3 months, 2 hour EASY ....argh!

[juls374]

Hi Everyone,
I could use some help with my DS's schedule. He'll be 3 months in a few days. I also have a 2.5 yr old, but didn't start her on EASY until somewhere between 3 and 4 months, and I remember she started on a 3 hour EASY at that time. I've been very flexible with my DS's routine, mostly focusing on trying to follow the EASY order. I wanted to make sure he got enough food, so I let him take the lead and feed him whenever he wakes up from a nap. He's not been very consistent with his eating or naps. Sometimes he'd eat every two hours in the morning, taking a couple of 30 minute naps, and then sleep for three hours in the afternoon, which meant going 4 hrs between feeds at that time. Sometimes he'd do a 3 hr EASY pretty well. For the past several weeks, he's been eating every 2 hrs (It started with a growth spurt). I feel like he's too old to be eating this often, and I'm concerned I've helped create a bad habit. Since he's getting older, his A time is stretching out to about 1.5hrs, especially in the morning. Then I put him down for a nap, but he wakes up crying after just 30 minutes. I think it's because he's wanting to eat every two hours. Today I worked at getting him to lengthen his eating to 2.5 hrs. With his naps today, he woke up after 30 minutes and I rocked him and gave him his pacifier for the last half hour of the nap, during which he's only half asleep. Then he's pretty grumpy during his A time, not wanting to lay down and play. His night sleeping is pretty good. He generally only wakes up 1 time, around 3am. Occasionally he sleeps through the night(Yay!) As the day goes on, the amount of time he's able to stay awake seems to decrease, going down to about 1hr in the afternoon. Also, he's swaddled for all his sleeping.

Here's what today's schedule looked like, and I posted my specific questions below it:

E 7:45am
A 7:45am - 9:15am
S 9:15am - 10:20  ( I had to pick him up and rock him with pacifier for the last half hour)
E 10:20am
A 10:20am - 11:50am
S 11:50am - 12:35pm (Again, rocking and paci for last half hour).
E12:40p
A 12:40p - 2:10p
S 2:15p - 3:20p
E 3:20
A 3:20p - 4:20p
S 4:20p - 5:10p
E5:20p
A 5:10p - 6:10p
S 6:10p - 7:20p
E 7:20p
A 7:20p - 815p
8:15 get ready for bed and sleep until around 7:30 or 8am

1. Is it normal that a 3 month old would need to eat every 2 hours?
2. What's the best way to drag out his schedule? I'd like to get him on a 3 hr EASY ASAP and hopefully transition into a 4 hour EASY around 4 months...that's when it's usually done, right?
3. I'm afraid he's not going to get enough to eat if I drag out his schedule - is that something I should be conscientious about?
4. I'm wondering if his naps are short for another reason, like maybe he's overtired? He usually goes down very quickly, but he's very fussy by the time I get him ready to go down. And he still seems tired when he wakes up after 30 minutes. We haven't started teaching him to get to sleep on his own, so I'm rocking him to sleep with his pacifier. I tried a bit earlier on, but with a spirited 2.5 yr old DD, I'm not yet able to spend that much time shh/patting or pu/pd (nor have I had the energy!). I'm planning to start that soon though, which may help with the naps. I'm just frustrated, feeling like we're all over the place and really disliking the inconsistency.

Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions!

[*Liz*]

What are the night feeds like?

Has he ever taken longer naps?

The transition to a 4 hrly EASY usually starts at 4ish months but babies are often 5 mths before they can do a full 2 hrs A, or last that long between feeds if they are EBF.

Your A's shorten due to the bad naps - but I would try cutting back to 1h 15 and see if that helps as could be OT as you say.

[juls374]

Night feeds are really good - the one constant so far with my LO!  He generally goes to bed around 8pm (last feed being around 7:30) and he gets up once, usually between 3-5am, and I don't do a dream feed. I've been trying to get a 2.5 hr EASY the last two days, and while it's been a bit rough, he's been able to do it. The hard part is the short naps - yesterday he was waking up after 45 minutes, which is at least longer than 30min, like he was doing the day before! Yes, he used to take better naps. But he's gone through a lot of little growth spurts over the last month, and that seems to be the culprit (I think). Really, this is my first attempt at getting him on a consistent EASY. But he used to take several 1.5 to 2 hr or more naps. I'll try shortening A time today to 1.15.
Thanks LizJ!

On a happy note, I attempted sh/pat last night and amazingly it worked! My DS is fairly paci dependent, and I was able to calm him and get him to fall asleep from awake in his crib without the paci. He can get pretty worked up without the paci, so it was really encouraging. We'll see how the day goes...

[*Liz*]

Let me know how he gets on.

I would guess this might actually be a need to stretch his A's out a litte if things were fine before. But short napping can be a developmental issue at this age as well  .

At least if your nigts are so good you don't need to worry too much - just slowly space the feeds and the A times and hopefully you will get back onto a decent routine.

[juls374]

Thanks! Each day has gotten better (this was day 3). Each time between eating lessens a bit throughout the day. Today he went 3hrs, then 2.25 and so on until it was about 2 hours between the last two. Sh/pat was a lot of work today, but tonight he went to sleep completely by himself in his crib - crazy since all day I had to pat him completely to sleep. Thanks for your suggestions and I'm working on figuring out the right A time. I went for 1.15 today and it went pretty well.
Take care.