Hello and welcome to BW forums
Yes you absolutely can do EASY at 12 months. The reason you are not seeing so much about this age is because we have a different board for toddler sleep, for ease we have all 12 months+ kiddies in the toddler section whether or not they have actually started toddling.
I will move your thread over there for you but here is a link to the board:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=34.0We also have a toddler specific FAQ page here:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=275734.0although lots of the other FAQs are also useful.
The main difference in the EASY routine at 12 months is that LOs eat more often, milks (usually 2), meals (3 main meals) and snacks (2 or even 3) and sleep less in the day (some have 1 nap some have 2) so the E aspect doesn't only happen after S but rather happens at predictable times across the day.
Toddlers can also be sleep trained using the BW methods and those too are a bit different to a new born or younger baby but the main ethos is the same, being respectful and supporting your LO whilst they learn to sleep independently.
Let me see if I can answer some of your questions:
Note 1. We had 5 bottle times up until recently because of reflux (more frequent and smaller servings). We're not at 4 bottles of 6 ounces each. Reflux is improved and I'm considering going to three bottles of 7 or 8 ounces each.
At 12 months we'd expect 2 of the bottles to switch to solids snacks. Reflux babies can often find the solids easier as they can stay down in their tummies easier than the milk. You would switch the mid morning and mid afternoon bottles to a snack with a drink of water (or milk but those milks can be dropped now because solids becomes the primary source of calories and nutrients). How about trying out switching just one, see how it goes then in a week or so switch the other?
typical E routine would be (I'll put itmes in just as guidance but timings really depend on nap times too):
7am WU milk or breakfast with milk drink
8am breakfast (if first E was bottle of milk) 1hr later
11am mid morning snack with water
12pm lunch with water
3pm mid afternoon snack with water
4/5pm dinner
7pm BT milk
The other thing to note about the E routine is that it is recommended to drop bottles at 12 months. Some people chose to continue with one or two bottles because LO doesn't take a suitable amount of milk with a cup or straw. The WU and BT milk drinks can continue in a bottle if that's the case but you can also drop bottles totally at this age (we can help with how to go about this if needed).
Note 2. We went to 1 nap a day because it seemed his day naps made his night sleeping too short. Night sleeping did improve but it's still bad. He is easy going during the day so can't tell if one nap is too little.
one nap is probablyfine although I'd expect to see him have a longer nap than 1hr. It could be that the nap is too early in the day, moving it later could help to encourage a later morning WU time and also help him sleep longer for the nap. The later and longer nap would also help to reduce the A time between the nap and night time sleep which looks very long at the moment. If that A time is too long LO can become OT (over tired) which can cause a disturbance at night either with multiple night wakings or with early waking the next morning.
For some LOs they do better with a longer nap and a slightly shorter night, they might not be able to sleep 12hr nights but are instead well rested on a 2hr nap and 11 hr night.
As you have already moved to 1 nap I would suggest staying one one rather than increasing back to 2, but shifting it later. Move the nap in increments of 15 mins so it is not too much change in one day. I'd aim for 11.15am and then 11.30am for now and then possibly move a bit later depending what effect it has on his sleep.
I would also suggest EBT (early bed time) not more than 5hrs after the nap ends. This can seem very early but LOs who become OT by a very long day can sleep less well over night.
First thing I noticed, EASY doesn't work out with solids if you break up E into two periods. Is that okay?
Hopefully this is answered above. If you have more questions let me know.
Next, I'm going from sleeping after bottle, to activity after bottle. That may be hard as the grandparents are watching him and they will just hold and walk with him until he falls asleep.
Sleep training is different to routine. You can follow a routine without sleep training. You can put a routine in place first and then consider sleep training when you are ready and when you feel you understand the process. It's often easier for parents to do the initial sleep training themselves (because you know what your goal is) before handing over the "new" way to fall asleep to other care givers. If your LO is used to falling to sleep on a bottle you can expect to get a lot of resistance to sleeping without the bottle and changing the habit.
Finally, the night time is still sleep after bottle. Is that okay?
Night time milk feeds do not have any A time, it's straight back to bed, yes. At this age LOs don't need to eat in the night, they can get all the calories they need in the day. If there are any night feeds remaining I'd suggest weaning those gently over a number of days.
As I said before, it is advised to drop all bottles at 12 months the main reason for this is tooth care. Your LO may not yet have many teeth but growth can be effected even before the teeth show. One aspect is that LOs who use a bottle all day (eg for juice drinks and comfort) can decay the teeth with the juice/milk being sipped for long periods but also growth can be effected because the teat is in the mouth for long periods. You can avoid this problem by limiting the bottle to once or twice per day where the milk is taken in one go and done within a few mins, and never use the bottle for anything other than milk or water. The other aspect of tooth care is that milk sitting on the teeth all night is not ideal and will decay the teeth. Ideally you need to be moving the BT bottle earlier (or dropping it) so that the milk is finished 30 mins before teeth/gums are brushed before BT (teeth shouldn't be brushed directly after eating or drinking anything other than water).
I hope this helps some - it may raise more questions but hopefully we can support you through the changes you decide to make and answer any questions you have.
