Hi everyone,
It's been quite a while, as I haven't written since my now almost 4 year old was a baby! I now have an adorable 8 week old son and have been having a lot of questions about getting him on EASY. I was hesitant to write, since my questions were all over the place and I didn't want to bombard everyone, but I finally caved. Sorry for the ranting post.
My husband insisted we work on EASY from day one, whereas I was kind of hesitant since we had a lot of trouble sleep training DD. We had a really hard time getting him on EASY in the beginning until we realized he was having gut issues and much of the crying/early wakings were the result of gas. We're still not sure if he has reflux or not, as his symptoms seem to vary daily. I'm currently off of dairy and chocolate (woe is me), and we are using gas drops and put him on a probiotic, all of which seemed to help some. But he still has very fussy periods, especially in the evening or any time he's trying to poop, which throw our routine. I also run into trouble when I need to drop off of pick up my daughter from school, when his naps get disrupted and he sometime just doesn't go back down before his next feed.
1. What happens if his nap is cut short and he's been up for 45 minutes by feeding time? I don't let him fall asleep while nursing but should I put him down immediately after? He ends up waking with a gap before his next feed and the cycle repeats. But if I try to keep him up longer he is overtired at the next feed and sometimes i'm just unable to do a proper shh/pat or he is simply not settling.
2. Cluster feeding...i'm still clustering at night and I'm not sure when I should stop. I do 5, 7 and a top off after his bath at 8 or if the afternoon feed is 4 i do 6 and 8 if he gets the second cat nap or 7/7:30 if he doesn't. Should I still be doing at that 8 weeks? I've tried not doing the top off but he ends up waking up or having a harder time going to sleep. In fact, many nights he wakes up before the dream feed and we can't figure out why.
3. Night feedings: at around 6 weeks he was waking up at either 1 or 2 and then between 4 and 5 for a feed. He was doing only 2 hours between feeds many nights but he was taking full feeds so I just assumed hunger and left it at that. At some point I started pushing his feeds to between 3:30 and 4:30 when I saw that he was able to handle it on one or two occasions. The issue is that he still wakes up earlier and squirms, though he doesn't cry. I end up giving him his paci over and over sometime between 1:30-3:30 till I end up feeding him. If I feed him 3:30 he sometimes he wakes in the early 6s and I give him paci again and he goes back down till around 7:30/8. If I feed him closer to 4:30 he lasts till about 7 when we start the day. Should I go back to feeding him twice?
4. I was thrilled when we got into a rhythm and I was able to put DS down for his naps with a paci and he would put himself to sleep and nap for 2 hours at a time. in the last week or so He has been having a much harder time sleeping through the time i drop off or pick up DD, or waking from his naps early even at home. He also has a much harder time falling asleep and I see he is awake 20-30 minutes after I put him down. Should I be extending his awake time? I was thinking he was overtired at 1 hour, but perhaps he is undertired and I should try an hour and 15? I have a hard time seeing his cues and I'm usually running around getting DD ready or getting ready to pick her up... I generally can tell he is getting restless when he starts to get vocal and that's usually around the 1 hour mark.
5. My last major question is a breastfeeding one. I had a lot of latching issues in the beginning and the experience was very unpleasant. I ended up meeting with a lactation consultant and things have greatly improved. I have been doing single side feeds since she recommended it, and DS seemed to be satisfied from one side till now. But I am wondering if my supply from one side will always be enough or if at some point I should start offering the the second side when his intake increases? I was worried that DS feeds were short but the LC weighed him and after 2 minutes he had taken 1.5 oz so he is just an efficient eater. At this point his E time is around 15 minutes. I thought perhaps his early wakeups were a result of hunger so I offered the second side at one of the feeds and he took quite a lot. However at the next feed he took much less so I'm very confused.
Sorry if this is totally in the wrong forum...feel free to move it to where it's appropriate. Thanks in advance for any advice, I know it's a handful.
