How to tweak EASY for 4 mth old

[SeanAosta]

Hi there,

I need some advise on tweaking my son's 4hr EASY routine.
Currently we are working on extending his naps from 30 mins (he's never managed to go longer than this, up to now .... my bad I know  :oops: ) Previously his schedule looked like EASASAE. A bit of a YO-YO I know.
Anyway, I've been using WTS to great affect, however, it's thrown up a few questions regarding A time and time after nap is over to next feed.

My DS is very spirited and so can get easily over stimulated and over tired. When he shows signs of sleep I have to "hop to it" and begin his wind down ritual.

my problem lies in that he can't really manage a long A/up time.
Right now he manages 1.5 hrs.. and rarely 1.75 hrs from the time he wakes to next going to sleep.
This has a tendency to skew the 4 hr routine.
For example today his routine looked like this

07:00 Wake up and feed
07:15 A (he is a very quick eater.. rarely does a full 20 mins.. usually less than 15)
08:40 sleep .. lasted for 1hr 45 mins
11:00 Eat
12.05 Sleep.. again almost a 2 hr sleep

Here is where my problem lies. It's over 1 full hour before his next feed.
by that time he is getting tired again and makes for a very figety and difficult feed. Today I ended up having to feed him at 2.35 cause he was getting so cross and hungry.

After this he is supposed to have just a catnap, and this leaves him with over 3 hours before the next feed again. There is no way he is going to last that long with out a meltdown.

I know my naps have to settle down and it's early days yet with his sleep training. If anyone could offer any guidance about how best to follow the EASY plan from here I'd really appreciate it.
I really want to help him to settle down into a good routine, but I think my dithering and uncertaintly are going to rub off.

cheers

Jackie

[Noelle]

Hi Jackie!

Is he able to put himself to sleep?  If so, it's OK to tweak and feed before a nap.  EASY promotes independent sleep (among other things  :wink: ).   It is also ok too to put him down for a nap and let him go longer than 4hrs if need be. For example, you feed at 11:00, sleeps from 12-2.  Then he's tired but a feed would normally be at 3 - if he sleeps until 4 then I would just feed then, and the rest of the evening would probably include somewhat of a cluster feed depending on when he goes to bed.  Otherwise, feeding him early is ok...though sounds like he might be a little tired at that point though making it a little difficult.

HTH