Just started EASY at 5 months

[Critter468]

Hi there.  I just started EASY with my 5 month old DD because I was feeling desperate, and remembered that EASY worked with my DD1. My baby was born 6 weeks early, so she is 3.5 months adjusted.  The fact that she was a preemie has been the source of a lot of our issues.  She came home on a bottle and it was a struggle to teach her to nurse.  Because I was super worried about weight gain I started nursing her for any and all reasons.  Her weight gain is fine now, but I haven't been able to stretch her feedings longer than 3 hours.  Her sleep has been all over the place, which is compounded by the fact that I have two other children (3.5 and 2), a husband who needs uninterrupted sleep for his work and is often out of town, and we live in a small apartment where the baby has to sleep in our room, but is constantly interrupted anyway by the other two children. 

To me she really acts more her adjusted age, so I'm not sure how I should be treating her.  Shh/pat has really helped her settle to sleep, before nothing would settle her.  She doesn't really take a dummy unless she's really upset.  My main concerns are night wakings and short naps and not knowing what her A time should be. I've not been doing well at waking her in the mornings because I get busy with preparing breakfast and dressing myself and my other children, and before I know it, it is 8:00 or later.  She shows pretty clear sleepy signs from about 1:45 and if I wait past 2 hours she'll be crying and very difficult to settle.  With everything else I have to look after I'm not always able to put her down at exactly the right time.  She has sttn once or twice, but usually wakes every 3 hours for a feed even if she doesn't really eat much.  Lately she's been waking in between feeds most nights as well.  I was nursing her back to sleep but am now using shh/pat if it hasn't been 3 hours yet and hopeful that I can get some guidance on how to lengthen that time.  Here is our EASY from yesterday and then today.  Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide.

Wake 7:55
Eat 8:04
Sleep 10:00
Wake 10:55
Eat 11:20
Sleep 12:33 (in car picking up lunch)
Wake 13:20
Eat 13:42 and 14:50 (was very distracted the first time)
Sleep 15:18
Wake 15:50
Eat 16:18
Sleep 18:06
Wake 18:36
Eat 19:00
Bed 19:50
NF 22:20
NF 2:20
NW 4:12-4:46
NF 6:07

Wake 9:15
Eat 9:22
Eat 11:20
Sleep 11:42 - restless, kept fussing but would be asleep again when I went to check her
Wake 12:38
Eat 14:16
Sleep 14:38
Wake 16:05
Eat 16:10
(Attempted catnap at 18:15 and failed)
Eat 18:48
Sleep 19:00
NF 21:30

[becj86]

Hi

I think if she's 3.5 months adjusted, its pretty reasonable for her A time to be 1:45. She will catch up to her chronological age eventually but that is different for different LO's. She does seem to be struggling with the short naps - this could be the normal thing as her sleep cycles become more pronounced - if she was your only one, I'd suggest something like being there ready to resettle at 40min and see if you can extend that way... You don't have anything like white noise turning off at 45min into the nap? LO's will wake if the environment is different from how it was when they fell asleep.

Honestly, the night feeds don't seem that much like they're out of control.

BF babies often don't stretch their feeds out as much as formula fed babies - its worth doing a top up feed here and there.

If it makes it easier, you can do a couple of naps in a cling/carrier - often helps baby get a longer nap and you get out and about and can help in establishing the body clock side of the routine, yk? I'd do those naps in the morning so she's getting more solid naps in and stands a better chance in the afternoon if you're home for a nap for the other children.

Lately she's been waking in between feeds most nights as well.  I was nursing her back to sleep but am now using shh/pat if it hasn't been 3 hours yet and hopeful that I can get some guidance on how to lengthen that time

You're doing pretty much what would be suggested with shush/pat before 3hr. I wonder if she's having a growth spurt? I also wonder if gas is a factor?

[Critter468]

Thank you for your reply!  She has white noise that is on in our room continuously, but I will admit that our laundry is also in our room and sometimes is still going when I put her down and can interrupt her sleep.  More often I think one of the other kids or just ending a sleep cycle disturbs her. I try my best to resettle her, but she really resists, and then the other kids try to come in to "help."  Even if she has a nap that coincides with their naptime she will wake at the 45 minute mark incolsolable and I can't get her back down, the only thing that will calm her is nursing or going outside.  From reading other posts is sounds like her naps should improve if I get her A time right, and they are already so much better since we started EASY.  We were doing some naps in the carrier while out of the house - my older kids do better if we go out and do things during the day - but she started resisting the carrier and needing shh/pat and me bouncing her around in order to get and stay asleep.  I will keep working on thise naps, as we will be visiting family for several weeks next month and will be out and about a lot.

I guess the night wakings seem bad to me because even though she's developmentally more like a 3.5 month old, it has been a long 5 months of interrupted sleep for me!  Her pediatrician expressed that she should be sleeping longer stretches at night by this point as well, but he does seem to be going more by actual age.  I don't think she's going through a growth spurt or anything, but before EASY she was staying up until 20:30 or 21:00 or later because I couldn't get her to settle with the other kids underfoot, and was then sleeping until 9:30 or even 10:30 in the mornings.  I feel like she's always been more needy as far as feedings go because she is still catching up, but I thought I'd be getting at least a consistent 4-5 hour stretch by now!  Last night I think she struggled because she had woken late in the morning, but I put her to bed at 19:00 because she was tired.  She woke for a feeding at 21:30 and then woke again at 23:20 and would go to sleep and then wake right up - sometimes she'd sleep for 5 minutes and then DH would cough and wake her again.  I finally gave in and fed her at 24:15.  Nights like that are what feels so long, I didn't even get to sleep until after that feeding, and then she had another one at 3:30 or so and woke for the day at 6:30.

[becj86]

I guess the night wakings seem bad to me because even though she's developmentally more like a 3.5 month old, it has been a long 5 months of interrupted sleep for me!

Yeah, I can see that would be a long time of less than solid sleep