Starting EASY 2 weeks before returning to work

[bzbop]

My son is 9 weeks old and still eating every 2 hours. He is EBF and weighs 11 lbs (he was 6 lbs at birth). I just found EASY but I go back to work in 3 weeks and he will have a sitter watching him. Is there any hope? Right now, he sleeps longest from 8pm-midnight. Then, starting at 2 AM, he wakes every 60-90 minutes and wants to be fed. I've tried pacifier & soothing methods, but he only wants breast and for me to hold him. By 4 AM, I'm ready to do whatever it takes to get a few minutes of sleep.  When I go back to work, I will have to be up by 530-6 am in order to feed him, get ready, and leave house by 715 to get to sitter at 730. I work 8-530 and wouldn't get him home until about 6. PLEASE help with schedule ideas so I can get more than 1 hour of sleep at a time through the night.
Thank you!!!

[jessmum46]

Hi and welcome,

EASY isn't really a schedule in that it doesn't have everything happen at exactly the same time every day, rather it is about a predictable pattern of events (eat, activity, sleep) that help both you and LO know what's coming.  That said, many mums will wake LO to start each day at around the same time, so you could begin by waking DS at 6/6.30am (I'd aim as late as you can) if that's when you're going to need to be up long-term.  Offer a feed at wake-up, then watch him carefully for tired signs and put him down for a sleep when he's tired.  My DS is a similar age and has around 1h15-20 total awake time at the moment including eating.  When he wakes up from that nap (or wake him if the nap is 2h or so), offer the next feed and then look for tired signs again etc etc throughout the day.  Then with a 6.30am WU I'd aim to have him down for the night by 6.30/7pm. 

It won't be perfect every day, some days you'll end up with AEAS if he has short naps and isn't ready for a feed yet.  But that's ok and very normal at this age . Just try to avoid feeding to sleep as much as you can.

How does he settle for sleep at the moment e.g. Paci, rocking etc?

[bzbop]

Thanks, Jessmum46...ds settles with paci, rocking or walking, and sometimes breast, which I'm trying to stop. I guess the hardest part is going to be making sure sitter follows guidelines and getting my husband on board. He doesn't get home until 6 and he wants to play with his son.  I'm so worried and sad about going back to work...

[jessmum46]

Hugs, it's a big adjustment for you all.  The sitter will likely have her own ways of settling DS but you should talk to her if there are particular things you'd like her to do or not do.  For example avoiding feeding to sleep, that would be a big one for me.

Ideally we aim for a day around 12h long as that often suits LOs well, but I do understand that can be tough for Dads who work late.  It's a balance between making sure LO is well-rested and what works for your family.  Some people do manage to do longer days and shorter nights by having extra/longer naps.  But if LO is tired and ready for bed by 6pm or so, that's not going to be quality time with Dad anyway.  Much better to keep LO well-rested so that when Dad is not at work, they can have some really good fun time