First off, my lo is 10 weeks old and still wakes 4 hours after 1st being put down and every hours after that...I am also at my wits end on the sleep deprivation issue. I tried the dream feed, all it did was make her wake up every 2 hours for the next three nights.
I also tried the paci, no workie...same thing, she'd suck a bit and then still want food. Have you tried having him eat longer at the 3 am feeding, and decreasing his time at the earlier and later ones? That is what I am going to try next, however my girl won't take my breast if she isn't hungry, she turns her head away. With her feedings so short already, I'm not sure it will work. A full feeding for her is only about 10-12 minutes, that's if she's starving after waiting 3 1/2 hours.
I am also having problems with e.a.s.y. I tried to use this strategy with my lo when she was about 7-8 weeks old. I started by keeping a log of her regular patterns of eating and sleeping to see what I was up for, to my surprise my girl was eating anywhere from every 3 hours to every 90 minutes for anywhere from 3-10 minutes on one breast only, Then she would be finished, no interest in my breast.
Thinking she might be doing this because of a foremilk imbalance I pumped a little before each feeding for a few days...it seemed to help her get on a more regular eating schedule.
Now at 10 weeks she eats a little less frequently, about every 2-4 hours, but now likes to take a 30 minute break after starting a meal, she'll eat for 5 minutes and then start rooting around about 10-20 minutes after she is burped.
I basically modified the e.a.s.y model to fit her needs. Doing more of a e.a.e.s.y...cause I don't know what else to do.
I think the main thing the model does for you is ensure that you can read your babies cues (because you are logging what she has done) and it also ensures that your lo is napping every 1-2 hours, which is huge for babies under 4 months old. There is a very good book on sleep called "healthy sleep habits, happy child" by Dr. Weissbluth. He does not fully advocate CIO or No cry sleep solutions he basically says the same thing as Tracie, don't start habits you don't want to continue later. He does offer some good biological reasons sleep is so important. However, I like Tracie's methods for scheduling better.
So...I don't know if 4 hours is too long for your lo, it doesn't work for mine...any help would be appreciated.
