Trying to transition 21 week old to 4hr EASY. Various questions!

[caitmcswny]

Hi everyone!

I have a 21 week old, she is exclusively breastfed. I'm trying to get a grasp on her sleeping and have looked recently to Tracy's EASY as a guide. I had been breastfeeding or rocking her to sleep and am trying to be able to put her down drowsy but awake.

Currently her schedule seems spot on with the 3hr EASY and it seemed like over the last few days she was starting to be able to fall asleep on her own, which was great! I have a naptime routine: turn on her white noise machine, I spray some lavender spray around her crib, swaddle her, then hold her for a few minutes to wind her down, then place her in her crib, kiss her forehead and walk out of the room. This seemed to be going well until I started to transition her by adding 15 minutes to her morning awake time. Just those extra 15 minutes have been a struggle. This morning as I held her to calm her down she cried and I felt maybe she just needed to be put down, so I did that and she continued to cry. I stayed in the room with her and every minute or so went to her crib, placed my hand on her and put her pacifier back in, walked away. Had to do this a few times until she finally fell asleep on her own. Am I doing this right? Or should I do something different?

Second issue, it seems her afternoon nap is ALWAYS a struggle. It's either hard to put her down or it only lasts about 30 minutes. Sometimes I wonder if it's my morning coffee that has finally crept into my breastmilk by the afternoon and is keeping her up? *Not sure if that could be a crazy thought?

The hard thing with her naps is that if she wakes up early and I don't catch it soon enough she becomes wide awake. She won't usually cry. She's just perfectly content and happy lying in her crib, which almost makes it harder to try and get her to go back to sleep. What are you supposed to do at that point? Lately, I've been keeping her in her crib, even if she's awake, until the time she's supposed to eat. But it seems like such a wasted period of time when she really needs that rest.

Thank you for any thoughts you guys have!

[Tori29]

Hi there!

I am not an expert but wanted to reply as going through similar thing to you! My girl twins are 19 weeks, but adjusted they are 16 weeks.
I am also exclusive breast feeding and up until last week used dummy with both; but it was becoming a sleep prop! And as of last week they were waking up crying WITH the dummy in their mouth! So it was not soothing them, so decided to go cold- turkey and get rid of it.
In BW it says if you end up going in during nap time to replace the dummy etc and baby won't go back to sleep without it, then it is a prop. I decided to get rid, as wasn't soothing anyway and during their day naps I would always have to go in at the 45 min mark, sometimes more, to replace it.
It has been HARD WORK but seeing results already after 5 days. Also- when you start PUPD it says not to do with a dummy, so maybe you can try to get rid of the dummy? It is not easy, but have been seeing improvements. Hard though as sometimes you can see that they really miss it (start trying to suck my hand sometimes doing shush pat!).

On top of this have been doing the transition to 4 hour feeds using the 2 week phasing in process as described in the BW book (cant remember which). 
I am replying as when you mention that your little on is lying awake in the crib, perhaps that is under-tired? Perhaps push on through and move (slowly) onto 4 hour feed schedule?
I noticed my girls suddenly went from pretty good sleepers (with dummy) to being upset at nap times/ waking up crying more frequently etc on the 3 hour schedule; and I have noticed an improvement moving towards the 4 hour mark. I have been pretty strict sticking to the times that Tracy wrote in the book - even if that meant a few naps were OT (aka lots of crying and upset during entire nap!).

The only thing is that occasionally my routine turns more into an EAEASY than an EASY. This has meant that the naps go better as they have a more fuller stomach, and they are adapting to have longer activity time which they are not so used to, so the extra feed helps them not get too grumpy. And tonight for example they went to bed at 6:30pm which is earlier for them (as per the schedule), but one twin kept waking up upset, and I just figured she was hungry so fed her after a few sessions of shush pat/ some PUPD comforting, and she has been asleep fine after that.
I think that the 4 months is a difficult time for them- lots of development and growth spurts? so don't think it is bad feeding them when they seem hungry at the moment, just hope it doesn't turn into a habit!!  Anyone disagree with this?

I know what you mean about questioning what you eat and whether that affects your breast milk! If they are being difficult I immediately question- was it the glass of red wine I had last night? Or eating cereal with cold milk?

Just realised you posted this end of September- how are you getting on now?