Do you wake your LO up from naps to keep the rhythm? I never do that, he hates being woken up but he sleeps sometimes for 30 minutes and is wide awake and sometimes for 2 hours... So the day is a mess in the middle, only well structured at the beginning and at the end...
Nope, I've never agreed in waking a sleeping baby. I was getting so flustered and flummoxed by what I should be doing; indeed, when I first started EASY, I was doing "E" after every "S" no matter how short the interval. I was so unsure of what I was doing that I was grasping at everything without actually knowing anything, kwim?
Thankfully I found this board, which reinforced that routine and being flexible according to DS' needs was the way to go. I decided on his eating patterns (which he adjusted to amazingly easily) and we just fit his need for naps in around that. If he oversleeps, he never seems to mind waiting a little for food. His naps range from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours; yesterday we got a good two hours out of him in the morning (yay!) AEASY is what works for us.
And I so agree with you -- first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening are great! DS knows exactly what's coming, and he's a happy bunny. The middle of the day is where it all falls apart, but I'm trying to come up with routine for our "A" time there too, i.e. specific activities at certain times of the day, play in the garden, walks in the stroller etc. It helps now that spring is coming.
Matters are compounded by the fact that I'm trying to stretch his "A" time, so it's a little hit or miss as far as catching the sleepy window goes.
This is what we're currently doing food-wise:
6am wake up (almost always by himself)
6.30am bf
8.00am solids
10.00am bf
1.30pm bf
2.00pm solids
4pm bf
6pm bf
10pm df (if he doesn't wake up first!)
4am bf
I know I could probably stretch him out to 4 hours for the daytime bf'ing, especially with the solids, but I have my Italian Grandmother's genes, who always offers you food the minute you walk in the door, and refuses to believe that you're not hungry. I'm going to have to come to terms with that...
Mrs. B.