Hi,
I have been using EASY with my son since he was about 6 weeks old. We never seemed to really land on a predicatable routine and he struggled with self soothing for a long time. He is now nearly 6 months old and has been waking more and more during the night. Pre 4 months he used to wake twice, with a 4 hour sleep and then a 3 hour, but he wasn't going to bed until after 11:00- he could keep himself awake for 3 or 4 hours at night! And his naps during the day were usually short. Once the daytime naps lengthened the night time sleep got worse. We first moved his bedtime to 8:00. We are in the process of transitioning to longer activity times, usually between 2.5 hours and 3 hours depending on how well he napped the previous time. And that has really helped him falling asleep at nap time. I can now usually put him in his crib and then leave while he is still awake. Half the time I go back in and do PU/PD when he cries.
His old routine was something like:
E: 6:00- and then fall back to sleep for a while.
A 7:00
E 9:00 otherwise he would only nap for 30 mins and wake hungry.
S 9:30 - 11:30 or 12:00
E 12:00
A 12-2
S 2.30 3:15
E: 3:15
A 3:30- 5
S 5:00- 5:30
E 5:30
A 5:30- 8:00
E 8:00
Bedtime
Wakes at least every 2 hours until 7.
Routine would shift around depending on how long naps were.
I first tried cutting the first nap short, to 1.5 hours but that doesn't seem to have helped. He just cut his first 2 teeth, and I thought things might improve after that, but they haven't yet.
Occasionally pat/sh will send him back to sleep for another hour, but often he resists that. I have also tried PU/PD Which sometimes helps, but not always.
We just introduced solid food this week, but only once a day and he probably only eats a teaspoons worth. The don't recommend food before 6 months now!
So we are now on a 2.5 to 3 hour activity with naps being between 45 mins and 1.5 hours. If they were short I add a catnap in the evening, if longer I don't bother.
I hope that is enough information for you to tell what I have been doing wrong!
One more question how often should I be feeding a BF baby. I am still shooting for every 3 hours, which will then send my whole EASY out of order but if his activity is 3 hours and then he naps, he either only naps for a short time or isn't getting enough food during the day and wants to nurse even more at night!