Help with transition to 4 hour Easy

[LaraAndrea]

My LO has done very well with the 3 hour EASY but she is now 4 months old and started waking early from her 3rd nap of the day.

I have started Tracy's suggested transition from 3-4 hour EASY, but...

At the same time my LO (breastfeed) has reduced her eating and gets more distracted during feeds. I have moved all her feeds to her room away from stimulus with only a slight improvement noticed. She is a very impatient eater!!

What this means for me  (us) is that my once good sleeper 1.5-2 hour naps is waking up early hungry.

I am struggling with this transition because instead of my LO increasing her nap times she is shortening them. She has however done well with the increased activity/awake times.

I am not sure what to do next. I am afraid to move to the next stage of the transition routine until my LO has regained her 2h nap.

Any advice would be great!!

[VnessMorris]

Hi there,

I had a similar issue with my now 23 week old DD2 when she was transitioning; she was frustrated/impatient during Breastfeeding and was waking at 30-40min mark during naps. She then had multiple NWs and EWs. It turned out that I wasn't providing enough Breast milk during the day as she would take in 3-5oz of EBM during NWs. So, to make up the calories, I would breastfeed every 4 hours, top her up with EBM and then pump an hour after every feed to up my supply. I would use shh/pat to help extend her shortened naps. Sometimes, I'd APOP to push her through some naps (esp the catnaps).

Here's a link to my post if you want to take a look:
21 week old, NWs and EW

DD2 is now StTN and back to 2x 1.5-2 hour naps and a catnap. Topping up immediately after breastfeeding really helped.

Hope this helps!
V.

[LaraAndrea]

Thank you for the recommendation. We did start topping up with EBM at bedtime which has worked well. We will now try with her naps as well.

[creations]

Thank you for paying it forward with some great advice V!

Welcome to the forums LaraAndrea, lovely to have you here.

It might be useful to note that Tracy did say in her book that some LOs don't make it to the 4hr E until 6 months.  She lists a couple of examples including low birth weight, prem, BF...but my DS was none of these and still he couldn't make it beyond 3hr E until he was 6 months old and on solids between the milk feeds, so there are LOs who do need to stay on 3hr E.  If your LO is one of them that's fine - I hope that the advice given by pp also helps.

4 months is a typical time for sleep regression, my own went from 2hr naps to 40 mins naps five times per day too - wow it's exhausting isn't it.  The good news is that often these LOs get through this regression around 6 months so whilst it might feel like for ever, it really isn't.

Would you like to post your EAS times for us to look at?