How to switch from A.E.S.Y. TO E.A.S.Y.

[marleyfloydbabe]

i NEED some serious help.  I've got a 6 month old who is a VERY spirited baby.  I hadn't had her on a routine at all, or a very relaxed one at that for a while.  I finally got her into a routine just about a month ago, but she has gotten into the routine of eating BEFORE sleeping.  We still sleep with her also and I was using the attached style of parenting suggested by Dr. Sears.  She's pretty independent though now, and can play contently by herself so she's not always held. 

My question is, how should I go about switching her from eating before sleeping to eating when she wakes up? I've tried getting her to eat when she wakes but she just squirms and turns her head away.  I can get her to eat rice cereal/breastmilk at awaking, but not the breast.  The more I try to coax her, the more she gets upset.  Now, because of me trying to switch her, she's began to get anxious and cry when I begin to get ready to feed her but after a few moments usually settles onto the boob.  Now I feel like I've done more harm than good, and I know I need to get her to sleep on her own. 

Should I wait to switch until I've taught her to sleep on her own? How can I switch?  What about bedtime "tanking up"?  HELP!!

[Katet]

Since she is resisiting feeds earlier (probably as she isn't really hungry (or tired as she associates sleep with the breast) When you feed her (just before the nap) take her off just at the point she gets drowsy, so she wakes up, keep doing this so she gets the idea she is no longer able to fall asleep at feed time & then put her down for naps less & less drowsy. Once you can get her down mostly awake, start bringing the feed earlier in the activity time.

[motherofquinn]

I don't know if this will help but...

My Quinn is just over four months old and we recently switched him from an eat to sleep routine (AES) to the EASY one.

I used to feed him to sleep for all naps and at his bedtime. I first tried changing the bedtime routine. Instead of doing the feeding at the end of the sequence, I did it at the beginning - eat, pajamas, read, lullaby instead of pajamas, read, lullaby, eat. If he fell asleep at the breast, he ending up waking up when I changed his diaper and put him in his pajamas. The problem I then had was....well then how do I get him to sleep? I ended up walking him around and shushing in his ear, singing to him...whatever I could do to put him to sleep in my arms. Then I would lay him down in his crib already asleep.

This worked for a while, but he was gradually getting heavier, and I was getting tired of doing this four or five times a day...and I realized that I had simply switched props from the boob to my arms.

It was at this point that a friend told me about BW. We are now on day five of the EASY, PU/PD plan. And although it was very hard the first few days, it has gotten much better - using PU/PD to teach him to fall asleep on his own, and then feeding him when he gets up, except for the last feed of the day is not after his last nap, because that would be too early, instead I feed before the bedtime routine...

Although we tried to first change the feed time and then teach him to sleep, in the end it made more sense to do both at once. In the end it might be easier?

Been there!
Good luck,