4 hour EASY early?

[andimary7]

Hi all,

My son was three months on halloween.  I'm wondering if he is ready for the 4 hour EASY schedule.  He is breastfed and is currently on the three hour plan, but can go up to 4 hours between feeds some days if the nap works out that way.  He sleeps through the night from about 8 to 8:30 and will sleep all the way through til about 8 or so without a dream feed.  So, night sleeping is going great, but during the day, he rarely takes a nap longer than 45 minutes unless he's in his swing.  Then at night, he gets kinda fussy and will not sleep most times for that last stretch between the last two feeds.  He is very big, at least 17 pounds.  He drank 7 ounces with the babysitter a couple days ago.  I think he's spirited and I'm not sure why he isn't napping better.  Lots of times, he'll have a burp that needs to get out.  Otherwise, I'm not sure if he's overtired or what.  How do you transition from a 3 hour easy to a 4 hour?

Thanks!

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi there!

Would you like to post your day in an EASY format and we can have a look if there is some tweaking that can be done to help with the naps.

What makes you think he is ready for a 4h EASY? Is he not interested in feeds every 3h?

There is some information here that might help: Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY
3-4hr EASY Transition – In 5 Minute Increments
TBH, I'd be cautious to do the transition too early as it can mess with his night sleep. I'd rather try and tweak A times first to help with naps.

[andimary7]

Thanks for your response, Ima shel Alon.

I guess I was just thinking he'd be ready for the 4 hour EASY because he's so big and can eat a lot at one time.  Part of my problem is that some mornings I have to wake him to take my four year old to school and other mornings I can let him sleep.  So, his wake time can vary up to a difference of 1.5 hours.  I'm thinking I may need to just put him to bed earlier so he will start waking on his own closer to when I have to feed him on school days.  And, I haven't really been paying attention to his A times, just going off of when he starts to fuss.  It's so much harder with an older sibling and extra activities going on throughout the week.  I'm going to try to put him to bed closer to 7:30 so we won't start the day with a deficit of night sleep and see what that does.

[Ima shel Alon]

That sounds like a good plan .

I would start and space the feeding more when he starts and show less interest in them.
Many times babies short nap because they have too much or too little A time. I think it's great you are following cues, but it might be that he needs a bit of help stretching his A times (or if A times are too long then you might be missing his window). You can have a look here what is average A times at his age: Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

Good luck!