Easy question about EASY

[Looloo1807]

Hello lovely parents.

My 13 week old has been on an EASY routine for four days now after having a crummy routine and feeding to sleep. Oops. Turns out he's actually quite willing to go to sleep on his own. Bit tricky to STAY sleeping for his 30mins naps but we're getting there. Wftj and shush-patting don't seem to work. He just squirms  at 30mins like he's having a good old stretch after a day long sleep lol

My question is:

Tracy recommended to start winding down and popping to sleep about 20mins before nap time. So if he's been up since 7am, to take into his room by about 8:10-15. Sometimes it takes my guy 20mins to get to sleep, other times just 5mins. Does that mean in that instance his A time is shorter? What to I do for these discrepancies? Wake him up a tad earlier for later E? I realise I'm taking things a bit literally here. It's just as his 4monyhs is approaching I am aware A's get tweaked by 15mins or so.

Anyway look forward to knowing what's been the case for other people.

Thank you!

[creations]

Hi there
All babies are different when it comes to how long they want/need to wind down before sleep and you will get to know what suits your LO as time goes on.
Mine took the full 20 mins (exactly!!) in the early days but then made it clear later on that he hated a long wind down and would be annoyed that I cut his play time short to start the sleep routine. He liked to be up and active until just a few mins before sleep so trying a 20 min wind down just made him frustrated and cry.  What worked for me then was a quick nappy change, one song and cuddle then put down and leave.
Of course through tricky times such as teething and developmental leaps the whole thing goes out the window so then it can take much longer to get sleep to come or for them to stay asleep but usually they go back to their preference after the phase has ended.

I think if you keep logging how long the wind down is you will get to know what is most successful and go with that.  No one can time exactly when their LO falls asleep though so don't try to stick to the routine like a time table.

[Looloo1807]

Thank you so much for your reply. He seems to not need too much of a wind down at times but other times really fights the naps so I guess at that point he's OT or UT.

We've had incredible sleeping through the night success however something has changed in that these past few nights he's been waking up one hour earlier. So it went from 7am to 6am, to 5am and now 4am. He seems ready to be up each time and is squirming his wind out. I've shush-patted a few to ok success and ended up feeding two times. One time he was rearing to go despite shush-pat and the other time I let him have a bit of a play around in his cot after a feed and after he got fussy I put him back down successfully. Wondering if that means now his day has started early so I need to put him to bed at night earlier tho? I might try feed and shush-pat again next time it happens so he knows it's not up time yet?

Is there anything you can suggest here for these wake us?

Thank you so much

I'm ok with 6am + wake ups. But 4am, kill me now.

[creations]

but other times really fights the naps so I guess at that point he's OT or UT.

Yes probably.  It can be linked to the length of time he has been awake:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84884.0
and can be linked to the level of stimulation during that A time (ie higher than usual he may be tired earlier or OT/OS, but if it was less stimulating he might be UT/US)
or it can be linked to sleep training which is a gradual learning process.
It's quite normal for there to be easier and harder naps though, so please don't feel it is anything you are doing wrong or anything you can necessarily "fix" easily.  Just keep recording your times and activities, looking for patterns, and gradually you will get to learn the wind down length and timing a little better.

The early waking might be due to OT, if the naps were short the day before then you may need to fit in another nap or shorten the last A time before BT to try to avoid OT.  Sometimes when parents try to follow the routine in the book closely but get short naps they end up with a very long A time left over at the end of the day, that can be the cause of OT.
I wouldn't really put down for bed earlier after a 4am start as it could perpetuate the early start, probably better to fit in another nap even if you have to APOP it (accidental parenting on purpose, ie do whatever it takes to get him to sleep, in arms is fine), an extra nap should help to reach a "normal" BT or closer to it.

hope this helps

[Looloo1807]

Thanks so much creations! He's been waking up just before his dreamfeed, 1am, 4am and 6am. The intervals make me think growth spurt?

I have another important confusing question about EASY I'd love your thoughts on. So with his 30min naps I seldom get him back to sleep. So when I get him up after a 30min kip I guess that's a new A. Do we last the whole 1.5/monitor till sleepy signs? Do I still stick to E every 3 hours even if it means we get an E followed by a S? When should I feed?

Does that make sense? This unpredictability is confusing and stressful.

Thank you

[creations]

Young babies sometimes take a while to learn to take longer naps.
You might be able to help by shush/patting right through that 30 min wake up rather than waiting until LO fully wakes before trying to resettle.  here's a link for W2S (wake to sleep) which is a useful method to try, look at naps option 1.  You would need to alter the timings based on your individual situation as it says to start at 30 mins but you would need to start 10 mins earlier, ie 20 min and you might not yet have stopped patting from the put down at that time.
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=223809.0
Perhaps ready yourself for a full nap of shush/pat.  It means you don't get a break but it can also mean that sleep training is more successful.  Maybe choose one nap per day for this so that you are not constantly at it all day.

Yes the A time starts right after LO wakes.  Keep feeds to 3hrs, or LO might be hungry a bit earlier as they use more calories when awake than when sleeping.  Either a full A time or look for sleepy signs before the next nap.

Yes the night feeding looks like a growth spurt and even if not the intervals are long enough between to indicate hunger.  BF babies often need more night feeds than Tracy said in the book, don't worry about extra night feeds.

hope that helps

[Looloo1807]

Hi Creations I'm not sure if I should make a new thread about this? I'm so grateful for your support and need advice on this.

We've been on 3 hr EASY for a month now and as time has gone on its become more disjointed which is concerning leading up to being on a 4hr EASY.

  - He gets titchy at 1.5 maybe 1.75 hrs A so we try and avoid that but he  still hates the swaddle so most of the time he goes down grumpy.
 
 - His naps are still mainly 45mins despite shush-patting the whole time, W2S, etc. I either persevere shush-patting an awake irate baby the remaining S or give up because being in a dark room is affecting my eyesight.

  - Because he knows after a S is a E, after his 45 min naps he can seem desperate for a feed so I feed him then and then top up at the proper E time. He drinks fully both times.

  - Nights are ok generally. He wakes up 2 or 3 am always and is fidgety. Gas? If I leave him he escalates so I end up popping in the dummy and patting him. Can take an hour or two. Ends up being a fitful sleep until 5:30-6am.


Q. How do I transition to 4hr EASY with how things are going
Q. What can I do about these night wakes?

As always thank you so much!

[creations]

Hi there
You might have been better starting a new thread as I am not ab;e to get on so much these days for various reasons.

I think your LO is 4 months now so the A time would be a little longer, more like 1hr 45 to 2hr and he might be irritable if you try to put him to sleep too early, that can also lead to 45 min naps.  If you entertain him a little longer before putting down you might have more success with your resettling efforts too.

With the E, you can post on bottle or breast feeding boards for specific advice but it could be a growth spurt leading to the additional feeds or it could be because your LO is awake and using up more calories than when asleep. The longer gap between E is often only due to LO being asleep.  Longer A times and longer naps automatically extend the time between E.

Night waking can still be due to hunger so rather than trying to resettle maybe just feed and see if he settles more quickly that way.  It'[s normal to have one or two night feeds for quite some time yet.

hope this helps