Please help tweaking EASY for 2 month old.

[Beata]

My 2 month old DD is on a pretty good 3 hour EASY (sometimes 2.5, but I let her guide it) 7, 10, 1, 4, 7 in general - 30 minutes here and there.

I have a few issues - I cannot get her to actually fall asleep for her catnap - she'll doze off and on. Then it makes it hard to keep her up until 7 pm.

At 2:30 everyday I pick DD1 from school and DD2 usually has that nap in her car seat I am trying to let go of that guilt.

She usually wakes at 8-9 pm. I feed her. Do you think I should just give her her paci and try to start giving her a DF at 10?

At night, she's been waking every 3 hours pretty consistently and feeding like crazy for 10 minutes or more and then falling asleep unless she poops! which is pretty often in the middle of the night.

Also, Some days I do EAESY because I worry she needs to up her calories during the day, but could this be contributing to snacking? It also has night helped our nights.

I am writing down our schedule today, so I'll have a more accurate view of my EASY tonight. TIA

[TDR'smom]

Your lo's are so cute!!  For our cat nap we did and still do a lot of AP.  In a sling or rocking.  We just make sure she goes down on her own for her other naps and bedtime.  Maybe you could try that?

We'll look at your schedule when you post it!

[huntersmummyinoz]

totally agree with judy. hunter's catnap would often be in the baby carrier or the pram, guaranteed he would get the sleep and then be able to make it thru his bath to bedtime. all other sleep was in the bassinette tho.

does she feed for long at that 8/9pm waking, or just take a little and doze off? although it's recommended to drop the clusterfeed at 8 weeks, hunter seemed to need to extra calories so i used to feed at the same times you are, however i would also bf one side around 530/6ish when woke from catnap, straight to bath, baby massage, pjs, etc, then bf the otherside around 7ish and start bedtime routine, then df at 10pm. it may be worth a shot to see if it stops her waking at that 8/9pm time, then you could do a df at 10ish.

how long a nap is she getting in the car seat on the school run? there's nothing you can do about it so dont feel bad (easier said than done i'm sure!) but there are ways to make sure that nap is still a good length which is more important than where she has to take it IYKWIM.

HTH
kirry

[Beata]

Okay - so here was our day...

Wake 7:20 (wait while I dress DD1 for school)
E 7:50
A
S 8:35

(at 9:15 I went in to get her through the 45 minute mark)

E 10:35 (I think I made a mistake of waking her, she wanted to keep falling asleep during the feed - this hardly ever happens)
A
S 11:25 (due to being so sleepy from a ruined first nap?)

E 12:35
A
S 1:35 (ugh, only 45ish minute nap, I could not get her back to sleep)

E 3:00 (stretched from the 2:30 wake up)
A
S 3:45

E 4:45
A - watching me play with DD1, bath
E 6:00 - she was unusually fussy at his feed
S 7:15 (sound asleep at this point)

So I think I will see if she makes it to DF at 10 (yikes)

So looks like we are closer to a 2.5 hour EASY. It night have been that first nap...what do you think?

Kirry - I usually do a feed after catnap - even it it's just a rest, and then another feed after bath. She usually goes down awake and just with a paci. She's made it though sleep cycles at night and naps without paci (spit out once fell asleep) Just FYI. Every night feed is normally 10-15 minutes even the early feed. Lots of sucking and swallowing at first, but quickly fading to suckling.

She gets at least an hour -  1.5 hour during the school run - not too bad. On some days, she'll stay awake and I get her home into bed. It's a little consistent, but not totally. I'll keep on keeping track to see if this is the typical pattern. Maybe I am overestimating her EASY cycle. I'm a little nervous because tomorrow we go for 2-month check-up/shots

[Beata]

Okay - the rest of the night went like this:

Woke alone at 8:45 - really wet diaper which I changed and she chugged for 10 minites

10pm DF (ate for 10 minutes, but with lots of pauses and me doing compression to get her to keep sucking.

Slept until 2 AM!!! Ate for 45 minutes!!! I thought she might make it until 7.

Up at 4 and 5:45

Up at 7:15.

[huntersmummyinoz]

sorry for the late reply. my LO is a mess getting his molars so havent been on much.

i dont think you made a mistake waking her after 2 hours, as any more can take away from her night sleep. to help wake my LO one up properly, i would sit him upright for a few mins on my lap when i first got him up, his little eyes would just pop open, followed by a  nappy change as this always guaranteed to really wake him up. if she still gets sleepy on a feed, take her off, sit her upright and try again. it may take her a little while to adjust to this.

as she gets used to the df and starts to take more in that feed, she should start to sleep past that 2am feed.

hope she is doing ok after her shots

[huntersmummyinoz]

also thought i'd add, i had loads of trouble trying to bf for the df. just couldnt get him to latch on for any length of time. i started to express and DH gave him a bottle instead and found that much easier to wiggle into his mouth, after 2 weeks of offering it at the same time every night he went from taking a couple of sips to downing 3/4 ozs. but a lot of mums who bf for this feed say once LO gets used to eating at that time every day they start to eat more.
HTH

[TDR'smom]

Hope your lo is feeling better after her shots!!!

Did she eat again when she woke at 4 and 5:45AM?

[Beata]

Hi thanks ladies. I think the key will be for us to keep trying! We are going on day/night 4 of the DF, and last night was the most successful - as you say, they get used to it. She only slept until 12:45 (like you say maybe she did not take much yet) and then until 4 and then until morning. But I think I will let DH have a go at feeding her EBM. I think her mind, body and belly are getting the idea. We'll keep on keeping on.

Thanks for asking about her shots She was grumpy and sore but after the next full day she was better.

Also, now that we are more on a 24 hour schedule, the days are evening our and stretching closer to that 3 hour mark. I was thinking about and talking to moms of FF babies...and the advantage they have are to keep them on a schedule for 24 hours. I was always on demand, but I'm thinking with DD2 she's adjusting a bit better to eating at the same hours. DD1 was on demand for 5 months before BW and it was a struggle because I would never know how each day would turn out. Thant being said, DD2 is WAY MORE chill. Falls asleep with no problem, hardly cries.


Thanks for your advice!

[huntersmummyinoz]

glad to hear she seems to be settling into a good routine. DH really loved giving hunter the DF, gave him a chance to have a nice little snuggle, especially on days he had to work late as even tho hunter was asleep he still got to see him IYKWIM.

keep us posted