Tried EASY for more than a month still complete mess!

[Buttonbobs]

What an improvement! Well done you.

That evening is very long, is he sleeping at all between  5.15 and 8pm? I would imagine that early NW is from OT. The rest of the day he's managing a 1hr40/45 min A time. Could
You do BT at 7ish rather than 8? Or, put in a CN at about 6.30ish - maybe just 15/30 mins to tide him over from the nap through to BT?

[bbjmom]

Baby was up a at 2, shh-pat back to sleep, up again at 3.  Nursed, and AWAKE at 5.  Nursed + pat + some crying finally back to sleep.  Now I'm sure he won't be hungry when he wakes up.  I don't know how to start our day!

[bbjmom]

My ideal bed time is 8 because I have a toddler.   I tried putting him down for CN between 5:15 to 8 he protested.   I will try earlier BT tonight.

He is u at 7:45 and only nursed for 4 mins.  Should I feed him again before 1st nap?

[Buttonbobs]

You can do a top up before the first nap, and then no matter what he takes then offer a feed straight after. You might want to offer a shorter feed before the nap if you can get away with it so hunger is there for the next feed. Remember to do something like change nappy as activity after the top up feed.

[bbjmom]

Thanks!  I did as suggested but runs into a prob: baby is hungry before 2nd nap since he didn't eat much when he was up from 1st nap.  I ended up feeding him before nap again.  If I feed him immediately after 2nd nap as suggested, he will be eating/snacking every 2 hrs.  How do o go about this?

[*Ali*]

Personally if I fed at 5am I would probably skip the WU BF at 7.45 if he wasn't asking for it and I'd offer a feed later about 8.45am instead. That way he should be hungry enough to take a full feed and not need a top up before the nap. It doesn't matter if you do AEAS rather than EAS for each A time. You can then play it by ear for the next feed and have a little activity before the feed after the second nap and so on.

If he is asking for a feed at morning WU then I would probably try the top up much sooner like 30-45 mins later so that he takes less at the top up and has time to get hungry again for the feed after the nap.

Hope that makes sense. Sometimes you just have to be a bit creative.

[bbjmom]

I'm feeling completely discouraged today.  Its been worse and worse, and baby lost almost a pound from last month.  It took me some effort to start a 4 hours schedule but doctor said 4 hours is too long for a 4 months old.  He said that may be the reason for him to loose weight.  I'm so confused.

With an active toddler I also fail to lock myself and baby at home for 2 weeks to implement EASY.  That may be the reason why I fail. I haven't been very consistent. 

However,  I did have a very good schedule yesterday. Below is what I had:


Up between 7:10
E 7:30
A
S 9:15 (slept for 2 hours)
E 11:30
A
S 1:30 (slept for 2 hours)
E 3:30
A
S 5:30 (slept for almost an hour)
E 6:30
A
S 7:30

While I thought I had a perfect day, baby woke up every 1.5 hours between 7:30p and 2:30p.  I fed him around 10lish pm.  He was up again in 2 hours and every 2 hours after that. 

In summary, I tried 3 hrs, 3.5 hrs, 4 hrs.  Nothing seems to help. 

One thing I notice is that baby is very tired at the end of a 2 hrs A.  So maybe he is UT.  However, having a 2 hrs A helps baby sleeps longer at nap.  < 2 hrs he will be up at 45-60 mins. 

I also find that baby is always fuzzy after he wakes up from his catnap around 6p.  I can't tell whether he is tired or bored.

So lost here..appreciate any thoughts

[*Ali*]

Sorry to hear things aren't going well.
Many EBF babies aren't ready for a 4hr feeding routine yet and do better on more frequent feeds. EASY is a flexible routine rather than a schedule so it's better to go by your baby's cues rather than strictly by the clock. It doesn't matter if all the intervals or A times are the same or vary. If he is hungry and cuing for a feed then definitely go ahead and feed him. Or does he seem happy to go 4hrs and isn't really hungry before that? His weight gain is more important than the EASY right now.
I only suggested delaying feeds in my pp if he wasn't hungry and asking to be fed. It isn't the aim to stretch baby before he is ready.
If you follow his cues how often does he look for a feed? Are they full feeds do you think?
Are you feeding him at all the NWs every 2hrs?

I wonder if perhaps he got too much sleep on that good day you posted. I'd probably have gone for a slightly shorter A time before the CN so he was happier with a 30-45 min nap and then got a slightly longer A time before bed.

[bbjmom]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I do feed every 2 hrs at night.   Baby cries hard and won't settle with pu/pd or shh-pat.

Tracy actually says in her book not to feed at night - she said "do pu/pd" all night if needed. I haven't tried that as it will give me so much crying that I feel like its worse than CIO.  I do want to know if I really need to stop feeding at night for this to work.

Also, its really impossible for me to stay home with baby for two weeks.  Did anyone of you successfully implemented EASY without strict consistency?

[*Ali*]

Tracy always said to feed a hungry baby. Where did she say never feed a 4mo at night?  I need to check that. Regardless, BFing research has moved on since the books were written and since she is no longer with us she hasn't had the opportunity to update.

A couple of NFs at this age are completely normal.  I would try to get more calories in LO in the day rather than actively weaning NFs, especially if weight gain is an issue. Did you try the top up feeds half an hour after the wake up feed that I suggested above?

And no most of us dont stay home for 2wks. I used to try to get 1 good nap a day in the cot with my second when I had a 2yo to entertain.

[bbjmom]

No time to look up exactly where in the book but I recall its "The Plan" for implementing EASY for 4 months old.  Tracy said use PU/PD when baby wakes up and she said "do it all night if needed".   I guess she meant "assumes baby is not hungry". 

Its a big relief to know I could make this work without locking myself at home for two weeks.  I will give a fresh start tomorrow and keep trying.  Thanks!

[Buttonbobs]

Good luck x