Help with EASY schedule for 7-week old

[sleepymom80]

I have been trying to implement EASY on my 7-week old. It's been a struggle. So far he has been able to keep with 3-hr interval between feeds but at time, he will wake up and scream to be fed at the 2-hr mark. This was our EASY during the past 2 days.

Yesterday:
3:10am night feed (from a last feed of 11:30pm the night before)
7am-wake
7-7:25- eat
8:15- nap #1, overtired as I wsnt able to put him down quicker because ai had to get my older son ready for school, slept around 8:30
Nap1 was disorganized, lasted 45 mins, attempted to extend but was not successful, awake by 9:30am

10-10:30 Eat
10:30-10:45- short awake cycle as previous nap was short
10:45- nap #2, went down easily, minimal wake-ups

Awake by 12:50pm
1pm-1:30 Eat
1:30-1:50 A
1:50-3:40 Nap 3, some wake ups but with shush pat, was able to go back to sleep

Awake by 3:50pm
3:50-4:10pm eat
4:10-4:40 awake
5pm- sleep

6 pm awake...I actually woke him up.
6- was not interested in eating
A- 6-6:30. ( spent time with family while family having dinner)
6:30-6:45- finally ate
6:45-7- bedtime routine (book, lullabye)
7:15- sleep, at least 2 wake ups and hard to settle, had to be rocked, wouldnt settle with shush pat

9:50pm-10pm- woke up on his own to eat, slept right away after, minimal wake ups

1:40am-2am- night feed

5:50-6am- night feed

7:15am, wake (I woke him up)
7:15-7:40am, refused to eat after several attempts
8:15. - sleep (nap1)

My questions are:
1. Do I wake him up from his 4th nap (or catnap) to try to preserve bedtime at 7pm or do I just let him sleep until his next feed of 3 hours? He was definitely hungry at the 2nd hour mark yesterday amd only ate at the 3rd hour mark.

2. If his second night feed is close to his wake up (5:40am-6:10am), do I still wake him up at 7am. He was not interested in eating at all and I could barely get an ounce in him. He was still quite sleepy. If he wakes up at the 2-hr mark hungry because of a missed feed from the previous cycle, I will feed him but this will make EASY wonky. What do I do?

3. THe dream feed doesnt seem to be working for us. i wonder if it's better for us to do a 2-hr cycle at bedtime (feed at 9pm and again at 11pm) to tank him up? Would this work?

Thanks for all your help.

[creations]

Hi there and welcome to BW forums

Your routine looks pretty good.
Let me see if I can answer your questions

he has been able to keep with 3-hr interval between feeds but at time, he will wake up and scream to be fed at the 2-hr mark.

I don't see this in your EASY times but if he is screaming for food you should go ahead and feed him certainly.
LOs can cry for food earlier than expected maybe through a growth spurt or sometimes due to gas pain or reflux. I wouldn't be concerned about just the odd time, if it is all the time it might be worth looking at again. From your times though it looks like he is going 3hrs+ and two stretches of 4hrs at night which is great.

1. Do I wake him up from his 4th nap (or catnap) to try to preserve bedtime at 7pm

You can, yes, so long as it is working for you and your LO this is a good routine.  Your last nap times may end up different if the first nap is longer of course so you might not always need to wake him up to maintain BT.  I wouldn't expect him to be hungry at that time based on his previous E time but if he is that fine too, just feed and then feed again at BT (I realise those two feeds almost run into one as they are so close together. Feed, BT routine and feed).

2. If his second night feed is close to his wake up (5:40am-6:10am), do I still wake him up at 7am. He was not interested in eating at all and I could barely get an ounce in him. He was still quite sleepy.

Some people prefer to let their LOs sleep until a natural WU time, but it can effect the day and give less consistency overall.  It is your choice but I would suggest you don't let the morning WU time become *too* flexible. Maybe 7.30 latest just to get into a predictable routine for you both?  It doesn't really matter what time the WU is so long as it is relatively consistent.
I would still offer the E on morning WU as he learns that at this time you wake up and get food, it may help him work on a longer stretch of sleep over time.  I wouldn't worry if he is not particularly hungry though and if he takes nothing or almost nothing just count the previous E as the E time and add 3hrs from that.  In this example he would be fine until after his first nap either because the nap is short (S 45 min, E 3hrs) or if the nap extends he will just wait a bit longer before eating (S 1.5hr E 3.5hr this is no longer than he does at night and he has also been offered food between).  Either way he is likely to eat when he wakes from that nap and you begin another round of EAS.

3. THe dream feed doesnt seem to be working for us. i wonder if it's better for us to do a 2-hr cycle at bedtime (feed at 9pm and again at 11pm) to tank him up? Would this work?

I see no harm in giving this a go.  Is it because you'd prefer to feed him asleep rather than have him wake up at 10 for the feed?
Mine always woke for the feed and we kept a 10pm feed for months, just like a DF, weaned at the same age as a DF too.
Either is fine. If you wanted to try the DF again you can just try 20 min earlier and see if you catch him in a different phase of sleep when he might be more willing to take the feed.

hope this helps
please do let us know if you have more questions

[sleepymom80]

Thanks so much for answering my questions. Just as you predicted (and I suspected), he woke up from his first nap at 9:15am and took in a full feed then. So I started EAS again and put hum down for nap at 10:15am. I don't know how this day will play out.

In regards to the dream feed...I guess I shouldn't be calling it a dream feed as he is awake at this time (since it's about 3 hours from his least feed), I guess I'm more concerned if he is getting enough to eat. He normally eats 9x a day. But now that he has stretched (for the past 2 nights) up to 4 hours at night, his total intake has been down. Is this something that I will have to wait to play out? Will his body realize that he needs to take in more since he's going longer stretches?  I have tried offering more at every feed but he doesn't take any more than 3 oz of breastmilk. These 4 hour stretches have just happened the last 2 nights and has thrown me off. I'm not complaining about the longer stretches, i just hope he ate more.

Thanks again!

[creations]

You can be relatively sure that a baby will eat as much as he needs. You are not making him wait, he is taking his fill at each feed, everything should be fine.  If there is a problem showing up with poor weight gain that's another matter, babies need to follow their centile line (or thereabouts, they can move one line without concern) regardless of if this is one of the lower centiles or one of the higher centiles.
Are you breast feeding on the breast and also giving breast milk in the bottle then?  There is a chance he takes more when on the breast than he does from the bottle I suppose, but I don't think this would be a concern unless he is actually refusing to eat.

[sleepymom80]

You're right. i have to trust him that he will eat as much as he needs. I bottle feed expressed breastmilk. I don't latch him so i know pretty much how much he takes in. Thanks again for your speedy reply. This forum is a godsend!

[creations]

This forum is a godsend!

Yes I think so too
I came here when my LO was 4 months old and stayed ever since.  I hope you continue to enjoy the forums as I have.

With bottle feeding, you likely know this but just a reminder, you would expect there to be roughly an oz left in the bottle after a feed, this ensure LO has take as much as he wants without draining the bottle. I can imagine it being a little frustrating to see precious breast milk being left but this is the best way to know he has taken the right amount he needs.  If/when bottles are drained begin to increase the feed size.