new to easy

[countingsheep]

Hi
I am new but have been browsing and am grateful for what I have read so far.
I have an 11 1/2 week old who was born at 34 +3 and spent 2 uneventful weeks in NICU.
He was on a 3 hr schedule in nicu but after we left he seemed to eat far more often. every hr to 1.5 hrs.
The longest he has gone between feeds is 5hrs and that was whilst sleeping on his tummy with me awake next to him...he usually sleeps on his back.

I tried to put him on a 3 hr easy but failed because he seemed so hungry and I had other stressors.

I am now trying again....but this time if he wakes and is hungry I will feed him...and not listen to the cries!

I don't use a soother

I have ordered to baby whisperer book

My questions are as follows:-
some people say babies cluster feed to help them sleep longer-how does cluster feeding fit into the schedule?

should I wake to feed?

sometimes when he wakes he seems to have quiet awake time...not playing just taking in his surroundngs should I feed him then or when he seems to be hungry

if I cheat and have to give him an extra feed (I find this happens when out and about) do I adjust the schedule accordingly or pretend it didn't happen!

so far the last 24 hrs have looked like this
1.50pm feed, awake 45, nap
3.50 feed, awake 50, nap..awake at 5.50pm and wouldn't sleep crying (even in stroller!)
6.20pm feed, awake 60, sleep
11.11pm feed sleep to 2.15 am feed sleep t0 5.10am feed....tried to go back to sleep clearly not interested!
awake till about 7.10 then slept to 7.37
7.37eat, awake til 8.20 then slept a bit...then had to take for walk to get back to sleep
10.20 eat, awake till 11.35 (had to have a top up feed in there) and currently still asleep 1.34pm

naps are taken in baby carrier, carseat, stroller and his hammock.

sorry that this is a little muddled....my brain is!

any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi and welcome to BW!

His adjusted age would be like 5-6 weeks, right? At this age it is still very very common for babies to feed often and many babies to get to 3h spaces between the feeds. So for now, I really wouldn't worry about it.
I do think, though, that he might be ready to be awake for a bit longer so he can nap better (hopefully!) and that might also help with the EW. At his age he should be doing around 1h A time (Average A times- BOOKMARK ME! ). I would work on increasing his A times gradually, by 10min for the next 4 days and see if there is a change. If it's all the same then then I would increase by 10min more.

I wouldn't wake a baby to feed, but that's me. I always thought that DS will wake up by himself if he was hungry, yk?
He was a very hungry baby so at times we had short naps and it wasn't 3h since last feed I simply had to feed him when he woke up and I started a new EASY cycle. Every day was a bit different but it got better as he grew older and could go longer between feeds.

By cluster feeding do you refer to the early evening cluster feeding? If so, then there is some info here: Cluster & Dreamfeeding FAQ's - Starting, how to do it, stopping & problems

Good luck!

[countingsheep]

Thankyou, I wasn't sure whether to go by adjusted age or not...I cannot believe it has taken me 11 weeks to work out that just because he roots doesn't mean he is hungry!
He usually wakes a little before a feed, is it ok to be on a EASAE cycle or will this make naps more difficult?
I find that when I put him in his hammock to sleep he is suddenly wide awake-..does this happen a lot?  and is it best to pick back up...or continue shushing?
Do I try to keep him in there for the full allotted nap time?
many thanks

[Ima shel Alon]

It's ok if a cycle looks like this: EASAEAS. If you make sure he has even a very short A time between feeds and sleep then it will help him not associating the two.

He is very very young, I actually doubt that shhing him will help with sleep at this age (adjusted age). If you still want to do it then Tracey recommended doing it for 40min, taking him out of the room for a very short quiet A time and then try again.
TBH, this never worked for us and there were just some things that we needed to wait out, yk? I found that as they grow older it's much easier to deal with their sleep.
I wouldn't pick up straight away, I would try and do all settling in the cot because the picking him up and laying down again and again can actually stimulate him. The PU/PD method is supposed to be used only with babies older than 4m and IMO even that is very very early. Shush-pat has worked wonders for us when DS was around 5m old, but at the same time as doing ST we had to tweak A times. If your LO's A times are not suitable then it can also explain why would he struggle with naps.
You can have a look here to get an idea of what his A time should approx. be: Average A times- BOOKMARK ME! but remember that you are looking at adjusted age.