Help Me get on EASY - 5 week old

[AdrienneandSophia]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here.  I read the Baby Whisperer and started my baby on a form of EASY as soon as I got home from the hospital.  I'm trying to tighten it up a bit, I guess.  I started really keeping track and trying to stick with the 3 hour interval recommended.  I have a few questions.

I have been waking my baby Sophia from naps after between 1hr- 1.5 hrs.  Is this right? or should I let her sleep??

Sophia wakes in the morning at all different times.  today it was 5:30 and yesterday it was 7:30.  somedays it's 9:30.  what do i do?  today i tried to put her right back down to wake her at 7:30....  we didn't get up until 8:20 (oops)

She also wakes up at different times during the night.  sometimes she'll go 3 hours between feedings (i'm breastfeeding)  and sometimes she'll go 5......

how do you get your baby's to wake up for the dream feed?  last night it took me 20 minutes to get her to open up..


thanks so much,
adrienne

[Scrapbooker]

This may be a better question for the EASY board, but here goes...

I think with a 5 week old, the best way to start the EASY (which sounds like you have already done) is to get on a regular (3 hour) feeding schedule.  Then, be sure that you are doing the pattern of EASY so she is not being fed to sleep, etc.  She may not have a very long A time at this point, but start to get a feel of how long she can handle and start a good wind down routine and bedtime routine so she knows nights from days.  I think the suggested feed times for that age are 7,10,1,4,6+8 (cluster feeds) and dream feed at 10-11.  With A and S in between.  I think the "when to wake them up?" is just based on when the next feed time is as you feed them just after waking them more than how long they've slept.  How long they sleep will really be based on how much A time they can do and they just sleep the rest.  Don't let her sleep past feeding time during the day.

As far as when to start your day, they recommend starting your day at the same time, I think.  That said, I think at that young age, I let her wake me up all through the night until a reasonable morning time to start the day so I could sleep more and then just started going every 3 hours after that (whatever schedule that put me on 5,8,11 or 6,9,12). 

Dreamfeeds (which I haven't done, so I may not be the best to answer this question) is just that-not waking them up officially but trying to get them to eat as a reflex instead of really waking up.  I have heard about trying them at different times during their sleep cycle (i.e. waiting 10-20 minutes if they'll not start sucking) but I haven't much helpful advice otherwise.  I know there are good postings about this on the breastfeeding board.  You can try there.

Good luck!!  Be glad you read the book before birth instead of after when you have to do more correcting instead of just starting off right like many of use had to.

[yaya]

u have received excellent advice so far! ur doing a great job gettting ur LO on EASY straight away but please remember that when they r so little its hard to get them on a 'strict' routine and yes, they r VERY unpredictable (actually, they never stops being unpredictable!) Anyway I would stick with it and she'll soon settle into her routine. But to answer, yes wake for feeds every 3 hrs and try not to let her fall asleep while feeding (even if its just a nappy change and back to sleep) The DF can take a while to work ,what r u doing to get her to latch on?

[tylersmommy]

When was your baby born? I have a 5 wk old too, she was born 17 Oct. We've been trying to do EASY since birth as well. Remember that your LO is still really young...some days go better than others, and her routine probably won't be predictable until 8 wks or so.

You've gotten some great advice so far...it doesn't matter how long she naps at this point, as long as you keep the feed intervals. Wake her to eat at the 3 hr mark and try to make sure she has even just a couple minutes of open-eye time after she's done. I think that's the most important thing in these early days...wake her to eat and try to get in just a couple min of A time afterward.

Our mornings are kinda all over the place too. My DD wakes at random times during the night to eat. I want her day to start between 7-8 AM, so any waking before that is treated as a night feed. Even if she wakes at 6 to eat, I put her right back to sleep and wake her to start the day with another feed between 7-8. Does that make sense?

It's hard to get them to take the dreamfeed at first, but you gotta be persistent and stick with it. There are some great tips on the bf board. Once she's gets in the habit of it, it will be easier to rouse her just enough to get some food into her.