No problem Deb - I agree
if I give her a couple of ounces at 4:30 before trying a cat nap, i definitely need to do cat nap in swing or car seat stroller - she needs to be upright for a bit after a meal due to her reflux. is that OK?
Ooops, yes that's quite ok.....what I had meant to say above is probably not a good idea for all naps, due to habit. But in the end too, you have to do what is best health wise for her...do not feel bad at all about creating habits,etc. This can all be fixed later on down the road too
if I am waking her by 5:30, what am I doing with her until her last bottle? she tends to get very upset at this time of day and it will likely be hard to hold her off from eating without a lot of crying/yelling (which we are trying to minimize so as not to aggravate the reflux). I don't want to get into the routine of having a bath as part of her bedtime. For one thing, her skin gets too dry if bathed daily and also - if we are out wiht her I dont' want to have to bathe her at other peoples houses all the time.
If she catnaps until 5:30 and you wake her, is she still cranky? If so you could extend it a little later as well. If she is waking hungry..I would feed her, if even just a couple of ounces to get her to her last bottle,it would be a clusterfeed. For a nighttime routine instead of a bath, how about lotion and a massage?
how do I work it so day starts at 7:30, which is ideal? for example, tonight she fell asleep for bedtime at 7:30, took 4.5 ounces at dream feed at 10:20 (in total sleep) and woke up at 2:15 starving and downed 5.5 ounces. But now she will never make it till 7:30 - probably waking up by 6:45 at the latest. So how do I adjust back to schedule?
At this young of age...you just have to go with the flow when it comes to EASY. There is a lot of tweaking and a lot of adjustments. THe main things that EASY promotes besides a routine, which babies thrive on, is not feeding to sleep (prevents overfeeding/snacking)and helps you understand her needs and read her cues. I know with John I obsessed a lot over "sticking to the schedule". But I've learned that it doesn't have to be exact...just following the order of EAS (when tweaking it may become SASE or EAES at times). So if she wakes between 6-6:30 which she probably will for a while, young babies usually don't make it the actual 12 hours, you just need to tweak a little bit. If she feeds at 6:30, you would then feed her again in the 3-4 hour time. Throughout the day, you can then let her sleep a little later instead of waking up, or try pushing the feed back 15 minutes if she's content. As you do these throughout the day, you will get back more onto the routine. It is not uncommon at all for the times to give or take 30 minutes. Just remember EASY. I hope that makes sense..i'm sort of waffling here.
Assuming she falls back asleep soon, how do I organize the day today? Maybe make the next bottle 3 hours apart (so at about 9) since she had a smaller one at 6ish? And then go 3.25 hours from there so that we are then at 12:15, 3:30 and then 6:45? If so, that would be one extra bottle than usual - should i put 5 ounces instead of 6 ounces in each?
I was supposed to be somewhere work related (I am a real estate broker) with her at 12:15 or so - normally she would have been sleeping after her 11:00am ish bottle at that time!
Exactly...this is the tweaking
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And it's all perfectly OK!!!! I just tweak so it works, without ever letting her go hungry of course :wink:
As far as ounces, feed as much as she'll take (or as much as she should for the reflux..again no experience, sorry!)
Remember...relax...go with the flow...you are doing great. She is still really, really young and it will fall into place much better as she gets older - enjoy her!!! I know you already do!!!
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