Does my EASY need tweaking?

[danijami]

For the past week or so Evan has been getting up after sleeping only an hour (exactly and hour too).  It is getting frustrating because he has been doing so well on his 3 hour EASY.  I don't think that it is part of his sleep cycle because his is about 45 mins.  If I try to Sh/pat it wakes him up more and he definitely won't resettle.  The 3 hour EASY seems like it is no longer doing the trick anymore.  He is 3.5 months and is EBF.  A sample EASY that has been happening for the past week or so looks like this:

E - 8:30
A - 8:45 - 9:40
S - 9:40 - 10:40
A - 10:40 - 11:00
E - 11:00 - 11:15
A - 11:15 - 11:40
S - 12:00 - 2:00
E - 2:00 - 2:15
A - 2:15 - 3:10
S - 3:10 - 4:10
E - 4:10 - 4:25
A - 4:25 - 5:15
S - 5:15 - 6:15
E - 6:15 - 6:30
A - 6:30 - 7:30 - bath, cuddles, books etc and one more feed right before going down for the night
DF - 11:00
E - 4:00 and out until about 8-8:30

So, this is not an exact EASY but pretty close.  Lately, he has one good nap (2 hours or so) a day and the rest are about an hour.  Sometimes he will resettle and go back to sleep for another hour without assistance.  But, often he does not.  He is up and ready to play again.  So, do I mess around with his A time?  I have read already when to increase the A time and when to go to a 3.5 EASY.  Sometimes I think it would work and other days it feels like he still needs a 3 hour EASY.  Thoughts?

[Jiinx]

Hi hunny!
 So nice to meet you and your gorgeous little boy.

 So let's see if we can work through this...

 Since he's 3.5 months, I can safely say he can do an A time bw 1 hour and 30 mins to 1 hour and 45 mins.

He may, quite possibly, be waking from his first nap bc he needs a bump in his A time. Have you tried that?

It's wonderful that you're lowering his A time after a short nap and being consistent. After 2 hours, I find, babies are quite refreshed to do a full A time. Most likely he'll do fine with that. What do you think?

have you looked at routines at babies that are the similar to yours?
* http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164253.0

and this..
* http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

[danijami]

Thanks for your reply!  His A time is not quite 1.5 hours.  He shows his tired cues after being up an hour.  After his first cue (yawn or cry) I get him ready to go down.  He winds down and I put him to bed.  Normally, it only takes about 5 minutes before he is out.  So, his A time is still relatively short (i.e. 1 hour, 5-10 mins).  I have read about extending his A time, but I fear the OT bear.  He still eats every 3-3.5 hours (except today where he missed his first nap so he made up for it by sleeping for 4 hours).  I don't want to wake him up from a nap because I figure he needs the sleep.  Also, some times I think he is ready for a transition to a longer EASY but other times I am not sure.  I guess I will just have to try it out for a bit to see. 

[Jiinx]

Hi again!

He shows his tired cues after being up an hour.  After his first cue (yawn or cry) I get him ready to go down.

I just wanted to offer some advice just to keep at the back of your mind. Mind you, you know your baby the best. You know when he's tired

With my lo, I used to whisk her away at the first yawn I saw...which resulted in a crying fit and 45 minute nap. I did this..up until 6.5 months until I got some help and realized she yawned randomly and was actually able to stay up longer - it was hard bc she would cry and climb on me and want to go to sleep. It takes some time when their body is a certain A time AND when they've woken up they do want to take their first nap as soon as possible.

Again, just something to keep in mind if you did want to nudge that first A slowly. Slooowly.

HTH!

[danijami]

Thanks for the advice.  I had thought that perhaps he is just used to being up an hour and isn't as tired.  I will try to slowly extend the A time next week.  He now has a cold and that is throwing everything off.  He wakes up from coughing and can't get back to sleep.  When he does go back down he will sleep for almost 4 hours. 
Thanks again!
Daniele

[Jiinx]

do keep us posted dear