Plz help with E and S

[AMJ]

Hi everyone my question is about puting my almost 4 month old on EASY. She breastfeeds on damand here and there so I have a feeling she is snacking. I tried feeding her after S but she just eats for few minutes and she is done. She prefers eating before S and I don't know how to change that. She doesn't want to eat too much at once either so I end up giving her a bood very often. how do i help her to eat every 3 hrs without starving her and without making her snack? She also doesn't want to take a pacifier. For the past 3 days I started to teach her how to self soothe and it is going not bad. some of her naps did extend from 30 min to 1.5 hrs but I have a feeling that because of her snacking she doesn't sleep/ nap all the time as she supposed to. Also I still swaddle her because she can't fall asleep unswaddled. I tried leaving her hands out so she can suck on her hand and self soothe but it just doesn't work. Before she goes to bed for the night she ends up being put in a crib and picked up again a bunch of time because she wants to eat/snack/suck few times before she falls asleep.

[AMJ]

I offer her a boob first thing in the morning but again the same thing happens- she eats for few mins and she is done until its time to go for S.

[AMJ]

This is how our days looks so far being just new to EASY

7:00  am awake
7:15 am Eat (5 min)
7:24 am Activity
8:10 am Eat (5min)
8:20 am Sleep (try to put her in sleep bag but ended up wrapping) 8:40 am aSleep (1hr 50min)
10:35 am Eat (5min)
11:15 am Eat (3 min)
11:44 am Sleep(35 min)
12:20 pm Awake Activity
1:10 pm in bed
1:20 pm Sleep(1hr 50 min)
3:10 pm Awake Eat (6 min)
3:16 pm Activity
4:46 pm Eat (5min) then (10 min)
5:15 pm Sleep
5:20 pm awake to feed (15-20min)
5:47 pm Sleep
8:53 pm awake Eat diaper change
9:25 pm Sleep
3:05 am awake Eat diaper change
3:55 am Sleep

6:15 am Awake
6:19 am Eat (2 min)
6:21 am Activity
7:00 am Eat(3 min)
7:08 am Sleep ( took 4 min to fall asleep) ( 1 hr 35 min)
8:45 am Awake
8:54 am Eat ( 3 min)
9:00 am Activity
10:03 am Eat( 28 min)
10:30 am Sleep
11:07 am awake ( pat/sh)
11:20 am Sleep
12:30 m Awake ( 5 min)
12:40 pm Activity
2:17 pm Eat
2:30 pm Sleep
2:50 pm awake try to put to sleep
Eat few min
4:20 pm trying to put to sleep till 5:36 pm
Eat 5:15 pm to 5:35 pm
6pm Sleep
7:00 pm awake Eat diaper change
7:44 pm Sleep
11:00 pm awake from noise Eat diaper
11:49 pm Sleep
1:14 am awake; put back to sleep
5:35 am awake Eat for few mins and try to put back to sleep. She ate for few min again and Sleep at 6:07 am

[AMJ]

Also I find that she gets distracted when she eats. She tries to look around and it feels that she doesn't want to waste time on eating and wants to play. I tried feeding her in a dark and in a boring area but the only time she eats good and calm is at night which is once or twice per night. Even in the evening when she eats before S she eats like she is uneasy, eats and cries and eats again. She has a lot of gas so I'm thinking maybe it is caused by the way I am feeding her. Please help me to help her eat bigger less often meals and eats them after S. thanks

[*Ali*]

Is she desperate to feed when she wakes up? If not what about waiting and feeding her after half an hour or even an hour so that she is hungrier and doesn't have time to need another feed before she goes to sleep. I wouldn't hold her off if she is crying though. You'll probably need to distract her by changing her nappy and having a play for example.

You probably also need to extend her A times as typically a 4mo would be doing 1hr45-2hrs awake between naps. Some of those short naps must be due to UT I would think.

[AMJ]

Sometimes she seems hungry but when I give her a boob she eats a bit only. I'll try feeding her a bit later after S. I usually try to watch her sleepy signs: yawn, stare and then put her for a nap. So should I just ignore those and keep her up longer?thanks

[AMJ]

Also she started to wake up early in the morning. Her usual wake time is around 7 am. Should I put her back to sleep if she wakes up early and should I wake her up at 7 am if she sleeps longer after I put her back to sleep? Thanks

[*Ali*]

She is probably just tired because she is used to sleeping after those short A times but yes I would keep her up a little longer and try to push the A by 10 mins every few days so you are building gradually from her current A time to around 2hrs. She may well start to sleep in once she has longer A times in the day. I notice she is in bed around 6pm and only wakes to eat and have her diaper changed so if she wakes any longer than 11hrs after BT then I would totally get her up and start the day yes.
Ultimately you want to be aiming for something closer to:
7am WU and E
A 2hrs
9am S 2hrs
11am E
A 2hrs
1pm S 2hrs
3pm E
A 2hrs
5pm S 30-45 mins
A 1hr15-1 hr30
6.45pm E
7-7.30 S BT
10pm E (DF)
NF if/when she wakes

How are you teaching her to self soothe? Shh pat?

[AMJ]

Great ill try that routine. Just to confirm NF means no feeding? And the last nap is 30-45 min, do I wake her if she sleeps longer?
She used to go to sleep at 7-7:30 but since we started EASY she started going at around 6pm.
Yeah I'm doing pat/sh together with pick up/put down depending on how much she is crying. Unusually pu/pd works better.

[AMJ]

What about the naps outside? If we are out and its a nap time is it ok for her to sleep in her stroller? Or I need to make sure she is napping at home? It's difficult sometimes to do that.

[*Ali*]

No sorry, NF means Night Feed. If she is hungry at night then you can definitely feed her at least once at this age.

I wouldn't jump straight to that routine since she is used to sleeping little and often at the moment. You are better off extending her A times slowly to give her A chance to adjust but that will hopefully be the end goal. Well, until she needs even more A time a few weeks later that is

And yes I would wake her from the CN to preserve BT if she isn't up by 45mins.

Naps out are fine and necessary so you don't get stuck at home both going crazy IMO. You may want to try to have most naps at home so she doesn't become dependent on the stroller and because many LOs will short nap out. But I actually think it is handy to keep them used to sleeping in the stroller when you need them to, such as on days out so they don't miss naps if you can't he home.

[AMJ]

Thank you Ali very much!