when did you start using EASY?

[deeds]

I started within two months. I was convinced on reading The Baby Whisperer that I had a grumpy/spirited/touchy baby and was tearing my hair out as to why I had to get lumbered with that kind of personality:( . But then as if my magic, my baby within weeks could only be described as an angel!

Everyone always comments on how much dd laughs and plays and enjoys her own company and I firmly believe that was all achieved because of EASY. She knows exactly what's coming next. Thank God she falls asleep on her own when I put her down for the night or a nap - I used to literally tear my hair out because the first few weeks she was falling asleep in my arms and waking when she was put in the cot! Even the nanny is impressed because her job was done for her! 

I recommend this book to everyone and have actually bought copies for most of my friends who've given birth.

[shorty]

Hi Everyone-

Whelp, I've been trying to implement EASY a couple of days ago ( my son is 6 1/2 wks).  The biggest problem I am having (and let me know if there is a better place to post this..) is that It's always EAT then ACTIVITY--- what if he is simply not hungry at first and wants to chill out/be active and then eat?  This happened today (up at 7:00 AM and active until 8:00 to EAST and then went down for a nap at 9:00).  My husband had him  and he could tell he just wasnt hungry since he just ate at 5:40 (so getting up at 7:00 he just wasn't hungry). 

THEN, yesterday AND today (for his roughly 12:00 feedings/respectively), he just ZONKED after he ate...I mean, I couldn't wake him.  Then I made the mistake of tryign to wake him to "hey, we're supposed to do ACTIVITY NOW Buddy..") and he was raging mad -- crying and crying and then he just had that sleep face and I had to try to put him down to sleep.  ONLY to then ruin what could have been a perfectly good nap asI couldn't get him settled then (so, I HAD toput him in the swing..it was the only thing that was going to calm him -- like he was now overtired).  SOOO, I am really "torn"...maybe alll babies just aren't ready to be "active" right after they eat?  AND, what if they aren't hungry at first?   

ANy help is greatl appreciated.  I know EASY isn't a "schedule", but I do have htat in the back of my mind as well as having basic hours to understand when he should be awake/alsleep, etc.  Thanks for the forum:)

[sophiesmam]

Hi all newbie here, ive jus started EASY. My DD is 7 weeks and i just bought d book two days ago. Havent finished reading it yet but really enjoying it. So far so good fingers crossed

[Hayden's mom]

I started using EASY around 4 mths and now he's 6.5 mths old.  I was wondering if there was a 4.5 hr EASY.  He seems to be able to go longer now that he's on solids 3 times a day (longer than just 4 hrs between nursings).  Any suggestions?

[stevebent]

Attempted from when Mum and Lucas James released from hospital on Day 3

LJ is 2weeks and 1 day, and the EASY thing is VERY up and down so far...
However yesterday we realised we weren't actually doing EASY we were just writing down when he ate... lol! That doesn't really count does it!

So we're gonna hit the schedule hard this week. Obviously we're much better at picking up cues now, especially the E as he's a hungry boy! (9lbs1oz at birth and back to birthweight yesterday, bang on 2 weeks). He also has a lot of discomfort. I certainly don't don't want to wave the colic or reflux flags just yet so we're gonna leave it a few weeks and see how his wind problem goes - pretty classic symptoms at the minute, legs up clawing at face, heartbreaking to watch...

QUESTIONS:

1. LJ doesn't like being his arms swaddled - at all. When sleeping peacefully at least one arm is up by his ear. Do we listen to the cue and leave the arms out or persist with the crying even though they always come out eventually! Maybe use a belt or something!! ;-)

2. He often falls asleep on the breast therfore A after E didn't come naturally for us - guessing this is fairly normal...?? How do we fix it?

3. It's regularly very hard to settle him. e.g this morning after a decent S, E (BF 30mins), A (30 min, nappy and gym mat) at the second yawn I swaddled and gave a quick cuddle to settle him before putting him down. Gentle shush noises and patting went okay but not really working for 15 mins, then the yawns came and eyes started to shut. However at 20 mins he got upset and cried in pain, so pinky went in the mouth. He was then on 5 min cyles that involved soothing on finger, eyes closing & relaxing on finger, abrupt pain again. Repeat for next hour, when the cries turned to cough cries.... back to E!
This is fairly common and perhaps issue is breaking the accidental parenting of letting him fall asleep on Dad's lap at night to get him to sleep (SORRY!)
Any tips on settling him?

All advice, ideas and suggestions MOST welcome!

[Jacob's Mommy]

hi

when we first started EASY with DS it was like a rollercoaster but it takes a while and eventually we got it ....

1.  Our DS hated being swaddled and eventually we gave up and left his arms free but in the first week or so he used to wake up crying as he hit himself with his arms which scared the wits out of him.  When putting him down, i would just hold his arms down lightly and about 20 mins later go back in to hold it down again when he starts a new "sleep cycle"

2.  What I did was try to wake him while feeding like holding his hand, rubbing his cheek.  If he was wrapped in a blanket I would loosen it a little.

3.  It took a while for DS to get used to the shh/pat method but we persisted (even had to endure shhhing while having a sore throat) but finally paid off..

Hope the above helps a little

good luck

[shelmo]

Charlotte is 4 months old and we just started EASY proper yesterday, our routine was pretty much identical to 3 hour EASY previous, but night wakings were becoming more frequent. (We did have a short golden spell about a month or 2 ago where Charlotte was sleeping 6-8 hours a night! What happened?!)

So I bought Tracy's book a week ago. Spent 4 days wondering when/if to take the plunge! We're on day 2. Still VERY early days but willing to stick with it. Day 1 was pretty good-PU/PD took less time with each successive nap and after 11pm DF, Charlotte stirred once at 2am but managed to settle herself without any intervention and went on to sleep until 5:45am (pretty good compared to 2 hourly wakings!)then PU/PD for 20 mins until 7am. Also started to stretch times between first 2 feeds to aim for 4hour EASY, which seems to be going OK.

However, today has been different nap-wise. Spent the last 45mins-1 hour of S time during 2nd and 3rd nap doing PU/PD and have now nursing shredded ear drums! Think I missed her sleepy cues for nap no. 3 tho'!!
Charlotte went down for the night at 7:45pm, so am now off to bed with Ben&Jerry as sustenance for the possibly nightmarish night ahead!

Wish me luck...

[malinka]

I started using EASY only a few weeks ago. DS was just over 7 months at the time. The first day on the new routine was fantastic. DS slept for 2 hrs straight something he hasn't done since he was a newborn.

[Jys]

We started on day 5 - I assume this is considered from birth? It made life sane all of a sudden. BUt then she developed reflux a little while later, and of course just trying to juggle other things in life made it quite a challenge to ALWAYS stick to the routine. I have found that if we leave the house on errands, or have visitors it just throws the routine out of wack so easily. Its kinda hard to do "life" and make it "EASY" at the same time. EASY seems to work best when I am home, with NO distractions (or at least anything that will throw the routine off), no errands and of course tons of patience.

[kimmie83]

So

I started EASY right from the hospital and my baby has been so happy people can't believe it. He knows what will come next in his day and generally has been doing extremely well. My DS is 14weeks and has been struggling with 45minute naps but has been sleeping 12hours at night and once the naps are straigtened out all will be perfect. I love EASY because I can plan my day better and am so thankful my babe is happy.

So how did it work with a newborn... I have a 3 wk old?

[NoSleepBaby]

As of today my son is 4months, 2 weeks and 4 days old.  Just found the book at the library yesterday.  Had just heard about it this week and went to see if local bookstore or Wal Mart had it, which of course they didn't.  Thankfully library did.

Wish I would have heard about it sooner. 

[~*Sugar*~]

Well i had a rough time the first month and a half with my lo.We had a seriously OT baby and no idea why he wouldn't sleep or what to do.Then one day i was lying down with lo on my chest asleep watching Oprah and somehow in my exhausted state remembered a show i watched a long time ago about someone called the baby whisperer.I didn't remember who it was or anything about it or even if i was remember ing correctly but i figured if she was on Oprah there had to be some credibility to it.The next morning i went right to my book store and found the bw book and read it in a day and started easy that exact day.Took a few days of hell but it was well worth it!!

[saylorblue]

With my daughter, I started it around six weeks. With our son, I started from the beginning but little dude slept so much it was hard to keep him awake after eating. We found it really began to work with him when he was about four weeks old.

I LOVE EASY!

[lyssa]

I started using EASY around 2 months.  I had read several books.  I was going crazy with sleep deprivation and a colicky dd.   I read BABYWISE and it was just too strict.  I read a book on Attatchment Parenting (which I tried for a while) it was too demanding on me.  A friend of mine had seen Tracy on the Oprah show a while back and thought she was interesting so I went and got the book and it changed my life!  I have had challenges along the way but with BW and this message board supporting me I finally felt like I sort of knew what I was doing!

I read Babywise, too, and it was working (I was a little less strict than the book- feeding every 2 hours at the beginning) but then when my daughter changed and the "schedule" didn't work as well, I didn't know what to do and I tried to make her conform to what I pre-set.  It didn't make sense.  I also was not entirely comfortable with all the crying I made her do (although I didn't let her CIO all the time or for really long periods of time)... I wish I would have known about the BW first, since I feel like it helps teach you how to respond in a more organic way than Babywise.  Babywise paints such a "rosy picture" (as my husband says...) that you expect it to work for your baby ALL OF THE TIME, EVERYTIME and humans are just not like that.  I really appreciated Tracy's idea that babies are people and deserve respect, etc.  It teaches you how to listen- I love the descriptions of the different cries- I just hope my daughter didn't adopt a "pay attention" cry like Tracy says happens sometimes when there's no response.  The BW also helps you see that it's not always going to be perfect.  I think that will help me shed less tears (I am a "plan it" person) since I don't have ridiculous expectations...

[swiper]

Aimee was 12 weeks when I started on the EASY plan.