When does ACTIVITY time start?

[Nay - Mateo's Mom]

Hello... we aer kinda new to BW... Mateo has been on the 4-hour EASY for about 5 days now... and let me tell you that this REALLY works. Both my husband and I have benn 100% committed to this and we are seeing great results.
Mateo is 4 months old, and he NEVER napped, he was always "hyper" and somewhat "jerky" ... we just always thought this was his personality (taking after his father, hahaha)
Anyway, in just 5 days we are seeing a whole new Mateo, he is cuddly, calm and pretty content. Never was much of a crier, so we are all okay!!

Anyway, my question is this... our day starts at 8AM, he eats, plays, sleeps for about 1.5 hours (always wakes up crying??), but by the time all is said and done, he's up at about 1130AM? which gives us a 1/2 hour before I have to nurse him again! So does this 1/2 hour count as part of the 1.5 hours of Activity time? Or does Activity time officially begin after he eats? Let me tell you that the 1/2 hour between his wake up and feeding time is kinda hard, because he is HUNGRY! we hold him off by playing with him gently so as to not overtire him, and by giving him his soother.  Then of course we run into the problem of him not lasting the full hour and a bit after he eats, so after "lunch" at noon, he barely makes it to 1 o'clock.. so the cycle begins in which everthing gets bumped up, and we are struggling to keep him happy and awake!!

What do moms do? When does Activity time begin? Would it be okay to lessen the time between feeds as the day goes on? Should I continue to stick to the 4 hours until he gets used to it? HELP!!??

[Erin M]

Hi - congrats on implementing a successful EASY routine for your little Mateo!
You've basically got two options for what you can do-- first off, it's possible that since he's just 4 months and since he is BF and since he's just getting used to his schedule that he's not quite ready to last the full four hours between feeds.  If he seems like he's hungry and if he's taking a full feed when you do feed him, I would definitely go ahead and feed him after 3.5 hours.  He'll eventually be able to stretch out and wait longer between feeds, but he might not be ready for 4 hours just yet.

If he's really ready to wait the full 4 hours, basically just do what you've been doing  - play with him until his next feed and then try to keep him up after his feed for as long as you can, though he's not going to be able to last quite as long, so your day basically becomes something like EASAE -- which happens to a lot of us, especially in the earlier days. 

Remember, EASY is more of a routine and not a "set in stone" schedule, so if a 4 hour EASY works earlier in the day and a 3.5 hour EASY works later in the day, go with that too.  Baby whispering is all about reading your LO's cues and setting up the routine that works best for both of you.

Hope this helps - best of luck!

[Nay - Mateo's Mom]

Hi ErinM!

Thanks so much for all of that info!
I guess, I kinda knew what to do, but just needed that extra encouragement.
I'm really trying to not get caught up in the whole "schedule" thing, but it's hard because I just want to do this right for Mateo's sake!!

I just worry that he'll get "too" much sleep during the day and then have a hard time at night...
How much sleep should he get at this age? Any idea?
I think I saw this in the book somewhere, but I can't seem to find it now!

Once again, THANK YOU!!

[Erin M]

Hi--
Check out this link, it's from the "General Sleep" board--
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=46.0

Good luck!