New to EASY - some sleep Q's !!!

[Pinguxxx]

Hi there, I'm new to BW and have been following EASY for a couple of days now with my daughter who is nearly 9 wks, nearly 10lb now but was 5lb 9oz at birth. The ladies on the EASY forum have been excellent in answering my many queries and now I have sleep ones!!

If she wakes after a nap of only 40mins or so how long should I persevere and try and get her back to sleep? I'm not sure I know if she's still tired after waking from that or she's hungry now? This morning she fed every 2hrs because she had short naps and I got her up when she didn't seem like she'd go back off. This afternoon she has slept for 2.5hrs and still sleep! She was very cranky after 2 feeds in the middle of the day, not sure if this was due to her reflux, constipation or being overtired!! 

Also if she sleeps for over 2hrs or so and seems to be going over her 2.5hr feed cycle should I wake her up or let her sleep until she wants to wake. I'm confused as in the 'solves all your pronlems' book Tracy says about getting baby back to sleep if they wake early and then if they are only asleep 10mins or so to wake them up at the end of their nap time to start the EASY routine again ..... I'm confused!!

Am I expecting too much right now and should I just follow the EASY cycle and see how lo is rather than try and get her to conform to the recommended length of naps etc at this stage? Obviously this long sleep has thrown the 4, 6, 7 cluster feed pattern out the window now!

[malialeanne]

Hi there. Welcome to the boards!

BW recommends waking babies if they nap too long in order to set their internal clocks. The exception would be if your baby seems extra tired, has a rough night, etc and you feel she needs the extra sleep--you'll develop a "mommy instinct" that tells you when she needs the extra sleep more than she needs to be woken up (not to confuse you more!)

At her age she could do a 3 hour EASY, so no need to wake at the 2.5 hour point. The reference to waking a baby after 10 minutes to start EASY again refers to a short nap--if your baby wakes 45 minutes into what should be a 1.5 hour nap, Traci recommends trying to get them back to sleep for the remainder of the nap period, and then waking them for the next feed even if they have only been asleep a short time (for example, 10 minutes).

At your los age we did a loose EASY and tried, as you say, to mainly just follow the EASY cycle. Our EASY ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 hours. And cluster feeding is an optional thing, it doesn't work out for everyone.

Hope this helps!