7 week old starting EASY

[missalli]

Hi everyone, new here!!

I have a 7 week old DD that I have started implementing EASY with for the last week or so. I did EASY with my now 7 yr old and my 2 yr old so I'm familiar with the routine. I remember though that both my boys developed a nighttime routine before naps were really figured out. However, this time, the opposite is true. I've been putting her down for naps after a max of 1 hr 15 min of awake time, swaddled with white noise on and sometimes a paci (she doesn't always want/need it). She's drowsy when I put her down and falls asleep on her own. Sometimes she needs resettling after a few minutes but usually not. When she does I can usually just replace the paci or pat her on the butt and she fine. I typically have to wake her at the three hour mark to feed her again although she would sleep longer.

So, daytime is good its the evening and bedtime I'm having trouble with. I think maybe she's getting OT or OS during this time because my older kids and husband are all home and its dinner time and a bit chaotic. I'm sure I also miss her sleepy cues as well. I also don't really know what to do with this time since she already usually had three pretty long naps at this point, I don't know where the catnap fits in and when I should do bedtime. Currently I just keep her in the living room with me and spend the evening from 7-9 trying to get her down. If I can get her to sleep by 8 I wake her at 10:30 or 11 to feed her again. Lately though she hasn't gone to sleep till at least 9 in which case I just let her sleep until she wakes on her own to eat again.

Last night she finally fell asleep around 9:30 maybe and then woke twice to eat probably 2am and 5:30am. She was up for the day at around 8am. Here is how today has gone so far:

E: 0800
A
S: 0900-11:15 (I woke her up)

E: 11:15
A
S: 12:30-2:20 (again, I woke her up)

E: 2:30
A:
S: 3:40 (she fell asleep then woke back up, I resettled and she was back asleep at 4:00)

That's where we are now. I will wake her at 5:30 if she hasn't woke already, feed her.... and then what???

Also, maybe I should just be thankful but I feel like she's sleeping SO much during the day. Like I almost always have to wake her up to eat. Is that normal? She's already had two 2 hr naps and this one will be about an hour and a half. I just feel like she's hardly awake. I know that babies this young sleep a lot but dang! Maybe I'm just not used to it because before she started her Zantac she never slept during the day. lol

Anyway, any suggestions for the rest of the day's routine would be great! I'll also mention that we co sleep at night. I'm thinking though that I may put her to bed in her crib and then for the DF (or when I go to bed) I'll just move her in to our room. My 2yr old sleeps with us too and I don't want them in bed alone for obvious reasons. Thoughts on that?

Thanks so much!

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi there and welcome to the boards!

Except for the evenings your routine looks great and it sounds like you already managed a lot! Her A time sounds about right and I can't see a problem other than her getting OT at BT. IIWU I would do a CN at 18:30 for 45min and then BT probably at 20. We are aiming for a 12h night and a 12h day, so it's up to you if you are happy with an 20 BT and 8 WU.
I would also try and implement a clear BT routine, for example after the CN give a bath, put pj, sing a lullaby, feed and into bed - rather than having her in the living room, yk?
Your night looks great, I wouldn't change anything right now, one would still expect NF at this age.

[missalli]

Thanks for your input!

Yesterday she never really took that last nap. Fell asleep off and on for about an hour or so maybe so I just got her up, fed her, etc. She was back down at 6:45 so I decided to just let her sleep as if it was her bedtime. Well she was up again at about 9:30 to eat but then went right back to sleep. I thought we may have been good after that but she was up again close to 1am and again at around 4am and then up for the day around 7:30am. That much waking at night isn't really her norm. Usually I'll get at least one 5-6 hour stretch out of her. Maybe it was just coincidence, maybe a little growth spurt, who knows.

Today she napped on and off bc we were out and about but once we got home napped from 5p to about 6:30. I got her up, fed, activity, changed to jammies, fed again and rocked. Back in bed at 7:50. She's still in there awake. Waiting to see if she'll fall asleep as she was pretty drowsy when I laid her down. Hopefully tonight will go a little better and we can make it to dreamfeed time before she wakes up.

[Ima shel Alon]

Like I said in my previous post, it's still normal so early on to have 3 NF, even if she managed less than that before.
The thing is that babies this young wake up at night, it's not something that one can avoid, but settling them without a feed (even if it's just for comfort) is a difficult thing to do.

How did tonight go?

[missalli]

I know its normal to wake up at night. I'm not worried about it, just disappointed that it changed! Thought I got lucky early on. lol.

Bedtime went good last night. She took a good hour to fully fall asleep but she didn't cry. She would doze off then wake up and smile at the shadows on the ceiling. Haha. I did a dream feed at around 10:30 but she was so asleep it was hard to get a good feeding in her. She nursed on one side only, and not real vigorously, but I think it was decent. By 11 she was in her bassinet and still sleeping. She woke again at 3 or so to eat and then at 6. I held her off till close to 7 just to keep us on track for the day. She ate at about 0645 and then went right back to sleep until 0930.

I'm just happy I've been able to put her to bed a decent time. It makes our evenings so much more manageable! Hopefully we'll fall in to even more of a routine soon. I'm not stressing it, I know she's still young and I'll always feed her whenever she's hungry no matter what. It's just nice to have a tiny bit of predictability.

[Ima shel Alon]

Sounds like a good night to me . When she will grow a bit (and this can be even in a week or so) she will be able to space her feeds even more.
What do you think - if you fed her at 6, when would she wake up for the day? Is it normal for her to sleep till 9:30?