How do I make this work?

[Lauren's Mommy]

Hello everyone,

I tried EASY about 2 months ago when DD was 4 weeks old and gave up on pat/shh.  Now, she's 3 months old and I've got her to sleep on her own.  But she doesn't want to follow EASY when she's awake.  I try to feed her, let her have activity, and then down for a nap - but either I can't keep her awake or keep her asleep when it's that time.  Like she'll be awake for an hour then nap but wake before it's time to eat.  Then by the time she's hungry, she's ready for a nap after she eats.  Then when she wakes after that nap, it's no where near time to eat again.  And the cycle continues.  I've tried feeding her a little early and then trying to keep her awake, but she just falls asleep sitting up.  Here's what she's done today:

6:30am woke and ate - E
                                 A
7:30      down for a nap  S
8:55      woke up         A
9:20      ate                  E
9:45      she fell asleep eating so I put her in bed  S
11:00    woke up and we went to visit family       A
11:50    ate                                                      E
12:15    fell asleep eating and slept in grandma's lap   S
12:40    still asleep, came home and put in crib
1:00     woke up                                                A

I began the day with a E.A.S cycle, but then once it gets off, it's off all day.  How do I fix this?  I don't want to force her to stay awake when she's sleepy.  She just this week has learned to go to sleep by herself, so I don't want to mess that up.  How do I get it to where she's not eating so close to nap time and falling asleep on the bottle.  I usually get her semi awake before I put her down so that she'll have to fall back to sleep on her own in the crib.  She's never limp limb asleep when I put her down.  I really like her on a 3 hr easy, but she won't stay on it.  How long should she be awake?  Sometimes she'll stay awake 1 1/2 hours, sometimes only 1/2 hour before she starts yawning and getting sleepy eyed.  What do you think?

Tina

[Intransit]

HI there, congratulations on your LO falling asleep on her own--thats great!
In regards to your LO not being able to stay awake for very long....all babies vary...my lo is 10 months, and can only stay awake after his morning wake up 2 hours! So, it does vary....and I understand the worry about missing her window of sleep etc.
How is the night sleep going? Shey may be tired due to wake ups? If not..she could just be one of those babies who likes their sleep.
At this age my ds was awake about 1.5 hours, slept for 1.5 approx. If your LO is waking up before it is time..then you may want to try extending the naps. If you are noticing a patter of wake ups about 45-1 hour after falling asleep, go into the room and try to help LO through the sleep cycle by gently placing your hand on her back..and maybe rubbing or light patting. If she still wakes up, then what to do is continue trying toput her back to sleep using pat/ssh or pu/pd. If it gets to be too much for both of you, then take a break...diaper change...and then try again. Some babies prefer pat/shhh(like mine) or some pu/pd. But it does work with a lot of patience and time. I remember doing it for 45 minutes..but I see the fruits of our efforts for sure!!!
By extending the naps(eventually) the eating times will get back to 3 hour intervals.
I found it useful to really ground myself to the house and make sure that ds had a stable routine before I ventured out. I was so worried that ANYTHING would disrupt my hard work! Not everyone can do this, but I found it helped.
HTH
And good luck