What age to start following easy?

[Chloevalentine]

I forget what age I started following the easy routine with my first? Any suggestions? Also are there any logs for feeding/sleep? Thanks

[creations]

There are a bunch of logs here:
EASY Log downloads

As for age, well Tracy gave a description of how to bring LO home and introduce them to the house so really day 1

I started at 4wks when I first read a BW book although had been trying to put LO down for sleeps from day 1 really.  The EAS routine though was new at 4wks when I started to put a bit of time between E and S and started to gently extend the E from 2 or 2.5hrs up to 3hrs which we did slowly.

[Chloevalentine]

But 4 weeks and when you really start being aware of what time you are putting lo down for naps etc? I guess for the first 4 weeks they just sleep whenever and wherever ? When do you start putting them down "for bed" at a certain time? I know the easy for a baby a bit older is 7 pm.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Technically we started at birth...because EASY is a routine and not a schedule it is just a pattern of events happening over and over in the same order not at the same time every day (though with some babies and older babies it can become a bit clock driven if needed).  So even though the A was literally just a diaper change and a bit of oohing and aahing over baby it was still a separation of the E and S (and for sure did not always work out every time in the newborn stage lol).

As well it can be so so different for each lo - my first was a flexible lo (unfortunately I was not a very flexible first time mom ), but my second really liked precise clock times! DD3 was just fit in however we could and actually has had an 8 pm bedtime since she came out of the sleepy phase as a newborn...have tried to change it but she is just programmed that way!

[creations]

I guess for the first 4 weeks they just sleep whenever and wherever ?

Mine did not sleep wherever and whenever.  Yes he had his sleepy phase for the first weeks and yes at 4 wks he was certainly 'waking up' he needed to play and interact with us much more, he was very aware of us.  But throughout those first 4 wks we were still aiming to get him to sleep without being held the whole time.  He was "put to bed" at BT in a travel cot in the family room and slept the first part of his night there until his next E time when I'd feed, change and go to bed myself so that's when I moved him up to his night bed by my bed.  As Heidi said though, it's a routine, so although BT might have been a bit different each night it was basically the same and the night sleep began.

[Chloevalentine]

Aren't there some sample schedules for newborns somewhere as well as 4 weeks and up? Like what time to feed and what time to put down for nap etc? I remember for first lo never going down easy for naps her cry and fuss a lot and I want to try to nip that. It was probably because I waited until he was overtired to put him down.  But we did a def combo of naps in our arms and placing in bassinet while still awake.

[creations]

There are 0-4 wk samples here
chronological EASY samples, 0-3 months

Thing is it's pretty normal for a new born to want to sleep being held or close, it's instinct isn't it?  I am all for encouraging independent sleep but I'm not sure you can avoid all fussing regardless of when you start, I'd think there would be fussing even if you started day 1.

[Chloevalentine]

So just wondering... Being that this is baby number 2 our schedule will need to be more flexible than with first lo. Meaning if he naps from 11-1 and eats upon waking but that's the same time I need to pick up lo from school what do I do? Sounds silly I know

[michaeljacknnugg]

You wake the baby in time to feed before pickup. They do get used to it. Or you go out in the car/sling/pram so baby can sleep through pickup and feed when you get home.

[Chloevalentine]

Sounds simple but for a two hour nap to happen in the car isn't ideal.

[creations]

What time do you leave? Is it 1pm?  If it is I'd probably wake LO at 12.30 feed and leave.  Or if LO takes longer than that to eat because it does take young ones longer then I'd wake at 12 and feed.  Routines do keep changing anyway so you have to just do what you can don't you?

[Chloevalentine]

I know I'm getting ahead of myself just anxious about keeping some routine here and it helped so much with my first lo. So first nap of day is when I'll need to bring lo to school second nap is when if have to pick him up third nap is at los bedtime. It just seems to all overlap with bigger los schedule and I just want to keep as much as I can the same. I know somehow I'll figure it out.

[michaeljacknnugg]

The thing is, you don't know what kind of baby you have until he/she arrives, and even then it takes a while to figure things out. My DS2 completely skipped many many naps at first and would be up for hours then asleep for hours. You can't plan around that, yk?

Now we are on a decent routine that works around school. But it's taken a while to get there and will likely change again soon. You just strike a balance as best you can.

[jessmum46]

Plus just to say a 'textbook' EASY is neither likely nor possible for many babies, and it isn't the only routine choice out there.  Just because you can't follow a textbook EAS routine doesn't mean you can't apply the BW principles of listening to and respecting your LO, allowing opportunity for adequate eating and rest and encouraging independent sleep.  A second baby just has to, to some extent, fit in.  If for example you always need to be out at 9am there is just no point in stressing about the fact the "routine" says you have to have a nap then.  Make a routine that fits your family.  You can start earlier or later.  You can have a short catnap first up and then aim for a long second nap.  BW gives you the tools to handle that - so for example on a catnap then long nap routine you could deliberately aim for a catnap in the car on your way to school, then do a shorter-than-usual A time and aim for a long second nap, waking in time for the school run as others have said.  And if the catnap is likely to fall at DS1s bedtime, find a way to make that work - DS for example catnapped on me in a sling during DDs bath/bedtime routine for several weeks.  Or you could use a bouncy/rocking chair.  Honestly, it works out.  You may not get the ideal routine, you may not get the greatest naps all the time or even be able to do things the way you really want to every time.  But it's ok   You will find a way that works for your family - it just doesn't have to be 'by the book' xx

[Chloevalentine]

Thank you everyone for setting me at ease!