Could this EASY work for 4.5 month old who needs 3 hour feeds?

[katiebee18]

WU 6
E 6:15/30
A
S 8:00-9/9:30 (1 hr - 1.5 hr)
E 9:30
A
S 11-11:30 or so...we usually go out with my 2 year old DS to a park or friends house and DS2 will sleep in Ergo carrier or car (.5 hr)
A
E 12:30
A
S 1:00 - 3:00/30 (2 - 2.5 hr)
E 3:30
A
S 5:30-6? Or skip if does good afternoon nap?
E 6:30
A wind-down
Bed 7:00
No DF, LO usually gets up between 3-4:30 for 1 feed

I had DS2 on this sort of routine before I taught him independent sleep 2 days ago (which he is doing great at falling asleep, not as good at staying asleep). He would get crabby in the AM as he was only doing a 20-30 min morning nap and then one later when we were out plus a 2-3 hour afternoon nap.

He can't stretch past 3 hour feeds right now and I can't do them any closer as if I am not "full" he won't eat. He is an impatient eater. He is EBF, he will not take a bottle.

This routine would be ideal for me but he has yet to make it past 30 mins in the morning so it may not be realistic. Do you think it would be too much? Any tweaking is appreciated!

DS1 gets up at 7 and I get him out of bed at 7:30 and then we rush to eat and get DS2 up for his first nap. DS1 also gos up for nap around 12:30 and does 1-3/4.

[jessmum46]

Hi there,

Forgive me if I'm not quite understanding (I blame baby brain.....) but are you asking if this is a reasonable routine to aim for, or is this what is happening and you're trying to improve things?  It looks like from what you wrote that DS2 was already on this routine until you started sleep training?  Or is that wrong and he just had a catnap morning and afternoon with a long lunchtime nap?

Am I right in thinking that you would ideally like to get your two LOs down for a long nap at the same time?

Usually at this age we'd aim for two longer naps and a catnap, although some babies will perhaps be doing four shorter naps.  Two long and two short naps may be a bit much - I'm not sure he'd be tired enough to do a 2-2.5h nap at 1pm with that routine?

Not wanting to question you at all, but just wondering what makes you think he can't go past 3h feeds at the moment?  Just helps when thinking through alternatives

I wonder if you could get through the morning on two short naps of 45-60 mins or so, and then aim for a long nap at around 12.30/1ish?  Then another catnap of 30-45 mins between 5&6?  So kind of like a standard 4h EASY (WU 7, naps 9-11 and 1-3 plus catnap) but with a slightly earlier WU and two shorter naps instead of the long 9-11 nap?

[katiebee18]

No problem, I went to 40 w + 3 d with DS2 and my brain was not fucntioning as well as yours

I was asking if this routine looks like it might be successful or does it have OT/UT written all over it? I would like to aim for it, some days we are hitting some of the times but usually not getting 2 naps of at least an hour.

Prior to sleep training DS2 was getting like 10-20 mins 2-3 hours after WU (he was OT) and then maybe another 30-45 mins from like 11-11:45 and then doing a 2-3 hour nap from 1ish-3:30ish but he started waking like 4-5 times during that afternoon nap from being OT I think so I decided he needed more rest in the AM.

If I can get at least an hour of nap overlap, that is what I am looking for! Otherwise, I think that DS1's nap will be DS2's awake time but that we will be stuck at home for like 3 of DS2's naps.

I did push him a little on feeds yesterday, like almost 4 hours once but now I think we must be in a GS. Can't even make it to 3 right now and got me up an extra time in the AM.

2 short AM naps would be great. An hour in crib and then the other in the car/sling but I am finding that I am only getting 25m in the AM in the crib some mornings with an A time right around 2 hours. Then a 1 pm afternoon nap would be perfect. I was just asking if this seems doable or if it is just me dreaming and wishing it would happen that way???

Last 2 days DS2 is sleeping till around 7 (I have been waking him if he is not up).

[jessmum46]

I think it's do-able but it's not a 'standard' BW routine so may take a bit of playing with to find which combination works best. 

Just out of interest, is LO teething at present or have any other discomfort-type issues going on?  What about noise levels, light, temperature etc in his room?  Just from experience 25 min naps tend to indicate that something has disturbed LO at a transition point from light to deep sleep.  Pain is an obvious culprit but any sort of disturbance can do it.  Do you use white noise, blackouts etc in his room?

[katiebee18]

Congrats on your baby boy!

I do use blackout shades and a fan for noise and we just installed a window air conditioner in his room so the temperatures is pretty controlled. I have his door shut too to block out most noise from his big brother. I think maybe he is OT or UT? I haven't been able to figure out which when I get the short naps. Regardless of nap length he is usually happy when I get him up.

I don't think he is teething but who knows! No solids here yet either so his tummy shouldn't be bothering him.

[jessmum46]

Thanks

Did you want to record what happens for a day or two and then post to see if we can help work out any OT/UT for you?

[katiebee18]

Sure, will do. I have realized that a lot of times when it takes him a while to fall asleep (and he is flailing around) or when he gets up at 30 mins or so, he has to burp. Sometimes I can get him back to sleep after that.

[jessmum46]

How are things?