Need Recommendation on EASY Routine - Returning to Work

[Mymers]

Hi,

My 4 month old DS has been on EASY since he was 3.5 weeks old. We went through some trying times with the 45min nap monster, but he finally turned the corner about 2 weeks ago. Yippee! Right now, his nights are from ~7:45pm to ~7:30am. He still wakes for 1 feed between 2:30am - 3:30am (no DF). He also wakes randomly 1-2 times every other night or so where I have to help him resettle. I will be returning to work in less than 2 weeks and need help with a new EASY routine. Fortunately, my parents will care for our DS when I return to work. The unfortunate part is that there is a little commute involved to get him there. This means he will have to wake around 6:00am to start his day and won't go down until around 7:30pm. Does anyone have a suggestion for an EASY routine? Should I try to stretch him to 2hr 15min - 2.5hr awake time or will that be too much for the little guy? He just started getting into a great routine where he sleeps 1hr 45min - 2hr twice a day, but that's with only ~2hr awake time. I wonder what another 15-30min will do to him. Should we just try it?

Thanks,
My-Hanh

[rebecaq]

Hi there,

You can try and see how he does, but IMHO if he does poorly then another solution needs to be found before a bigger problem arises. Will he not go down until 7:30 because of your work schedule? What if you can take him to his grandparents still asleep? Does he wake easily?  Hopefully you can do that and he can get ready to start the day a bit let and his awake time will not be as long.  Tell me if you think this is a possibility

- Beca

[Mymers]

Hi Beca,

Things are a little tricky. Our DS is on the 4hr EASY routine right now, so he feeds 4 times during the day and still has 1 feed at night. The two biggest obstacles are 1) he is a slow nurser (~50-60min in the morning and evening and ~40-45min for the other 2 feeds) and 2) the 45min between my parent's house and work and 20min between our two homes. He is currently BF and my preference is to BF before work, after work, and the middle of night feed. Given that preference and his long nursing sessions, we will have to wake around 6am to start the day. Fortunately, my mom has offered to pick him up in the mornings at 7am so she can miss some of the rush hour traffic. If I leave work at 5:00pm sharp, I won't get to my parent's house until ~5:45pm. Then I have to gather his things and head home... which will be ~6:15pm or so. He'll nurse for ~50min. By the time we give him a bath and do his night time routine, it will be close to 7:30pm. I guess one option is to let him sleep until my mom comes at 7:00am, but that is one less BF'ing session for mommy and baby and an extra bottle feeding session for grandma. Thoughts?

My-Hanh