Is this E.A.S.Y - What changes should I make?

[legend_018]

Ok, Please tell me if this is some kind of E.A.S.Y? I know this is long, but I wanted to really give you an idea of what a day can be like. See schedule below. Are her A times rather long at times? Please give me any suggestions and or tweaks. I don’t mind criticism. I also cry out for help a little in some of my explanations below and ask a couple questions. Please keep the following in mind. She turned 7 weeks on Monday. Doctor thinks she has some form of reflux and has been VERY gassy. She got started on prilosec 10/4/07 and now has to have rice cereal in all her bottles unless it ends up causing constipation – than we’ll have to switch to barley. So far she’s done her poopies. Oh and she’s 9 lbs. I started the rice cereal at around 4:30pm 10/3. She was on zantak prior. She didn’t spit up as much today actually and didn’t seem as gassy. Well I think "lol"

Start October 4th. For some reason this is when I first started tracking
E – 3:15am- 3.5oz and back to sleep
E – 6:15am – 2.5oz and back to sleep
E&A -:  9:17am - 10:12am – 3.5oz
S – 10:12am (see * note below)
A – 10:40-11:12am (see ** note below)
S – 11:12am – 11:49am
E – 11:57- not even .5 of an oz (see *** note below)
S – 12:05 – 1:13
E - 1:13 - 2.5oz
S – hard to say. I tried real hard to get her to settle in her bassinet. She had a 5/10 minute cat nap and than another 20 minute cat nap I believe. She wouldn’t stay sleeping. I believe some of it was due to her gas/reflux maybe? She did spit up a very little once and burped once or twice during these wake-ups. I don’t think she really ever fully settled down for too long.
E & A– 4:07 – 2oz
S – 5:15 to about 5:50am with a few small wake ups. Once again can’t get her to fully settle and we don’t know why. She did get the hiccups a little while after eating. I got her to fall asleep in my arms 2ce and put her down on her side in her boppy. She keeps waking up. Finally gave up and put in swing, but she actually wouldn’t sleep in there either ; ). She’s not even really being that fussy.
A – 5:50 -6:22. Let out a few burps during this time
OK now see below. Every night I go through this. She just wont settle and will only cat nap here and there. I never quite counted how often and how long she slept for. She just never seems to settle for too long. Maybe 20 minutes tops would be the longest. Also – this eating thing. I just don’t know how to control it. She drinks it on the slow side too, but acts like she really wants it and I feel she’s saying to me I’m not going to settle until you give it to me. Other times she drinks her bottle in a quicker manner so I'm pretty sure the cuts we put into it for the cereal is fine. It's like she is just constantly snacking and it's EVERY night something similar to this. I'm guessing OT is a big part of this.
E – 6:20pm – 1.5oz
E – 8:20 – 1.5oz
E – 9:20 – 1.5oz
E – 10:20pm Please go to sleep “lol”.  – drank .25oz and finally went to sleep.
E – 2:12am – 3.5oz and back to sleep. Was done fairly quickly too.
E- 5:52-2oz and back to sleep and is sleeping now.

*The 9:17am feed was a bit long. She really took her time and took a big break inbetween. I try not to let all feeds be that long. She ended up just falling asleep after she drank the last ˝ oz and I put her down.

** After letting her stay up - I tried ssh pat in bassinet. It’s hard bending down into such a small space…but I tried. 18 month old wouldn’t’ leave me alone and eventually Chaunda started getting mad about something. Not sure what – OT maybe? I had even tried paci. I ended up bringing her downstairs and put in swing with paci. I HAVE no idea how to help her fall asleep other than me walking around holding her until she falls asleep and/or swing during the day and/or her falling asleep on the bottle. This is going to be one of my biggest challenges I’m sure.

*** Eyes opened and within minutes…got the hiccups and after a few minutes appeared to be BEGGING for her milk. She never likes having the hiccups. I probably messed up. It’s so hard. I tried paci and burping and everything and she was acting like she was STARVED. Figured she wanted it since it was close to 3 hours. Drank not even .5 of an oz and than started drinking it soooooooo slow I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t want to play this game. I didn’t give her anymore and put back in swing because honestly I didn’t know what else to do and I wasn’t about to spend the next hour trying to get a bottle into her. She fell right back to sleep.

update: It's 8:50am and she is still sleeping.

[vadensmommy]

Looking through your post I am wondering if you are getting some of her cues mixed up.  It looks like she is eating small amounts really often.  So basically it sounds like she is snacking.  I know at 7wks my dd was eating at least 3-4 ounces per feeding, and able to comfortably go at least 3 hours between feedings.  At 7 weeks dd was staying awake anywhere from 1.25-1.5hrs before needing to nap.   Before starting easy (right at 7weeks like you) dd sounded a lot like yours - lots of snacking and really short naps - 20 min, and only napping well in her swing.  Also, I have heard that eating frequent small meals can actually make gas and reflux worse, and that may be happening to your dd.

So I started with a pretty firm EASY - only fed her every 3 hours unless she just couldn't stand it, and was OBVIOUSLY starving.  I also basically abandoned the swing.  I only let dd swing when she was awake and in no danger of falling asleep in the swing.  I made sure we were home for as many naps as possible, and had dd take them in her bassinet every time (and eventually transitioned into her crib around 3mos).  I knew one day she would grow out of her swing, and it would NOT be pretty if that was the only way she knew how to go to sleep.

I also established a really good wind down routine so dd knew exactly what was happening next.    Ours was: diaper change, swaddle, turn out lights/shut blinds and curtains, turn on sound machine and monitor, sit and rock and sing the same song, till dd was asleep, put her in bassinet.  I very gradually went from rocking dd to sleep to laying her down more and more awake until I could lay her down wide awake after our wind down and she would go to sleep on her own with very very little fuss if any.  Now, dd is an angel baby and so this worked for us - I never really did use pat/shh, but many people use it and get lots of results from it.  I just never had to  

So I hope some of this helps.  I think the main thing I would do would be to ONLY feed her every 3 hours unless she just seems ravenous, and work on getting her to nap better.  I hope that gives you some direction - post back and let us know how your getting along!