Dropping a nap and moving to 4 hour EASY - help!

[Kim Williams]

My baby boy is 16 weeks old.  He is following the 3 hour EASY and apart from the length of his naps (which have improved) he is doing very well.
Here was our day:

Wake 6.30am
E - 7am
S - 8.30am
A - 9/9.30am
E -  10am
S - 11 am
E - 1 pm
S - 2/2.30pm
E - 4pm
S - 5.15pm
Bed time starts at 6pm
E - 7pm
S - 7.30pm

I havent put all the A time in but hopefully it gives you an idea.  I have two worries.  He has dropped the 5.15pm sleep and when it comes to bed time routine at 6pm is very cranky by 6.30pm.

He is nearly 4 months so guess we need to move to 4 hour EASY soon but as we do not dream feed, he will only be getting 4 feeds, is this enough??

Help!  many thanks!

[Taylor's Mommy]

Wanting to fight the catnap starting around this time is very normal, but without it they do tend to get cranky.  On the days he fights it and you can't get him to go down, may I suggest moving his bedtime up earlier by 15-20 minutes so he doesn't get over tired?  This shouldn't make too much of a difference in wake up time the next morning.

The days he does take it, keep bedtime as is, and remember that the cat nap is a freebie so you can go for a walk, go for a car ride or even in your arms if that will help him get just a little rest.

Regarding moving to 4 hour EASY w/o a dream feed, I can't offer too much advice because we have always done a df.  Consult your pediatrician to make sure dropping a feed is okay, howver, at this age 5 feeds a day is fine.  I have read from other moms that don't dream feed that they do 1 of 2 things:
1. cluster feed at around 5 and 7 pm
2. let your lo wake up naturally and offer that feed (which usually ends up being between 10-11 pm)
so doing one of those 2 things would get you to 5 feeds a day.

HTH!

[Kim Williams]

thanks for you help Andrea.

Does anyone have experience of going to 4 hourly EASY without the dream feed?  Would it be a problem if I keep him on 3 hourly for food but extend his A time? He has already dropped one nap so he is only having 3 now.

[danna]

Without the dreamfeed, when you go to 4 hour EASY do it gradually.  I made the mistake of not doing it gradually and lo started waking in the middle of the night for feeds. 

In Tracy's new book, there is a specific page on how to transition to the 4 hr EASY over a 2 week time frame.  Basically, move to 4 hrs in the am but go about 3 hr 15 mins in the afternoon.  Do that for several days and then go 3 hrs 30 mins in the pm.  By the end of 2 weeks you are at the 4 hr interval.  I also found that cluster feeding (at 6 pm and then topping her off at 8 pm) made a big difference.