Another 4 hr EASY question

[Baby Ethan]

Hi there,
I have a question about starting to use the 4 hr EASY, in Tracys book she says that when transitioning to the 4 hr routine this is the only time she recommends clock watching. Do you think she means that try to get their naps at the same time everyday ie 9:00 to 11:00 and 13:00 to 15:00 or 1st nap 2 hrs after they wake and then another 2 hr wake time followed by another 2 hr nap? The reason i ask is that sometimes my LO can wake up anywhere between 6:00 am and other days 7:00 and 30-60 mins extra wake time could be hell!

[velvet]

I think that it is important to let your 4 month old get into the new routine- so if she wakes at 7am, she should be in bed by 9.  Then the next feed is at 11.  You shouldnt have her sleep past 11 because this is her feed time.  IF you let her sleep longer than the cycle is not 4 hours anymore and suddenly she's not tired when it comes to her 1:00 nap.  This becomes ok only when they get older.  For ex. my 8 month old works on a 5-6 hours cycle.  THis is to adapt for the solids he is now on. Hope it helps.

[Baby Ethan]

but what if he wakes at 6 and doesn't go back to sleep, do i still keep him up till nine even though that means keeping him awake for 3 hours or do i move nap time one hour earlier and all other naps for that day?

[Keren]

I think Tracy means that the first nap is 2 hours after they wake up. So if he wakes at 6, the first nap will be at 8, then feed at 10 etc. If bed is 7pm then you may have to put him down a little earlier (maybe 15-30mins) to prevent him from being overtired at bedtime. But this will only be for a little while until he gets used to the new routine.

What Tracy means by clock watching is that you will be ignoring the tired signs for a little while while you extend his awake time to 2 hours.

HTH
Cheers
Keren

[Onewoman]

Hi, I have been moving to 4hr EASY too, but trying to extend awake time with my lo just made her over tired and cranky and messed up her night sleep as well. It has taken me weeks to sort it out, and have gone back to reading her sleep cues and it has worked out much better. If she gets up at 6am then she will usually be back in bed by 7.30 and then will usually sleep for nearly 2hrs. So we do about 1/2 - 1 hr of activity time before the next feed usually. This works fine, so don't get too hung up with having the exact same routine that is in the book which is only a suggested routine anyway. Follow your lo and she will let you know what works for her.

At first you may have some feeds that are quite near to nap time but as long as they are not feeding to sleep it is ok. Just stick with the 4hr ish eating and the naps follow in my experience.

Our routine is something like this at the moment.

A - 6
E - 6.30
S - 7.30
A - 9.30
E - 10.15
A - 11.15
S - 11.30
A - 1.00
E - 2.15
A - 3.15
S - 3.30
A - 4.15
E - 6.00
S - 6.30

Gradually, as the naps get better, the baby naturally extends their awake time. It is certainly a bit hairy at first! My lo would have a couple of feeds close together in the middle of the day and I didn't know how on earth we would get there with 45 minute naps, but we did with a bit of patience and watching her like a hawk!

HTH

[Baby Ethan]

Thanks for the advice. So far the eating every 4 hours is working perfectly with no problem, it's just the napping for 30-45 mins thing that i'm trying to nip in the bud. If i follow his ques then my routine would be EASASAES (you get the picture), also i've found that as long as he has one good nap during the day, he sleeps better at night ie. instead of waking every hour he'll only wake once or twice and thats just to feed (He's never slept through the night).