Help with 4 hour e.a.s.y transition - with 1.5 A time!

[lil_ginge]

Hello again!

Would love some wisdom as we work towards DD's new E.A.S.Y!

Our LO who usually sleeps like a dream started to wake 3 nights in a row and I figured that our 4 month DD is ready for a longer time between feeds. We had already naturally been pushing E's to 3.5 but she seems to wanna wait even longer than that and it's now that the night wakings have begun! She's also starting to have 2 hour naps (yay).

She was getting 5 day time feeds and then a DF at 10.30...

Yesterday she went 4 hours between feeds like a breeze. It seemed way more natural for her to eat this time apart BUT ... she's 4 months and her average A time is 1.5.

Yesterday - i think we had 3 naps + a CN and made the last feed shorter than 4 hours - she slept through, woop! This morning I read in BW that she should be having only 2 big naps a day and a catnap so I tried to follow this. It's worked out a bit more tricky with DD only being able to hack 1.5 awake time because even with the CN she has ages to her next feed... I've read on here that when they get to this point a bit of a EASAE is ok - but I would love advise about how to tailor my evenings better....

Here's todays EASY

E - 7.20
A -
S - 8.45 - 11 am (approx 2 hours)

E. 11.20
A.
S. 12.40 - 2.20 (1.45 hours approx)

E. 3.20
A.
S. 4.15 - 5.15 (hour CN in hope she'd keep going in the eve!)

E. 6.00pm - seemed really fussy and was making hunger noises... hoped a cluster feed here would keep her going to BT!

She has fallen asleep on her nappy mat now as she's been up for 1 hr 40! I'll feed her @ 7.15 or so tonight then DF @ 10.30...


I think the biggest prob is when we get to the late afternoon (3.20) and the extra A time we have in reserve gets longer and longer plus with such a little CN - I am confused about how we can work things.

I'm also a bit nervous about these changes as most of our Mums and Toddler's groups, be that Church stuff or local baby healthcare stuff is all in the mornings about 10am meaning I'd be interupting or moving her during a 2 hr nap. (O bummer!) Has anyone else adapted their EASY for when they're out and about in the mornings without hindering LO's healthy sleep?

Would love your thoughts. As always, thanks for taking the time

Claire

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi Claire, so a few thoughts I have:
*It is time for her to move to 4h EASY and to have 2 long naps and 1 CN, you are right in that. The transition to that, however, takes time, and so far it seems you are doing very well.
*You would need to start and up her A time, because as you see your day doesn't fit if she has such a short A time. You need to do it gently though. Up it by 10min every three days. You are giving it three days because that how long it takes them to get used to new A time. After three days you could stop and give it a few days or keep going with 10 minutes more. But then I would stop and see how it goes, you don't want to have her OT.
I found this EASY in the samples on the FAQ, maybe it will give you some idea:
4 hour EASY
2 hour A time
two-2 hour naps + one catnap
Total daytime sleep: 4 hr. 40 min.
Total nighttime sleep: 10 hrs. 45 min to 11 hrs. 15 min.)

Here is Joey's schedule at 14 weeks.  I don't wake him unless I'm protecting his third catnap or bedtime.  I also don't do a DF.

wake up anywhere from 7-7:30 but I try to not feed until 7:30
E 7:30
A
S 9:20-11:30
E 11:30
A
S 1:30-3:30
E 3:30
A
S 5:30-6:00
E 7:00
A Bath
E 7:45ish (just an ounce or two to make sure he goes to sleep not hungry)
S 8:15 p.m. asleep

If he wakes up early from a nap, we have A time before E.  If he wakes up late, everything is pushed back ... basically he just always goes down two hours after waking up.

Posted by: Carmela’s mom-August 29, 2006
*Some babies are very tired from the day before BT and need a short A time. If she is waking up at around 5PM then would you consider BT at 18:30? It might sound earlyto you, but I think that within time, while you are increasing your A time this will be pushed a bit forward to the time you wish her to go to bed. BTW, my LO is 1 year old now and he still starts his BT routine at 18:30 and in bed sleeping by 19 the latest and has always been like that
HTH! Please let me know if I missed something.

[lil_ginge]

Ima... you're like YODA!

Yea this is really helpful. What I've done is make the mistake of skipping the 'gently adjust her A time' and go straight to the 4 hours. I think all day - she seems to only want food every 4 hours but because of the A time then gets so tired that the early evening after the catnap is a tired, stressed one. I'll try to work on the A time slowly and then this will help the EASY form like you say. Thanks again Ima.

Yesterday and today to deal with the dodgy early evenings we ended up having a kinda cluster feed go on. Yesterday she woke from the catnap tired and frustrated so I fed her @ 6.00 then 7.15 TU before bed. This evening she couldnt seem to do 4 hours in the eve again so she woke from CN @ 5.00pm, I fed her at 5.30 (only 2.5 after last feed - she was asking for it weirdly!) and TU at 6.40 for an early bed time of 6.50...

Do you think I should try push the last feed back to 6.00/6.15 and not give her a TU - just put her to bed @ 6.30 to avoid a cluster feed habit?

The other option I had been deliberating about is reducing even the 4 hr easy's (7,11,3) that she does well - back to 3.45 to help with the late afternoon/eve? Is this taking a step back though in your opinion or a good idea?

Thanks for your help. x

[Ima shel Alon]

I think I mentioned it earlier so forgive me if I repeat myself but many babies can't handle a full A time to BT, especially at such young age. You aim to have BT when she is tired, no matter what time it is (well, of course it needs to be reasonable, but I see reasonable as between 18 and 20, and even that is a stretch).
Maybe I am the wrong person to ask  about the TU, because I am all for cluster feeding, I did it for as long as I could, basically till Alon just didn't take any of the bottle prior to the TU, so left only with the BT bottle.
I think you should fear, you won't over feed her, she'll take as much as she'd need. That's my opinion anyway.