Hi there
Hope you are able to give me some advice as I'm struggling with an EASY routine. my son is 4.5 months old. I decided to move him from a 3hr to a 4 hr EASY routine because he started having short naps, taking a very long time to settle to sleep and waking every hour or two in the nights! Since attempting a 4 hour routine there have been improvements in his nap time and he also settles much quicker now, however there are still night wakings (not every hour anymore thank goodness!). I know this may just be a 4 month sleep regression but I would like some help on my routine if possible!
He can definitely last 4 hours between breastfeeds but can't usually stay awake for 2 hours and he doesn't nap for 2 hours. At the moment I don't have a proper routine and every day is different, but I would like to have more of a routine. As an example this is what happened yesterday. As I said this is not what every day looks like but maybe you can let me know what I could've done different yesterday?
7.20am woke up
E 7.40am
S 9.15 - 10.30am (appeared tired when he woke up but I couldn't get him back to sleep)
E 11.40am
S 12pm-12.40pm (fell asleep in the baby carrier so I didn't put him to sleep this time. Woke up after 40 minutes but he would normally last longer in the carrier)
S 2.40pm-4.10pm (put him down to sleep at 1.30pm but took over an hour to get him to sleep. Obviously I put him down too early thinking he would be tired after the earlier 40 minute nap)
E 4.10pm
S 6pm-7.30pm (put him down at 5.40 and took 20 minutes to settle. I woke him at 7.30pm as I thought 6pm was too early for bedtime).
7.30pm bath and bed time routine
E 7.45pm
Bed 9pm (put him down at 8pm and he was tired. Put him to sleep with shush pat but he kept unsettling and needing more shush pat - possibly over tired)
He normally goes to bed around 7.30pm so this late bedtime is not normal. But because of the late nap his bedtime got very late. I guess the problem is that I don't have a regular routine which is why I'd like your guidance. This should hopefully avoid things like the 40 minute nap that he had at midday and going to bed so late (and taking an hour to get to sleep!)
Any tips on what I could've done different?
Should I have made him stay up longer at midday so he was properly tired when he went to sleep and therefore had a proper nap?
Should I have let him stay asleep from 6pm and not woken him for his bedtime routine?
As I said he easily lasts four hours between breastfeeds. However I would like to know what should be leading the routine? Should it be E or A? If I try to do a 4 hour routine it means inevitably he will sometimes nap twice between feeds. Should I be feeding him as soon as he wakes up and starting EASY again from that point? So maybe I'd be on more of a 3.5 hour routine (I've seen the forum on 3-3.5-4 hour EASY).
Looking at yesterday's routine, he did manage to last 2 hours between most naps. I notice normally when I put him down after 1.5 hours A time he has very short naps. Should I be pushing him to stay away for 2 hours as much as possible?
Thank you so much - I appreciate you even reading this lengthy message!
