adjusting 4h EASY with EW

[luiza]

My 6m old son has just started EW.  We are on a 4-hour EASY.  I am going to try to do things to deal with the EW, but in the meantime, I don't know how to adjust his schedule.  He used to wake up between 8:30 and 9am, and take a nap at 11am.  His bedtime is 9:30.  Now he wakes up happy at 7am, rolls over to his tummy and starts 'talking'.  I can't keep him awake until 11 for his nap - but if the first nap is early, the rest of the day is off, too.  So, what would be a reasonable 4-hour schedule with a 14 hour day?

I hope to get back on 12 hour days soon...

[*Jo*]

Hi there, are you able to put your routine up in EASY format so we can see a clearer picture of the whole day? thanks

[luiza]

The schedule, before the EW, was roughly
8:30 wake up
9:30 E
10:00 A
11:20 S

1:00 wake up
1:30 E
2:00 A
3:00 S

4:50 wake up
5:00 E
5:30 A
7:00 S (cat nap)
7:45 A
8:45 bath, E, book, cuddle
9:45 S (it takes him a long time to settle in)

So, the night used to be almost 11 hours.  Now, he wakes up at 7 or 7:30, and I don't know how to adjust the schedule. 

His bedtime is this late to maximize the number of BF given my work hours.  He is currently refusing a bottle, so we need to minimize the impact of that.

[*Jo*]

wow that catnap is waaaaay too late and probably too long as well. for your first A time you are giving him nearly 3 hours A time then the next A time is only 2 hours etc, the A times are all over the place. Im thinking that with the late catnap (I know you need him to go to bed later) its messing with his nightsleep, it cuts into his nightsleep, hes thinking that its bedtime and then he all of a sudden has to get up! its very unsettling

can i suggest that you stick to the same A time throughout the day? you may find you dont need to give the catnap, he needs to be doing 3 hours A time to be able to drop the catnap and seeing as he does a pretty good nap on nearly 3 hours I think he may be able to do it, so your day would look like this somewhat:

8.30am wake up
nap 1 - 11.30 - 1.00 (or whenever he wakes up)
nap 2 - 4.00-6.00
bedtime 8.30/9pm

does that make sense?

[luiza]

Yea, I know, the schedule is all over the place.  I just try to follow his cues.  I know most LOs seem to have the first A time be the shortest - he has always kind of been the other way.  But maybe I am misreading him, and a more regular schedule would work better.  I need to figure out what to do with the E times so that he does not cut the second nap short by waking up hungry (he really likes that 5pm BF).  Let's see if I can make a gradual transition in that direction.  Thanks!

[luiza]

Sorry, I meant to add that moving/shortening (or eliminating all together) the CN was going to be one of the things to try to get his EW under control.  But, in the meantime, I don't know what to do with with schedule if he wakes up at 7am instead of 8:30.  Any ideas?  I can't possibly keep him awake until 11:30!

[*Jo*]

well 7am is still a really good wake up time (we were getting 4.30am wakeups at that age when trying to get rid of the catnap!) I would think changing the A times a bit first would be the best bet, so if he wakes up at 7am then have the first nap at 10-11.30 then the next one roughly three hours later (unless its a short nap) and then once the sleeps are on track then you start edging forward the wakeup and bedtimes till its back in place

[luiza]

My main difficulty with the 7am wake-up time is that it shifts everything for us so that there are two milk feeds while I am at work instead of just one - and DS has been refusing his bottle (for 4 days now, and counting...).  I would love to have a 7:30pm bedtime!  it's just that it does not work with my teaching schedule. 

We are dealing at the same time with a daytime feeding issue, extra nighttime feeds (DS is hungry at night, since he missed a big feed during the day), EW (comparatively, given that his whole schedule is shifted and he goes to bed late), and possibly the need to drop the cat nap.  Gaa!

At the moment, I am trying to give a feed when he first wakes up, and then resettle him back to sleep.  It worked this morning, he woke up at 9am.  And he took better naps with a shorter A in the morning.  So I might try a schedule like this:

7am awake, BF, settle back to sleep
9am awake
10am E
11:30 S

1pm A
1:30-2:30 DH trying to give bottle and solids
3:30-5:30 S

5:30 E
7:15 cat nap - 20 minutes
8:45 bath, E, book, snuggle
9:30 S (I hope)

Trying to keep the A times more consistent and shorten the cat nap.  If he starts showing signs of wanting to drop the cat nap, I will go for 3h As.  Yesterday, he refused his catnap and then was falling asleep on the boob for his evening BF.

[*Jo*]

have you posted on the bottle feeding boards for ideas how to get him to take that feed during the day?

[luiza]

I haven't, though I have looked at other threads with similar problems to get some inspiration.  The funny thing is that he will take the bottle from me (or at least did last week) and not from his dad, which is the opposite of what everyone is saying...

Today's wake up was 9:15, after a 7:30 feed.  We will see what happens next.

[*Jo*]

hmmm have yu tried having your DH put something that smells like you next to your LO while feeding him??

[luiza]

So, with a 9:15 wake up, we have today:

9:15 up
10am E
11:45 S

1:30 wake up and solids (ate a bit of rice cereal)
3-3:40 tried the bottle
4:10 S

4:40 woke up and would not settle back down
5:30 E

Were trying for 2.5 h A times, but for some reason got the short nap there.  Going to give him a nap at 6:40pm so he can make it to his normal bed time.  Let's hope he does not fall asleep on the boob tonight.

[*Jo*]

I think the second A time was slightly too long? can I ask why the bottle was 5 hours after the first milk feed? I wouldve fed him at 2-2.30pm and aimed for being asleep at 4pm

[luiza]

I am not sure what happened there during the day - DH is on leave and staying with him during the day.   My guess is that DS refused the bottle earlier, but drank some once he was hungrier.  Only a little, though.  BTW, when I write down S times, it's the time he actually falls asleep, not the time we start to put him to sleep.

Yesterday he went to bed at 9:45 and today he woke up at 8am.  Total nighttime sleep: 10h 15m.  I don't think it's enough.  And of course he was eating all night, to make up of for the missed daytime feed(s).

I am so confused.  DS can't remember the exact nap times, so I won't post the schedule.  Today I could not get him to sleep before 10:25pm!  So tired.

We have so many problems, I don't know which one to start with now.

[*Jo*]

I have a suspicion the feeds may be really playing with all of this because he really needs to be taking his feeds during the day and not at night (I know you already know this ) I would post on the feeding board to see how you can manage that better, of course better sleeping leads to better feeding but we need to get rid of those nightfeeds (except for probably one) and get him eating better during the day.