Author Topic: FTM - Just started EASY for 6 mo, need advice:)  (Read 1579 times)

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Offline BonnieJade

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FTM - Just started EASY for 6 mo, need advice:)
« on: August 21, 2017, 13:59:50 pm »
Hi!
i'm on day 9 of starting EASY for my 6 month old daughter. Bit of background info, she was born 3 weeks early due to being an IUGR baby (placenta slowed down and her growth was stunted.) Weighed 5lb at birth. I breastfed on demand for the first 6 months. She has been an incredibly unsettled baby so i feel like i've been in survival mode for a long time. We moved from Australia to the USA when she was 3 months. I think she currently weighs around 14lb now, she is around the 5th percentile. She has been a catnapper her entire life, and for the first 3 months i fed her every 1.5-2.5 hours.

Since starting EASY her naps during the day have lengthened from 40 mins to 1.5-2 hours! if she wakes after 40 mins i do pu.pd/put her paci in until she falls asleep. I'm doing my absolute best to follow the 6 month routine from the book. 2 naps around 9am and 1pm with a catnap around 5pm. She gets very cranky after she's been awake for 2 hours. Sometimes she can manage 2.5 hours of being awake. She now goes down for naps and bedtime very easily. i put her down wide awake and give her a paci. I don' feel like she's dependent on it, as she usually sucks on it for a few minutes then spits it out and keeps sleeping.

She has 5 breastfeeds. 7,11,3,7 and a dreamfeed at 10.30pm. We've just started solids and i'll give her a little bit at 8, 12 and 4.

Sometimes her feeds aren't exactly on time, they might be 10-15 mins earlier making it 3.45-4 hours between feeds. When i put her down at 7.30pm sometimes she'll sleep right until the dreamfeed other times i have to resettle her back to sleep.

My biggest concerns are what happens after the dreamfeed. It changes every night, sometimes she'll wake up every couple of hours, sometimes she'll do 5 hours then wake every 40 mins. It's very erratic. Does anyone have any suggestions on what i might be doing wrong?

Lastnight she slept from 10.45pm-5.40am then slept until 6am, woke at 6.20 then i put her paci in and she wouldn't go back to sleep. I got her up at 6.50 and fed her. My question is she got really cranky around 7.30am, i put her down for a nap at 8am. one hour earlier than i should have. I'm not sure what to do when she has an early wakeup, it makes it very difficult to stretch her out until 9am. 

So my questions are
- Am i doing something wrong?
- What can i do about naptimes when she has an early wakeup?
- Do you think she is breastfeeding enough considering her size? Sometimes in the morning she will only feed one side, and she'll fuss and cry if i try to feed her the other. She's become a very efficient feeder, takes her about 5-8 mins to drain each side. I've just started solids and feed her a little bit an hour after her day time feeds.

Thanks for the help!! xx
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 14:02:34 pm by BonnieJade »

Offline jessmum46

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Re: FTM - Just started EASY for 6 mo, need advice:)
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2017, 18:51:53 pm »
Hi there and welcome to the boards :)  I hope we can help you out!

A few things jump out at me from your post and I hope you don't mind me asking a few more questions.  You said that she has always been an unsettled baby - is there more to that than just personality do you think?  Does she (for example) struggle with reflux or tummy troubles? 

'm doing my absolute best to follow the 6 month routine from the book. 2 naps around 9am and 1pm with a catnap around 5pm. She gets very cranky after she's been awake for 2 hours.
I'm not quite sure which routine you are referring to here but it sounds very much like the 'standard' 4h EASY routine of WU 7, naps 9-11 and 1-3 with a CN at 5 - is that right?  If so that routine is really appropriate for a 4 month old (typical/average awake time about 2h) but needs adjusting for an older baby as many 6 month olds are heading towards 3h A time and dropping the catnap.  2h A time is very short really for a 6 month old - her tiredness cues could be 'learned'/habit, boredom, or overall tiredness from disturbed nights and a slightly 'off' routine, but I would expect that you may need to adjust what you are aiming for to start seeing things settle a bit.  For example with 2.5h A time you might go for:

WU 7
Nap 9.30-11.30
Nap 2-3.30
CN 5.30-6
BT 7.30

Moving towards dropping the catnap and something more like:

WU 7
Nap 10-12
Nap 3-4.30
BT 7.30

(Obviously variable depending on nap lengths)

My biggest concerns are what happens after the dreamfeed. It changes every night, sometimes she'll wake up every couple of hours, sometimes she'll do 5 hours then wake every 40 mins. It's very erratic. Does anyone have any suggestions on what i might be doing wrong?
This is a bit tricky as it could be a combination of factors, but not necessarily you doing anything wrong!!  Firstly I'd say babies aren't machines so variation is to be expected and is normal.  That said, waking every 40 mins or every 2h is excessive really, and I would again question whether there is discomfort playing a part for her.  My first was a great night sleeper and had wakings like this when teething or ill.  My second was not a great sleeper at night and turned out to have milk/soya allergies - never bad enough to be very obvious in the day so was a late diagnosis, but significantly impacted his sleeping at night. 

Thinking about your specific questions - hopefully some of my suggestions will answer the first one!  But please do't feel like you are doing anything 'wrong' - there is often no 'right' to be had as babies are constantly changing and often several steps ahead of us!

- What can i do about naptimes when she has an early wakeup?
I would work on A times really.  EASY is not meant to be a schedule and so I would expect that naps would need to come early on early waking days.  The thing to avoid though is shortening the first A time too much.  That day you put her down at 8am she only had about 1h40 A time from 6.20-8am, and 30 mins of that was in bed.  Essentially her first nap that day was an extension of her night sleep and doing that too often can actually cause early wakings.  I would probably try to push through for at least a normal A time (so around 2h30) from the time she woke up.  It may mean you get an OT nap (short or unsettled) but it should avoid prolonging the early starts. 

Do you think she is breastfeeding enough considering her size?
My question here would be is she growing ok?  It's fine being small, someone has to be!  But that's a very different thing from not growing well.  If she is happy, growing (on her own centile), having plenty of wet and dirty nappies then she is probably feeding plenty.  If there are concerns in any of those areas then she may need more.  Are you feeding at night besides the dreamfeed?  It wouldn't be unreasonable at her age to still need a night feed in addition to the dream feed :)  IN the daytime is she happy to go those 3.5-4h between feeds?  If she is, great!  Just be aware that some breastfed babies will struggle to make it that long until fully established on solids so if you feel she needs to eat sooner then you should feed her.

Sorry that's a long reply!  I hope I've answered everything for you but please come back with any more questions :)

Offline BonnieJade

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Re: FTM - Just started EASY for 6 mo, need advice:)
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2017, 19:33:59 pm »
Thank you so much for the reply!  I have started the standard 4hour EASY routine. I've never been consistent with implementing a routine in the past so i thought this would be a good place to start. After reading your answer I will definitely extend her awake times from 2.5-3 hours.

When would i breastfeed her if i was to do her first feed at 7am then put her down for a nap at 10am and 3pm? She is doing enough wet and dirty diapers and she seems content to go 3.45-4 hours between feeds. I read in the book that 6 month olds don't need to eat after the dream feed so i haven't fed her if she's woken up. I do 3 solid meals currently - she doesn't eat much, perhaps  1.5 ounces  of puree each time

i recently cut out dairy (i really wish i would have done that when she was a newborn) because i was starting to wonder if  the mucous in her poo was normal, she had mucous in her poo ever since i can remember - apparently it's not normal. Since cutting dairy out she hasn't had any mucous and there was some eczema on her arm that has now gone away. She has her 6 month checkup this week so I'm looking forward to asking her pediatrician lots of questions.

Thanks again for your help!!
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 19:37:56 pm by BonnieJade »

Offline jessmum46

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Re: FTM - Just started EASY for 6 mo, need advice:)
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2017, 18:59:25 pm »
How's things going?