When to start the day with EASY

[Vally]

My DS is 16 weeks old and have been doing EASY for a month or so. Over the past few weeks he has been waking at 6am and after trying to get him to go back to sleep by putting his pacifier in decided to bring him into our bed where he slept for another two hours. I have tried a couple of times to get him back to sleep in his cot but he just stays awake so have continued to bring him into my bed where he will always sleep until 8am.

A couple of questions:

1) Is this a bad habit bringing him into bed with us every morning? Should I be continuing to try and get him back to sleep in his cot? If so, what do I do if it gets to 7am and he still has not gone back to sleep? Should I get him up to start the day (will this not disrupt EASY as he will have already been awake an hour before eating?

2) He is now on 4 hour EASY and as he goes to bed at 7am I am worried that he will not get enough to eat in the day when his day starts at 8am as his last feed has to be at 7pm and therefore he does not take as much milk? Linked to the above, should I therefore start his day at 7am with his first feed and therefore not bringing him to bed for more sleep? When I go back to work I will have to get up at 6am anyway.

I am sorry if I have made my questions very confusing. I hope someone can help me to tweak my routine.

Thanks

[nelliestar]

I am fairly new too and there will be lots of people along soon to help you but we have just solved (fingers crossed!) our EW problem. We got blackout blinds and made sure the first A time of the day was a little longer - extended it by 5 mins at first to see if that helps. Apparently if the first nap is too near wake up time it can be a continuation of the night time sleep and cause EW. also we aim for a 12 hour day - up at 7 and bed at 7 this is what BW recommends.
You need more of an expert with your other queries!
Good luck,
Nell xxx

[~*Nicole*~]

I had to bring DD's wake up time earlier over the course of a week or two before returning to work so I could get her fed and dressed and to my mom's in time. You might want to aim for the routine you'll need to get to work on time as well. Even if you have to do a 6pm to 6am! Or you could let him sleep til 7am (I do this for DD) and I have from 6 to 7 to get myself ready first (although she sometimes is up earlier and messes with my ingenius plan   )

The bringing him to your bed thing could definitely become a habit and he may like it more than sleeping alone and then you essentially become his "lovey" and he might end up NEEDING your presence to sleep well and this could interrupt sleep that he is already good at doing on his own. I would try to look at your routine to see if that might cause his EW or try wake to sleep if he is habitually waking at the same time. Definitely black out curtains (or blankets over yours like in DD's room hehe) help when they are more aware and notice the light and birds chirping that they might not have when younger. If he doesn't cry, I would leave him in his crib and let him amuse himself with his mobile, feet, hands, whatever and start your day at the time you'd like to start your day at. Try to keep your first nap as close to normal as possible (as long as he won't be completely miserable and OT) but if you can get him to the normal time, you might get him to sleep later as he won't catch up on the lost sleep so quickly in the morning and it should encourage later waking.

Also, if you could post your routine....others will be along to help you out as well!