Hi BW mums
I really need your help
I am new to E.A.S.Y and only started DS on it a couple of weeks ago. Prior to reading Tracy's books, my DS (he will be 6 months next week) was nursed to sleep and was not really on a routine. He took to E.A.S.Y quite well and has been on 3 1/2 - 4hr routine and can now put himself to sleep for naps and bedtime, as well as self-settle at night (except when he wakes up habitually at 5:30 and cannot settle at naps).
Even before I put him on EASY, he was napping solidly for 1.5-2 hrs in the morning, 45 mins at lunch and 30 mins in the afternoon. I have been working on extending the lunch nap from 45 mins to 1.5hr. It has been taking me at least 20mins to settle him. Success varies day to day - I tried PU/PD which kept setting him off and I noticed that he was becoming fearful of his crib so I stopped, and so I moved on to W2S and it has worked a couple of times so far until a new problem started...
The problem we have been experiencing in the last week is that his naps suddenly started to get shorter. His naps have shortened to 1.15hr or less in the morning, 30 mins or less at lunch and 20-30 mins in the afternoon. Also, it has become harder for him to put himself to sleep. In the beginning, he was asleep on average within 10 mins for naps and bedtime. Now it is taking him up 30 mins to fall asleep.
I have been writing his routine down since I got him on EASY but each day varies depending on what time he wakes up in the morning. He habitually wakes up between 5:30 and 6 (we have been working on 7am wake up)
Up until a week ago our routine was something like this:
6:30 WU, BF
7:30 Breakfast solid
9:00 nap 1
10:30 WU, BF
11:30 Lunch solid
13:00 Nap 2
13:45 WU (settling usually takes 20-30 mins which usually extends to 1 sleep cycle, but most times cannot)
14:30 BF
17:00 CN
17:30 WU, Dinner solid
18:00 Bath routine
18:30 BF
19:00 BT
* extended awake times from 2:15 - 2:30 5 days ago
* wakes up at 9pm, 2am and 5:30 habitually but can put himself back to sleep except for the 5:30 one.
* I started DF (10:30pm) when I got him on E.A.S.Y
* Up until E.A.S.Y he was waking up to 5 times in the night and I was feeding him to sleep (accidental parenting)
* started solids almost 3 weeks ago
* solely breastfed
I would really appreciate if you could tell me where I am going wrong. I have been playing around awake times thinking that maybe he is OT or UT. I am now feeling like I have done something wrong. At least before, I can count on a 3hr nap in one day, but now he is only napping a little over 2hrs which I know is OT. Is it because I have been pushing to extend the lunch nap? I really feel like I have messed things up. Please help!
