Author Topic: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work  (Read 1673 times)

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Offline Shdef

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Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« on: March 08, 2006, 13:46:22 pm »
The problem is that he feeds as much as a 6 months old (4 times a day 8oz) but sleeps as much as a newborn...

So, here the daily pattern:

6.30 am wakey wakey
7.00 am Feed
Activity
8.30 am sleep
10.00 wakey wakey
Activity
11.00 am feed
Activity
12.00 am sleep
12.45 pm wakey wakey
Activity
13.30 sleep
14.30 wakey wakey
14.30 feed
Activity
16.00 sleep
17.00 wakey wakey
Activity
18.00 bedtime routine (book-brushing teeth-bottle)
18.30 bed

He sleeps through until 6.30 although we just came over from Germany so everything there was one hour later, it all got kinda mixed up now)

Offline teezee

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2006, 15:37:00 pm »
how old is your lo?? is he six months now?
Tawnya
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June 11, 2005




Offline Shdef

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2006, 09:18:23 am »
He is 6 months on the 19.March...

I fine the day a bit of a mess at the moment, because he eats every four hours but cannot stay awake longer than 2 hours, but doesn't sleep for two hours of course, so it doesn't "match"...

Offline katriona

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2006, 21:25:48 pm »
Can I just say -- I am SO there with you. This describes my 6 month old ds to a "T", except recently we've hit a 6am-6pm cycle rather than 6.30am-6.30pm. And I was lucky if my guy could stay awake 2 hours till recently. It was 1 hour up, 1 hour down. No matter how good the night before's sleep, the calorie intake in the day/night, the W2S, the PU/PD, the sh/pat etc, the length of the awake time, or the length of the previous nap. I could set my clock by him.

Can I ask -- has it always been this way? I know that it became a concern at around four months (and therefore didn't exist before) because I mentioned it to our ped at the 4 month appt, and started posting on boards about it at that point. The ped's advice was that as long as he was healthy and happy, just to go with the flow and let him grow out of it. And just in the past couple of weeks ds has started dropping his naps, or burning through them after crying in his hammock. Now we can get a 2.5 hour awake time before bedtime; sometimes 2.5 hours before the preceeding nap too. Only on his terms though. You betcha that if I TRY and keep him up that long I get one overtired, cranky, miserable bug-a-lug. We're seeing definite signs of improvement.

I'm going to wait a while longer till I know that he has the physical capacity to stay awake for more extended periods of time, then begin implementing regular naptimes (while respecting cues).

Good luck to you!

Mrs. B.



Offline katriona

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2006, 21:27:17 pm »
p.s. DS is 6 months on March 12th  :)



Offline Shdef

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2006, 10:08:35 am »
Thank you for the answer :)

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...

Offline teezee

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2006, 17:43:14 pm »
sorry for the late response ( i was away for a bit ) just go with the flow. it is frusterating at this age (i remember very clearly) but the most important thing is to stay on a routine not a schedule!  if easy gets tossed out the window and you go to aeasy that is great! there is still routine!!  if lo is being fed every four hrs and is ok that long without a feeding that would be my suggestion, if he wants to be fed earlier than feed him a bit earlier whatever your lo needs! 
Tawnya
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Offline katriona

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2006, 18:06:54 pm »
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.



Offline Shdef

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2006, 21:26:41 pm »
No I think waking a baby up from his sleep is wrong... Sometimes you can't avoid it though.

I now couldn't even write down his schedule properly anymore because I just go with his flow. I still stick to E,A and S and have a few rituals that we do every day but I don't pay attention to time anymore.

Imagine you are made to eat when you are not hungry, made to wait when you are starving and made to sleep when you are not tired or not tucked in when you are... I just watch his cues and we have got the best time we ever had...

Offline teezee

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Re: Weird rhythm, EASY doesn't work
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2006, 21:34:30 pm »
that's exactly what bw is about - reading cues and going with the flow...and definately not watching the clock - but doing exactly what you are doing have a routine (very different than a schedule). do what is right for your lo - only having a routine will make much more predictable for your lo and they know what to expect which makes their lives happier.

if a lo is sleeping too much during the day - in order for night for day not to become and issue (getting too much day sleep) i would suggest waking early - when my lo does sleep longer (unless she is not feeling well..) i just open her bedroom door and go about some business near her room so she can hear and still wake on her own and she isn't quite as grouchy that way.

the waking in the morning is so that your routine will not vary too much from day to day - as bedtime should really be about the same time every night, and if lo sleeps in (i always give my lo a half hr or so before i wake her in the morning) it very possibly will start affecting the next nights' sleep. 

just thought i'd mention a few points as i too thought it was ridiculous to wake a sleeping baby until i started having problems and tried it and it worked...after going through it - it all makes a whole lotta sense to me now!
Tawnya
Mommy to Alecksandria
June 11, 2005