Please can someone help with our EASy routine or lack of

[Serenede]

Ok so I have recorded our EAS for the last three days

Thursday 7th

NW- 4am 6oz
7.15- WU
7.30- E- 6oz
A- 7.15-8.50
S- 8.50-9.30- car school run
A- 9.30-11.25 at home so fairly relaxed
E- 10.40 7oz
S-11.25-13.30 went down very well resettled after 35 minutes so had 1.75 hours
E- 13.40 ( miserable)6oz
A- 13.30- 2.40 again at home
S- 2.40-3.20 car school run
A-3.20- 5.25 home then swimming lessons
E- 5 4oz milk
S- 5.25-5.50 car
A- 5.50- 7.30 at home Bath
E- 6.50 8oz
BT-7.30 put down at 7 and talked/winged for 15 minutes then escalated to full crying. Went in and as soon as I started shushing he started to settle.
WU- 20.45 had to shush to get back to sleep

Friday

NW- 2.30am 6oz milk
NW- 4.30 am shushed back to sleep
NW- 6am- 6oz milk
WU- 8am
A- 8am-9.55
E- 9.20am 6oz
S- 9.55- 10.30settled all by himself with 5/10 mins of fussing/crying!
A- 10.30- 12.20- food shopping
S-12.20-13.05- cot 10 mins of shushing
E-13.10-6oz
A-13.05-14.50 at home
S-14.50-15.30 car
A-15.30-17.20 at home
E-16.15 7oz
S-17.20-17.50 cot took a while
A- 17.50-19.20 at home and bath
E-7pm 8oz
BT-7.20pm settled himself

Saturday

WU- 06.20
E- 06.30
Put back down but didn't go off
A- 06.20-08.15 at home
S-08.15-08.55 settled himself in cot
A-08.55-10.55 walk in sling
E-09.40-7oz
S-10.55-11.25 settled himslef very quickly. Went in at half hour mark but already stirring, tried to settle for 10 mins but no luck so got up
Very grumpy so tried to put back to bed but screamed non stop for 40 mins then was due a feed
A-11.25-13.30 at home but 40 mins in cot of screaming
E- 1pm 7oz
S-13.30-14.07 car
A-14.07-16.00 out with friends fairly loud and outside
E-15.40 6oz
S-16.00-16.25 sling
A- 16.25-17.30 walking and in car
S-17.30-17.55 car
A-17.55-19.45
E-18.50 7oz
BT- 7pm but screamed until 19.45 ended up having to pick him up and offer him the last ounce of milk to settle him again.

I am so pleased he has been able to settle himself a few times without my help. I feel that the times he can't and particularly at BT are due to over tiredness. He slept slightly more on Friday than Saturday and as he woke later due to the night feeds the day was shorter and his activity time before bed was slightly longer. Do you think I should try and keep it at that length each night? I really don't know how else to go about extending his daytime naps and it's only really the lunchtime one I can do due to school runs. On Thursday when I did manage to extend though he was up and down during the night? I have kept the activity time the same each day and always do the same wind down routine before naps and then the same before bed. He doesn't have any sleep props apart from holding a muslin. Any thoughts?

[creations]

It's good progress that he can settle by himself sometimes and is settling in the cot, this will help in the long run.
I do think you have a difficulty with having so many short naps due to car trips etc and I can see that there is often only one opportunity to nap in the cot at home per day.  i would just keep working on that, try to extend it with W2S, go in at 30 mins and wait for him to stir with a hand just over him and begin shush/pat (or firm hand rocking, rubbing or whatever you do in the cot) the moment he stirs and keep going trying as long as possible to resettle in the cot. if he cries too much pick up and stay in the bedroom and try to calm him and resettle back to sleep.  Unfortunately the sleep training for the one long nap is probably not helped by him having to have so many cat naps at other times in the day, it is taking longer to learn to stay asleep.  You'll get there eventually though.

[Serenede]

Thanks for the support.

This week I have tried to keep free so we can focus on extending the naps. Its not always going to work as I have to do some of the school runs but this morning DH was working from home so I left him here for his first nap and DH was able to extend it by half an hour so he had just over an hour in total. He then went down at 12 and woke at 12.30, ive been in there until 13.15 keeping him asleep with shushing and holding him through the jolts and he is still there now at 13.35 so hopefully that will all help. He has also settled himself very quickly for both naps initially.

Will come back in a few days hopefully with some progress!

[creations]

That sounds good.  Hope the next few days go well for you and you begin to see some progress in him being able to nap for longer.

[Serenede]

Hi,

Just wanted to update on our progress and hope that it helps someone else in a similar situation.

So after a few weeks of perseverance our EASY now looks something like this:

WU-7AM
E-7.15am
A-7am-8.45am
S-8.45am-10.15am (occasionally we still have a 45 minute nap and sometimes 2 hours)
A-10.15am-12
E-10.45am
S-12-either 1.30/2pm (sometimes still 45 mins)
A-1.30pm-3.15
E-2.15pm
S-3.15-4pm (often falls asleep on school run)
A-4pm-5.45pm
E-5.30pm
S-5.45-6/6.15pm (usually wake him)
A-6/6.15pm-7.30pm
E-7.15pm
BT -7.30pm

Sometimes he will wake at 6am but i feed him and put him back down then wake him at 7.30am.

Things are SO much better and 90%of the time he goes down in the cot after a short wind down and goes to sleep by himself. Knowing I have the shush/pat to fall back on though if he struggles is fantastic. He is so much happier for getting the sleep he needs. Sometimes we do still get the 45 min nap that i cant extend but its usually a max of once a day and I think this will disappear soon now he is learning what to do. He's 5 months next week but seems happy with an activity time of 1 hour 45 minutes still.

Thanks for all your support and anyone that's struggling just keep persevering and you will get there!x

[creations]

Lovely update. Thanks for taking the time to share.

You might consider increasing one or more of the A times now, especially if you are getting a 45 min nap, it can be a sign of being UT.  2hrs might be better now if you want to give it a go.

[Serenede]

Thank you!

Yes I think your right with pushing the activity time although for the first morning nap he is always very tired by 1.5 hours and it's very hard to keep him going. This is usually the longest nap of the day? Can the activity time be shorter first thing with some babies?

[creations]

Yes, we seem to see LOs who either like a shorter first A time or a longer first A time.  if you feel yours likes shorter then that's fine just go with it. If that nap is often 45 min though or if the morning WU gets earlier and earlier these can be signs the A needs extending, even if LO seems very tired.

Hope that helps.

[Serenede]

Yes it does 

He managed two hours this morning as I kept him going on the school run so i could out him down when we got back, he is still asleep after 1.5 hours 

[creations]

Good nap

[Serenede]

Hi,

Thought i would try posting back in my old thread, I did post on night wakes but havent had a response and as I had such great advice here i thought i would come back 

So LO is now 20 weeks and naps are going well but no we are getting some night wakes, initially i thought it was hunger but have ruled that out now.

 Our EASY yesterday looked like this:

Woke at 3.30am and shush patted for 40 minutes, back to sleep only to wake 20 minutes later with a nappy leak! Changed and put back to bed and slept until i woke him.

7.40am- WU
E-5oz
A-7.40-9.20-fell asleep on school run
S-9.20-9.50
E-11am 6oz
A-9.50-11.30
S-11.30-13.45
E-14.15 70z also tried a bit of carrot
A-13.45-16.00
S-16.00-16.45
E-17.30 5oz
A-16.45-19.00
E-18.45 8oz
BT-19.00 striaght to sleep

Nw-01.30-shush patted for 45 minutes but he was wide awake so left him to settle as he wasnt upset and went back to sleep at 2.30am

07.10-WU
I have managed to keep him going this morning on the school run and put him down when we got back so he went down at 09.10 but still woke at 09.50. He then slept 11.45-2.15 when i woke him and is having a cat nap now which will be 40 minutes and 2 hours 15 since last nap. Today we have been able to stretch feed to 4 hours and he’s taken 8oz each time.

I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on why this might be happening? Ive definitely noticed he needs slightly longer activity time more 2-2.15 now so trying to go with that.

[creations]

Hi there
I wanted you to know I've seen your post (but not read it yet) and have highlighted that you are waiting for a response on the NW board.
Hopefully you will have a response there soon.
I'll check back to make sure you get a reply somewhere in the next day or so.

[Serenede]

Thank you I really appreciate it!