3 months EASY troubles

[amayzie]

I took advantage of the warm weather and went skiing on Tuesday

Ok... do you mean water skiing? If you mean snow skiing then that is a really confusing sentence to me!! ;P

[kitcat]

By warm I mean warm for February. We went cross-country skiing.

So another question. Tonight was great. She only woke at 5:45. At that point, I didn't let her fuss/talk much since I didn't want her to wake the older one. I fed her and put her back down. In retrospect I'm not sure it was the best idea.
She continued to have a crib party, cooing and laughing until about 7 and went back to bed until 8:50... Should i just continue this until she hopefully pushes the 5:45 later? Or shoudl I try and get her back down until a bit later and start the day... Any suggestions?

[Jiinx]

Hi Cat,
 Oo I remember those days fondly. So that was her first "nap" so to speak. Was it longer than 10 hours when she awoke at 5:45? I don't think you should pursue feeding her at 5:45 as she just may be ready to start the day...I'd say wake her ..keep her up and try to push your day with longer A times resulting in longer naps. Easier said than done, huh?

[kitcat]

Crap I was worried you would say that... Yeh the rest of the day was a  bit off. A OT second nap. I'm thinking I'm just going to do 2h A times until she get used to them. On a good day she will give me UT naps with 1h50 for the second A so she is probably almost ready. Besides she will be 4 months next week.

So I guess if I get another early morning I will shh pat until 6:30 7ish. She usually takes them well and it would keep her quiet and not wake the older one... I'll see what the next couple of nights are and go from there. I'm guessing I'll be back to brainstorm

[kitcat]

Ok some success. Saturday she work around 4:15 but resettled on her own until 6:45. Yeh no night feeds!!

We also had a great day with pretty much a perfect 4h EASY. My only problem occurred after her catnap at 5:50. She was miserable and wanted to nurse... We were at companies so I fed her... Is this a bad habit to give her a snack to tie her over until her 7pm feed?

Night was also good. She woke at 6:05 which is early but I'm hoping as she gets used to no nf and the 4h EASY I will be able to push this a bit later... crossing my fingers here. Also, what is the strategy to fit the extra hour in the day? I had tons of stuff to get done so I let her have a longer first nap today. I'm thinking I probably should of cut it after 2h but took advantage of the oldest being at grandmas and the extra time to get stuff done around the house... I would of been one hour ahead and would of required an extra catnap. Would this of been a better strategy? I don't htink the longer day sleep usually interrupts her nights... Thoughts???
 

[amayzie]

We never cap or caped hamish's sleep- (other than the cat nap)- i think it is up to your LO- if you are finding it isn't impacting the night sleep then you are fine to keep it. Also- it makes it easier to fill the day. Ir's probably better than an extra cat nap.

[kitcat]

Alright thanks. Would you add a small extra feed after the catnap. She wakes and expects to eat.... I can't imagine distracting her for an hour...

[amayzie]

I think at that age i actually had the final feed after the cat nap rather than before bed- so he would have a feed after the afternoon nap at say 3, or 2.30 or so (remembering early EASYs can be hard!) and then he;d be up from the cat nap at 5.30 or 6 or so... I'd feed then and then at the dream feed. It worked out with the EASY. I think i only moved the feed to bed time when i dropped the cat nap at 6 months, so kept the 4 feeds we were doing at the time, but moved it to bed time...

My guy would also wake up starving- or at least expecting to eat.. the joys of a routine i guess!

[kitcat]

Ok that sounds like our place. She is so conditioned to eating when she eats that I don't think I can get around it. Crossing my fingers we get another good night

Thanks for all the support.

[kitcat]

A couple more questions. My book is on loan and I am wondering what is the strategy now if she wakes at night due to a gs, which is probably right around the corner since she will be 4 months tomorrow.

Also, around 5:30 am she is talking a bit and going back down. I know this is normal but wondering if it is also a sign I should try and increase the last A a little. We are doing the catnap around 5 so maybe I could try 4:45???

[amayzie]

I think if you're sure it's a growth spurt just feed her- she'll need it.

And yeah- it's probably a good sign to push them a little..

[Jiinx]

I agree...if it's a growth spurt there really isn't a strategy except to feed her. She will wake up at least once more during the night for a feed while they're growing. Just not enough calories during the day and they get hungry during the night. Cluster feeding and dream feeding helps but sometimes they need that little bit more!

[kitcat]

so far doing good at night still. I'm hoping maybe the 4 months gs is passed...

EASY going well A times are now longer but she is giving me good naps so not complaining. She was giving me 2h naps last week but now they are down to 1.5h. I've extended the A time by 15 minutes and doesn't change anything. She is happy so not worrying about it. Tahnks for all the great advice!