I don't even know where to start!

[Moogleit]

My DS is almost 14 weeks old and I have yet to establish an EASY routine and I have no idea where to start! A little background is that he was 7 weeks premature, is colicky and has a touch of reflux and he is our 2nd. I'm not sure where to start for 2 reasons, I'm not sure if I should be taking into account his corrected age (7 weeks) when planning his routine or if I should just use his real age of 14 weeks? Also, how the heck do I accommodate an EASY schedule while also not completely disrupting our 28 month old DD schedule and activities? pful!

Right now he sleeps pretty well at night, he's up twice usually around 2 or 3 and then again around 5 and will usually sleep until 730 or 8. His naps however are starting to get worse, this week he basically won't sleep for any length of time anywhere but in the carrier. If I can rock/sway him until sleepy and then pat until asleep in his crib he seems to wake up again within 10 or 15 minutes! We are away on vacation so that is probably a huge factor but it has me thinking I need to get on some sort of a schedule ASAP! I think he's going to be a touchy baby whereas my DD is text book.

Any advice would be soooo helpful!

[Moogleit]

Bump

[jessmum46]

Hi, sorry your post was missed

Usually with premature babies you want to be considering their corrected age when starting out with EASY, so you would expect her to behave more like a 7 week old than a 14 week old, though the reality could be somewhere in between. 

What sort of routine/activities does your DD have that you need to work round?  It can be helpful to think if there is a time of day you always need to be out and about, and either plan EASY round that or be consistent about having a nap in the sling/car/pram at that time. 

Have you checked out the FAQs at the top of the EASY board - there are some good ones in the 'starting EASY all you need to know' about how to survive the newborn period and gently introducing an EAS routine.

At 7 weeks getting my DS to nap in the crib was nigh-on impossible.  By 10 weeks he could self-settle for many naps and would get though sleep cycles sometimes too, so a lot can change in a short space of time.  There is a wonder week (Google if you've not heard of them) around 8 weeks corrected which can send sleep haywire so bear in mind you're still at early days.

Let us know if you have any more specific questions?

[Moogleit]

Thanks for your input, it's helpful to know I need to at least start with his corrected age and adjust from there.

My DD has dance & gymnastics 2 times a week at around 930 and we're usually out until 12ish, she also goes to daycare for a few hours 1 or 2 days a week usually 10-1. Currently DS naps in the carrier during the classes for the most part so thats ok so far but they're only 45 mins and I guess I'm just thinking about down the road when he'll be napping longer than that (fingers crossed). Best to take it one day at a time for now I suppose

I will check out the FAQs you mentioned, thank you.

He is doing pretty well as far as sleeping in his crib goes, he's there all night and actually previous to last week was doing at least 1 nap a day as well. He was even self soothing and falling asleep on his own for about a week! I made the mistake of mentioning how awesome it was to my Mom and I must have jinxed it haha. Last week while we were away I wore him literally every daylight hour as he was so miserable and would scream otherwise. Yesterday's naps were awful and last night his sleep was pretty good but he awoke at 4am was up and super fussy, it took me until 6 to settle him and then only slept until 630 *yawn*.

I do have the wonder weeks app but its set for his actual age not his corrected age so the leaps are all off. I wonder if I should reset it for his EDD so it's a bit more accurate?

I'm sure I'll be posting again thanks again for talking me through this!

[jessmum46]

Oh yes definitely reset it, the wonder weeks are linked to due date not birth date so it won't make any sense otherwise