EASY for 5 month old

[ENMS]

Hi!

My DD will be 5 month-old next week.  We've been trying to follow EASY since she's 2 months but we're not quite there because she's having short naps and she's still eating every 3 hours.  The problem we have is that as her A time extended lately, we've been caught in a situation where her 3rd nap ends at 3:30-4:00 and her bedtime is 7:15, which leaves her with too much A time and she has trouble getting a good feed before bed because she's exhausted, which results in night wakings sometimes.

Here's our EASY:

W: 7:00 (plays in crib by herself for 15-20 minutes then I pick her up)
E: 7:30
A: 7:50-9:00
S: 9:00-9:45

A: 9:45-10:30
E: 10:30-10:50
A: 10:50-12:00
S: 12:00-12:45

A: 12:45-13:15
E: 13:15-13:35
A: 13:35-3:00
S: 3:00-3:45

A: 3:45-4:00
E: 4:00-4:20
A: 4:20-6:45 (6:15 start preparing for bath, 6:45 in her room)
E: 6:45-7:15

S: 7:15-7:00

I need to tweak it but I don't see how unless I impose a schedule on her.  As of now, I've always been following her cues and would like to continue that way but it's no fun for everybody when she gets OT in the evening.

 

[~*Nicole*~]

Have you ever had any success with lengthening her naps?

Can you begin your bedtime routine earlier and try to have her asleep by 7? I would run her bath earlier and get her into her room earlier and start your feed around 6:15 so that she's done by 6:45 and heading off to bed so she is asleep by 7. Do you do a DF?

I know it's a bit early to feed based on waiting 3 hours between feeds, but you can consider it cluster feeding or tanking up and even if she doesn't take as much she can get what she needs if you do a DF later. But at least then she may not have as many NWs, unless they are hunger related, in which case settling should be easier and the timing should be more consistent.

Does she take a full feed every 3 hours?

Sorry for all the questions. Trying to get a better picture.

[ENMS]

Not much success with lengthening the naps, although lately she has started to take longer naps once in a while so I see hope!! :-)

I don't do a dream feed and never have. I go to bed early since I need a lot of sleep (9:30) so I'm not sure she would be hungry by then as well. 
I try to advance the bedtime routine as much as I can but you guessed right, the problem I have had is that sometimes she's not hungry although it really varies. But yesterday it worked and she was asleep by 7, although she didn't take a full feed.  But miraculously she didn't wake up!! Yay!

In terms of the timing of NW the timing is not always the same, it varies between 1:30, 3:30, 4:00, etc.  I do notice that the days she wakes up at 1:30 are the days she is very OT whereas the days she wakes up around 3:30-4:00 are usually because she's hungry.

During the day, she takes a full feed, I had issues in the past few weeks with reflux but she is back on medication and ever since she does take a full feed.  She gets one bottle per day with 5-6 oz of formula.  I don't have any issues with supply so I'm not worried about her not getting enough to eat at each feed.

Thanks for your help!!!

[~*Nicole*~]

Have you tried lengthening your A time by 10 or 15 minuts to see if that would elongate her naps? Not sure if that would be pushing her too far.

I do think that you'll have some success with trying to do the bedtime routine early and a DF. Are you alone or have a DP/DH? If alone, you could try setting an alarm to go in and feed. 9:30 would probably be too early. 10:30/11:00 is usually better. But 10:00 might not be too far off if you could hold out for bed until then. If you have someone home with you they could be in charge of that feed if your lo takes a bottle?

OR could she take a bottle for her bedtime feed b/c she may eat faster from a bottle and the formula may help hold her over longer as it takes longer to digest.

The other thought I had was a gradual progression from 3 hr. to 4 hr. EASY and then you can fit in full feeds and her body will get used to taking more at longer intervals. But you'd have to extend each feeding period gradually by about 15 mins.

Sorry I am throwing a lot of info out at you. I am at work.

[ENMS]

I have tried extending the A times and have posted numerous times on the Naps board, to no success!!  But I keep trying and I'm sure one day soon we'll get it!!!  I do have a DH, I'll try the dream feed but maybe not as the first solution, I'd rather work on her routine first.  She's been STTN since she was 6 weeks old without a dream feed so I would rather keep it that way as DH goes to bed same time as me because he wakes at 5AM to go to work.

I'll try to extend her feedings to get her on a 4-hr EASY (she's already on 2-hour A time).  I have tried in the past but she would cry so I gave up but maybe I could persevere a little bit more and see if that helps.

I'll also try the bottle at bedtime, we never did it because she enjoys bf and it's a relaxing moment at night but if it helps her stop the NW, I'm sure she'll get used to it.

I'll keep you posted, thank you so much for your quick responses and advice!!

[~*Nicole*~]

No problem.

I hope you can get the routine tweaked.