Do you always do E right upon waking?

[Peep!]

Hello all!  I am new here - just discovered this forum in the last few days, though I started reading TBW before I was pregnant.  I have a five month old daughter and we have been doing EASY with her since we brought her home from the hospital.  She is an Angel baby, except for when she's not .  Spirited?  Anyway, lately I think we've gotten stuck - with teething, transition to crib, and growth spurts, we are just slowly trying to get her on a four hour routine.  This is her approx. routine right now:

DAY
7:30 - E
7:30 - 9:30 A
9:30 - 10:15 S
10:15 E
10:15 - 12:30 A
12:30 - 1:15 S
1:15 E
1:15 - 4:00 A
4:00 - 5:00 S
5:00 E
5:00 - 7:30 A (also her fussiest time of day by far)
7:30 E
7:30 - 8:30 A (bath time and bedtime routine)
NIGHT
8:30 - 4:30 S (I go to sleep at about 8:30 too)
4:30 E (a dream-feed, she always goes right back down)
4:30 - 7:30 S

I've been reading up on the 45 minute nap issue in some of the threads and will try to follow some of that advice about extending her naps, but any advice would be appreciated.

I do have some questions:

Should I feed her immediately upon waking after her naps, or should I wait a bit if I'm trying to move her to 4 hour EASY?  Do you always feed immediately upon waking? 
I worry that if I feed her more food, but less frequently, she will spit up more.  I also notice as she is more distractible, she feeds for shorter amounts of time, and so I worry she won't get enough - I guess I'm looking for reassurance here.
Finally, as she gets older, I find I miss her sleep cues more easily - any similar experiences or advice?

My apologies if my questions have already been answered many times on the forum, and thanks so much in advance for having patience with a newcomer. 

[becj86]

Hi, welcome

The biggest issue I see for you is that your move to 4hr EASY is a bit late and her A time should probably be higher than that - ie. extending naps may not happen at 2hr A for her at 5 months. A times increase from 2hr at 4 months to around 2:45 to 3hr at 6 months, so if you're not getting longer naps, I'd say to just keep increasing your A times incrementally and her naps may lengthen on their own.

Finally, as she gets older, I find I miss her sleep cues more easily - any similar experiences or advice?

This is quite normal - sleep cues double as boredom cues and now and some babies don't show them much at all. Having said that, with an A time of 2hr, you're unlikely to see a sleep cue from a 5mo baby.

I worry that if I feed her more food, but less frequently, she will spit up more.  I also notice as she is more distractible, she feeds for shorter amounts of time, and so I worry she won't get enough - I guess I'm looking for reassurance here.

This is something that is quite different for individual babies. For us though, increasing the time between feeds made DS hungrier and therefore take proper "meals". If you increase your A time, you should see your feed increments and your nap lengths increase.

[Peep!]

Thanks so much for the kind welcome and helpful advice!  We will definitely see if we can gradually extend her awake times.  From what you are saying, it sounds like we may have been mistaking some of her boredom cues for sleep cues.

So glad I found this forum! 

[becj86]

Keep us posted

I found BW forums when DS was 5 months too and it has been wonderful