down and in the crib at that time, which means you'd start getting ready for the nap about an hour after waking (or earlier).  My DD was like that - needed to be back asleep 45 minutes to 1 hour after waking.

I remember how it feels to feel tied to your home, but as she handles more and more activity time, you will be freer... Until then, you should still get out and about when you need to.  I would plan outings immediately after you feed her.  I know some women on here have downloaded white noise to their ipods for when they are out and about, and you could bring a darker blanket to try to shield her when you're out and she's due to sleep.  You could also swaddle her and then put her in the stroller. Also, not sure if she'll do this or not, but when my DD was that age, I just resigned that anytime we were out during her normal routine, I would rock her to sleep in my arms and then put her down in the carseat/stroller.  If we got home and she was still a mess, I'd feed her an extra time and try to get her to sleep again.  Some babies handle shifts in the routine better than others.  If your LO is touchy, you may have to decide what you can live with:  less outings or more tiredness.  It's so hard because you still need to have a life outside the baby's routine!

[Hippo Mum]

Hi,

Thanks for the swift reply.  Funny only this morning, I was looking at her A times again, and comparing them with a couple of weeks ago, and you are right her morning nap times were better it seems when the first A time was shorter.  I'll go back to the 45-50 minutes and see how she goes.  Certainly an hour and ten minutes seems too long, it took her ages to settle this morning.

RE the going out, we did actually go out straight after her feed the other day, I literally had everything ready so that as soon as she woke up from her nap, she was fed and we were out the door, so I was so disheartened when she freaked out later at sleep time. I think like you say, I'll just have to accept that she is a bit touchy and accept that on occasion I may have to be more housebound than I'd like.  I've got a cd of white noise in the car, but I'll try the dark blanket as certainly she gets very distracted by the passing traffic.   Oh and the swaddling in the pram might be an idea........I do also think that going out more regularly and building up the time might work as she hasn't had lots of 'out' time with being ill- bless her.

Oh and on a separate note, I was reading another post, similar topic to this one, and you posted a thread about how EASY is a routine and not to be so rigid- your phrase was something like 'the good thing about EASY is tomorrow is another day and you can start again'.  I repeat those words to myself often as I have a terrible habit of thinking 'oh no we are back at square one' and I always try to tell myself that tomorrow we can start again....  I tried to find that post again to thank you for your wise words, but I couldn't find it.  So I'll thank you here..!! 

Thanks for the advice....

Hippo Mum

[jana224]

Oh I'm glad that my post helped you out.  Honestly in the beginning I was so stressed about the exact routine - a perfect time scheduled EASY (like Tracy shares in the books), that I was creating more stress on myself than necessary.   It took a while to realize that Tracy offers time schedules to show us what EASY *can* look like (for an example), but that daily variations are to be expected and that one 2 month old is on a 2.5 hour easy where another is on a 3 hour easy.  You sound like you are on the right track and I do promise you that as the A times get longer, your life will become more free!

Jana