Author Topic: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...  (Read 1243 times)

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Offline Nickie18

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Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« on: April 09, 2014, 01:04:58 am »
I used the EASY with my now 2 year old DS and he has been a great sleeper... Now I have a 37 weeker at 14 days old that I want to get started as soon as possible. Pretty much we are on a 3 hour schedule around the clock to help her gain weight, so decided it would be easy... and for the most part it has. I have to wake her at night for the feedings but overall she seems to be a pretty easy baby.

The post is mostly about how to get her to sleep easily at nap times. If she goes into milk coma, she mostly just sleeps for any A time, sometimes though she is wide awake after breast feeding and gives minimal cues for tiredness. She usually is awake the most first A and third A and I put her down when she first or second yawns, but she still has a hard time settling and sometimes takes 30 minutes to get to sleep. Right now she is wiggling after her third A of 1h15 min but had no signs of tiredness and was wide eyed until she finally yawned.

Any ideas for my 2 week old?



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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2014, 16:57:14 pm »
I would follow cues at this age, as much sleep as you can get and keep up with the feeds as you are doing.
Tracy described the process of falling to sleep for new borns and explained it took a full 20 mins, I could set the clock by mine when he was little, I don't think it is unusual or extreme for it to take 30 mins, she just needs that extra bit of relaxation prior to sleep.  She is still so young, I would do whatever it takes to get the whole family the best sleep possible, APOP if needed through these early weeks etc.
Worth remembering that the EASY routine samples given in the book were based on full term babies of average weight, a baby born earlier or of lower weight will need to E more frequently and stay on a 2 or 2.5hr EASY for longer (and again later the 3 hr EASY may continue to 5 or 6 months rather than switching to 4hr EASY at 4 months). I would just see what suits your LO.
hth


Offline Nickie18

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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2014, 18:42:03 pm »
Thank you- I know she is so young- I did not start my DS until he was about 1 month and he was a full term baby. I mostly started it now since my pedi wanted feeds to be every 3 hours, 24 hours a day and it naturally just fit EASY since I have to wake her most times to eat. I tried the every 2 and 2.5 hour feedings and she would not wake up. Refused to eat until about 3 hours... So still getting 8 feeds a day but just every 3 hours at night. I am mostly going by cues but this morning she was wide awake forever- like 1.25 hours and still no yawn or closed eyes and took forever to go down (had to burp and rock due to gas). But then this time she was falling asleep at 50 minutes and went down easily. We are definitely APOPing now when needed but most of the time she falls asleep on her own well.
Thank you again- Will see how these next few weeks go- I am sure i will need more help as she gets bigger.



Offline Nickie18

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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2014, 21:21:08 pm »
Here's our typical schedule. She does this pretty much on time. I have to wake her most times to eat. She rarely cries unless hse has reflux.

Awake/eat- 7:30am
A time- she is usually very awake now and we found 1.25hours works best
S- 8:45
E- 10:30
A- 11-1:30
S- 11:30
E- 1:30p
A- 2-2:30p
S- 2:30-4:30p
E- 4:30p
A- 5-5:30p
S- 5:30-6:45 or so
E- 7:15p
A- bath, lotion, jammies
S- 8pm
E- 10:30p
E- 1:30a
E- 4:30a

My question is if 8p-7:30a is enough night sleep for 3 weeks old?

My biggest concern is now that she is gaining weight, I want to spread out her night feeds to every 4 hours- like 11, 3, and then 7:30, but since I have been waking her for her feeds at night to gain weight, she now won't sleep longer than 3 hours... Any ideas? Will this get better? I worry that she will not sleep enough and wake early then...



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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2014, 09:55:22 am »
Your EASY looks fine to me.  I think my LO went to bed quite late in the early days, just fitting BT around the feeds and naps etc. I wouldn't worry about it.  I think at this age waking every 3 hrs to eat at night is relatively normal and i wouldn't worry about habits just yet. I would think she will be like so many other LOs and just extend those night feeds herself. If you think her weight is fine now and she doesn’t need to be woken for a night feed then perhaps just leave her and see when she wakes naturally. It may be every 3hrs for a while and then extend some.
Maybe post on breast or bottle feeding for more experienced support on this particular question?


Offline Martini~

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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2014, 10:18:39 am »
Sharing my experience, maybe will be useful. DS also gained not enough in his first week and I was really concerned about his weight - when he was born was somewhere between 2 & 10pc so not a big boy, first week only plus 110g.

What we did:
* Firstly I offered cluster feeding during evenings but I hated dramatic settling. Btw DF was also a normal waking for DS as when asleep he was not sucking.
* In first week I offered breast every 2,5h in he evening (not 2h as he was not hungry). So I feed him i.e.at  6:30pm, 9pm and 23:30. But as I said... it was dramatic.
* So in 2nd week I tried: no waking from 7pm to 7am - just feed when he wants, keep approx. 3h distance. In first days he was waking approx. when cluster feed before, but we needed couple more days and he settled his own routine. From 2nd-3rd week he was on 7x feeds a day, during nighs it was 7pm, 1am and 4am and then 7am. During days 3hŁ 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm. I offered breast before and after bath so 7pm feed maybe calculated twice=).
* I offered both sides during all feeds and that made a change I guess! He was eating much more during day and from 2nd week he was gaining on weight more than 200gr-week.

~Marta

Offline Nickie18

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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2014, 15:13:29 pm »
Thank you- Martii We are now waiting to see how she does at night and she naturally wakes every 3 hours now... But seems to not take as much from the breast and feeds less minutes overall. Martii what was your approx EASY in the second/third week?



Offline Martini~

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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2014, 15:29:54 pm »
EASY was almost as from the book:
- Eating from 7am to 7pm every 3h with a clock (I woke him).
- Awake time enough for eating (took long as has to wake him during eating many times), changing a diaper and maybe couple of minutes for burping & babywearing
- sleeping 2-2,5h hour in 3h each cycle
- nights from 7pm to 7am with 2NF but without DF; as I said DS was not hungry more often; after couple days of cluster feeding he was awake at 10pm & 1am for eating and than 7am when I woke him
- in 2nd/3rd week he started to wake later & later after 7pm feed so at midnight-1am, then 4 am and 7am; he was also drowsy from 5 to 6am but as it was 1-2h after last feed I gave him dummy and he was ok with that
- now he is 8wo and he is waking around 4-5am for feed after 7pm feeding

Give yourself time. I heard it is normal that children have longer stretch of sleep after 7pm meal. They usually have one long stretch during 24h (their future night sleep) and then again they are waking approx every 3h.
If you are not going to sleep at 8pm DF is recommended, so your LO will be working on having her longer stretch of sleep from 10-11pm till i.e. 4am. But I would wait with it being on your place and having a sleepy baby:). I have not decided for DF as I had enough of making my LO to eat during the day and frankly speaking I loved moments at nights when he woke by himself & was eating eagerly.

Hope it helped!
~Marta

Offline Nickie18

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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2014, 16:53:11 pm »
Thank you- yes, my LO does not do the DF well. It is always a normal waking as she will not take the breast sleeping. Maybe I will try to see how long we get from the 7pm feed with top off at 8pm at bedtime and go from there. I usually go to bed around 9pm. I certainly hope she does what your LO has done... My concern is just what you listed- a waking a 5 or 6 am before the 7/7:30am waking and then what do I do?? I have not started the dummy yet- Would I fed her and then fed again at 7:30am?



Offline Martini~

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Re: Starting EASY with my 2 week old...
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2014, 19:03:29 pm »
Generally if your LO will wake for night feed let's say at 2am and than 5:30am, you still should wake her up and feed at 7 or 7:30 (depending on what time you plan to start your routine).
I am going through that stage once again now as Ds is waking sometimes for his first&last feed at 5:30... and I still fed him at 7am. What I tried to do when it was his second feed was limiting his portion. So at 2am he took full feed and at 5-6am he nursed shorter.

I understand your pov as NF are nightmare for me too:) but I wouldn't push too hard yet. Wait what your DD will decide for herself, only guide her. But generally I think you have a good chance then soon you will have only 2NFs and with longer stretch of sleeping from 8 till i.e. 1am, next feed at 4am and than 7am. Why I think so:)? Because children just do it!

Some advice:
- if your LO can manage 3h routine during day, she should be also able to go through it through night so right now just try to resettle with any method (dummy, shh/pat, reswaddle etc) if she is waking more often; if not successful and you know it is hunger, just feed her
- you may try to feed her before your bedtime once again i.e. at 9pm if she resettles well (mine didn't) = classic example of cluster feeding; it's a good solution for first weeks (later on it may interfere in her night sleep) and it should help her to tank up for night
- looking at your EASY, you may also do cluster feeding earlier in the evening so feed her just after her late-afternoon-nap (6:45?)and than just before her bedtime at 8pm; only look out for not feeding to sleep.

Re your question about BT, generally you should aim for 11,5-12h nights but you still have time to figure that out. In next weeks, you may gradually cap her last nap from 1:15min to max 45min and than make BT earlier.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 19:06:16 pm by Martii85 »
~Marta