Starting EASY with 7 month old and night-feeding

[lyngo]

Hi

Please could you give me some advice.
I'm about to start EASY with my 7 month old using PUPD.

Up to now I have been breast-feeding my DD to sleep and 2-5 times per night to get back to sleep.
I don't think she is always hungry in the night but over the course of the night she probably has quite a bit of milk.

Can I still feed her if I think she is hungry during the night if I'm doing PUPD or will this confuse her?
Or should I try a dream feed - I know most people are trying to phase it out at this stage and not sure if I could do it without her waking?

Or should I just have to try and make her go from bed time to 7 to get her into the routine?

Thanks in advance

lyngo x

[Haribo2012]

Hi sorry your post got missed. I've attached a link for you to read incase you haven't seen it 10 Reasons You Cannot Use Pu/Pd

If LO is hungry in the night then I would feed but try not to let them feed to sleep, have you tried other methods first like it suggests in the link?
x

[jessmum46]

If she's used to feeding all night at 7 months I think it's a bit tough to go to no feeds at all - especially as a night feed at this age is still pretty common.

I would probably suggest one of two approaches - either do a late/dreamfeed at 10/11pm and then don't feed again until 'morning', say 5am.  Or pick a time period, say 4h (which you can gradually increase) that you will not feed before.  So say she has a BT feed at 7pm, you don't feed at any wakings before 11pm. 

The important thing with either method is that you decide BEFORE you go to LO whether it is a 'feed' or 'not feed' waking.  What you want to avoid is doing PUPD for 2 hours then giving a feed because it's feed time.  If LO wakes and it's not feed time, use PUPD until LO sleeps, however long it takes and even if it takes you past feed time.  LO only needs to go to sleep for a short time, and you can feed on the next waking.  You're just trying to avoid the situation of 'I scream for long enough = I get fed'.  Does that make sense?

Hope that helps

[jessmum46]

Posted same time as Zoe

[lyngo]

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

Decided to use Pu/Pd as this is what is recommended in 'The Baby Whisperer Solves all Your Problems' to get a 7 month old into a routine.

I started yesterday and decided to wait at least 4 hours after her last feed and if I did feed her still to use Pu/Pd to get her back to sleep. So its reassuring to see the same suggestion from someone else.

However I didn't need to. She was asleep by 7 after about 40 minutes and then slept till 5am (she did wake a couple of time but managed to drift off again without me intervening) at which point I fed her, then put her back in her cot. She grumbled a bit then fell asleep and I had to wake her at 7!

Nap times have not been so successful but she is falling asleep quicker although only stays asleep for 30 minutes and I have spent rest of nap time trying to get her to drift back off.

But for 1 day in I can't believe how well she is doing.

Fingers crossed for tonight.

Thanks again

Lyn

[jessmum46]

Great job!  What routine are you aiming for in the day?

[lyngo]

Aiming for 4 hour EASY.

7 Wake up and feed
8 Breakfast
9/9.30 Nap
11 Feed
12 Lunch
1/1.30 Nap
3 Feed
4/4.30 Tea
7 Bed

Started bedtime routine yesterday early at 5 as she was so exhausted with bath then feed followed by wind-down instead of feed as last step.

She woke at 5 yesterday morning so started then with Pu/Pd which I did till 7, she did not go back to sleep.
First nap she seemed to settle more soothing herself by sucking her fingers but kept kicking her legs and didn't fall asleep.
Afternoon nap she was utterly exhausted (she started to fall asleep at lunch sucking on some melon).

I released that she couldn't control her legs and gently held them down plus one of her arms to stop them flailing and this worked and she slept for an hour. I did this again at bedtime and for naps today and it seems to really help her.

Lyn

Lyn

[jessmum46]

The 4h EASY is probably a bit too 'young' of a routine for her which may be why you're not having so much success with naptime.  An average A time at 7 months would generally be 3h or more, so a more typical routine may look like:

WU 7
Nap 10-11.30/12
Nap 2.30/3-4/4.30
BT 7/7.30

You could also look here at some routines that have worked for others: Sample EASY Routines from 0 - 13mths+ and a link to average A times: Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

[lyngo]

That makes sense.

The timings were those in the book for a 6-8 month old and it suggests following them quite rigidly to start.
However, she has also been ready for bed at about 6 the last 2 nights probably due to combination of short naps and longer A time before bed.

I'll try and push back her nap times tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

Thanks for your input, its really great to have some feedback as this is all so new!

[jessmum46]

You're doing a great job . Remember no book can tell you exactly what your LO needs.  It's a case of trial and error but if she's taking a long time to settle for naps it's worth increasing A time by 15 mins or so initially to see if that helps.  You can always increase more later on if needed rather than doing a big jump all at once.