Hello, all! I need some advice from you wise people!
I started a bad habit (accidental parenting, if you will) of nursing my baby boy both when he wakes up from nap/bed and also before nap/bed. He is almost 12 weeks old and exclusively breastfed. I really want to get him on the EASY schedule, but don't know how to cut out that feeding before sleep when he truly seems hungry. He only nurses for 3-5 minutes at a time, just as my previous two sons did. I believe I have the overactive letdown where my milk sprays out quite forcefully during letdown and chokes them as newborns so they eat quickly? He's gotten used to the letdown and I don't think it's quite as forceful as it was in the beginning, but now we are stuck in this pattern. I worry my milk production is also accustomed to this eating every two hours.
Also, I don't 100% understand how the EASY schedule works out - for instance, if I nurse my son when he wakes up at 7am, let's say he nurses until 7:05am. Then he goes down for a nap at 8:45am. If he were to sleep for two hours, he'd wake at 10:45am and that would be well over 3 hours without feeding. Doesn't he need to eat every 3 hours at this point? I worry he won't sleep as well if his belly isn't full.
If anyone has words of wisdom and/or suggestions for what I can do to stop the nursing right before sleep, that would be great. It is now the way he gets sleepy enough for me to place him in the crib. Many, many thanks in advance!