Confused about starting EASY with 6 month old who nurses every 3 hours

[grumpkin]

Hi! I'm motivated to start EASY, have read Tracy's recommendations in her book for getting it started, but find myself confused. My daughter is 6 months old and has never had an EASY routine. That being said, she nurses approximately every 3 hours during the day. She used to sleep a 6 hour stretch prior to 4 months but for the last 2 months has nursed 3 times per night, definitely a result of accidental parenting. All her naps are 35-45 minutes long and she has 4 per day. Obviously she is overtired and overstimulated and this, as well as the fact that I am exhausted from the night feedings, is why we want to make the necessary changes. I know she is likely capable of being on the 4-hour EASY at this point and eliminating the 2 middle of the night feeds (keeping the one at 10 or 11).

FYI she has started solids x 2 weeks though it is BLW so she does not take in much yet. Today I also introduced some grain cereal which she feeds herself on a pre-loaded spoon. So "mixed" BLW and spoon feeding.

Here is a typical day, though I want to stress that we do NOT have a set routine, it is just a rough estimate:
6:00 Eat
6:20 Activity
8:00 Sleep
  - wake up at 8:40
9:00 Eat - Nurse plus solids
9:20 Activity
10:30 Sleep
  - wake up 11:15
11:30 or 12:00 Eat - Nurse plus solids
12:15 Activity
1:00 Sleep
  - wake up 1:45
1:45 Activity
3:00 Eat
3:20 Activity
4:00 or 4:30 Sleep
  - wake up 45 minutes later
4:30 or 5:00 Solids
5:30 Bath
6:00 Bedtime routine - asleep by 6:15 or 6:30
10:00 Nurse - she wakes up on her own or I dreamfeed her
1:00 am Wake and Nurse
3:30 am Wake and Nurse
5:00 am Usually wakes up and fusses on/off until 6:00

She goes to sleep "on her own", in other words I put her in the crib awake and leave the room. Most of the time she fusses for less than 5 minutes and falls asleep. Sometimes no fussing at all. Sometimes she has cried up to 10-15 minutes and until now we have let her cry. After 10-15 minutes we will go in and console her briefly and leave the room. She does not need a pacifier or swaddling to sleep - we weaned her from those at 4 months.

So here's my question - if I take Tracy's advice literally and say that she is above 4 months old and not on an EASY routine already - then I would follow her advice for implementing the 4 hour EASY cold turkey after the 2 day observation period. However she is nursing about every 3 hours and I'm concerned she won't be able to go immediately to every 4 hours. Should I try anyway, considering her age and stage of development? Or do a graduated transition to the 4 hour EASY? And regarding nights - I am assuming that no matter how we decide to go about the days - we are going to immediately implement the PU/PD to eliminate the MOTN feeds?

I am exhausted and feeling down and the neurons are not in top form, so your advice is greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: Haven't had any replies, but we decided to forge ahead with the 4-hour EASY as we feel she's ready and likely I've been holding her back from extending her feeding intervals. Any feedback on the above is still welcome as we work through this. Started the routine today and tonight her dad is going to do PU/PD when she wakes to feed.

[Newbie mum]

Hello Grumpkin, I am very much learning the ropes of BW and came to it a bit late. I'm replying to you though as I have a 6 month old and I have been given excellent advice on this site which might be of interest to you (and I'm sure one of the experts will reply soon).
My little one did short naps as you describe and I was told that she might be under tired and to try and extend her A ime. There is a resource on this site telling you suggested A times by age which is really useful. I find that she does well staying awake between 2.5-4 hours and then suddenly her naps have improved which is great  We've also introduced solids and I think having a full tummy also helps her naps (but gives her wind at night, which is a whole other story!).
When you say you'd like to drop the night feed, how many is she having? I posted asking something similar and was reassured that one night feed is perfectly normal until a lot later than I thought- even up to 10 months I think which was reassuring to hear. I hope I haven't given you incorrect advice, let me know how you get on! Good luck! 

[grumpkin]

Thanks for your input newbie mum! I was interested to hear about extending the A time for your babe. I wonder whether that would work with mine though as she is constantly rubbing her eyes and fussing after about 2 hours awake. As for the night feeds, she had been feeding 2 times in the middle of the night, both breasts. In the nights prior to starting BW I reduced to one side each time, and then for 2 nights I only fed her one side, one time. It did not seem to affect her level of hunger, but she did still wake out of habit. I was able to get her back to sleep eventually with PU/PD. Yesterday we started the 4-hour EASY and she took very well to the increased feeding interval. I think that alone may have a positive impact. Last night my husband did PU/PD overnight whenever she woke up. It sounds like it went ok. She woke up a lot but did go back to sleep easily. Which is giving me the feeling she is ready to drop the night feed. If not I'll simply go back to one night feed (it will be much better than 2). So we'll see how it goes!

[Tammyj]

Hello Grumpkin and. Newbie Mum! Also following! DD has no problem staying awake, but her short naps prevent her from moving to a 4hr EASY. Grumpkin, I have found that when I'm home and she's playing, she'll get tired around 2hr.  If I keep things interesting and new, a walk, playing with dog, new toy, etc, she will last much longer.  I hope that helps in some way?

[Newbie mum]

Hello *Grumpkin* and *Tammyj* (Tammyj- we've also just met on the feeding forum, must be at a similar stage in our little ones development).
Grumpkin- moving to the 4 hour feeding schedule really helped my dd overnight and helped to reduce the number of feeds she took. Before coming across BW, someone advised me to feed my little one very frequently to fill her up but I found it had the reverse effect and made her more hungry overnight and with tummy upset, perhaps because she did nt have enough time to digest the last feed (and she has always suffered from a windy tummy)
As *Tammyj* suggested, I was also advised to keep my dd occupied/distracted, as she said playing with toys, going for a walk to help move to the 4 hour EASY and I was advised to move her gradually to the 4 hour, e.g. Adding 5 mins each time until reaching the 4 hours.
How old is your DD?
Sounds like you are doing really well 

[grumpkin]

Yes tammyj that is helpful, I am trying to read her cues better to see when she gets bored with a certain activity and then change it up. It also helps during the transition period as her sleep is a bit haywire right now so she gets easily overtired. We are trying to keep a stricter "schedule" until the transition is made.

Newbie mum - you're right about the 4 hour interval. We have been doing it successfully for the last 4 days; I realize now she really did not need to eat so often and in fact now nurses more fully each time. Last night was awful though as I had to do PU/PD for an hour at 1, then for 2 hours at 3:30.   I see the improvements in her days and hope to see her nighttime habits breaking fairly soon...

Also have any of you encountered this - I want to dreamfeed around 10 or 10:30, but she has a habit of waking exactly around that time to nurse. So it's not really a dreamfeed, it's a waking habit. Should I do PU/PD, put her back to sleep, THEN dreamfeed her? I don't know if this is a habit that will put a wrench in the whole routine, or if it's ok to just respond to her waking and go feed her. When she wakes she doesn't seem particularly hungry, just frustrated.

[Newbie mum]

Hello, I've been told on her that if you get the day time sorted the the night should follow- so fingers crossed it does for you.
I've no experience of the dream feed so can't really advise you on that I'm afraid, but what I have learnt is that it is very normal for a 6 month old t have a feed over night so if your baby is having one feed so early on and then sleeps through the night then perhaps leave things as they are? *tammyj* do you know about dream feeds?

[Tammyj]

I've been doing the dream feed since I bought the BW book.  It works! I'm hoping to stop mine around 7-8 months, depending on how she's doing. She's had a lot of colds from daycare recently...

[Newbie mum]

Hi TammyJ, from what age did you start the dream feed?

[Tammyj]

I started at 8w or so.