Am i doing EASY right?

[Purple_Rose]

I am on my 3rd day of EASY and i can already see improvements. My LO is 8 months and this is her routine so far :

6.45-7.00 Wakes up b/f
7.30-8.00 Solids
8.00-9.00 Activity
9.00-12.00 Sleep (2 hrs)
12.00 B/f
1.00 Solids
1.30-4.00 Activity
4.00-6.00 Sleep (2 hrs)
6.00 bf
6.30 Solids
7.30 Bedtime routine
8.00 in bed but she plays with her blankie and ends up falling asleep at 9pm

She will wake up during the night at around 12.00pm and i give her some water to drink due to her crying so much and then it takes me 2 hrs to get her to sleep using PD.

My questions are :

-Is it ok that she is having 2 hour and sometimes 3 hours nap?

-When is she is bed she does tend to cry i do the pd and it works but now that i have introduced a blankie she tends to play and eventually falls asleep without me havind to do PD is that ok?

- Should i continue to give her water when she wakes up during the night? how can i get her to sleep through?

[LŠuren]

Hi Purple Rose

My DS is also 8months (on Sunday  ) here is his routine;
W0630 - 0700 
E0730 milk + breakfast
A
S0930  - 1hr - 1.5hr if am I lucky
E1200 soilds + water
A
   E1400 milk
A
S (3hrs from last wake up time) I don't leave him sleeping longer than 4pm, as it will disrupt his bedtime otherwise.
E 1630 solids + water
A1700
Bath 1900ish
E1930 milk
S in bed awake at 8pm ish, sometimes is unsettled or plays until 8.30pm never any later.
thats usually him until 0630ish, unless he is ill

I limit his daytime sleep to 3hr MAX, although sometimes it is 2-2.5hrs in total.

You may want to try limiting your naps to 1.5hrs and that will bring bedtime earlier. Long naps at this age mean it is getting taken away from their night sleep. We usually do EASA during the day.

Yes, it is great you have introduced a blankie! was she screaming or was it a mantra cry? I leave Calum if it is a Mantra, because he is settling himself to sleep and only pickup if he is crying.


HTH's

[Purple_Rose]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I might try limiting the getting it down 30 mins but it breaks my heart for me to wake her up.

Regarding the crying i am not to sure whether its mantra cry or screaming as its quite early i dont think i can tell the difference between the two.

[LŠuren]

Here is some info about the Mantra cry;
...an odd burst of a cry which most babies do as they are settling down. We don't pick up with a mantra cry. Instead, we hold back to see if the child can settle herself. We do pick up with a genuine cry, because its your babies way of saying "I have a need that has to be met".

Each mantra cry is individual, get to know your babies mantra cry sounds like. You'll see it when she's physically overtired, she'll blink and yawn, and her leg and arms fail if she's overtired. She'll also do a kind of "waa.....waa...waa...."sound, like a mantra that repeated over and over, the pitch and tone is the same throughout. It does not sound the same as a genuine cry, which escalates in volume.  - TBW -SAYP p235

Lauren

[HeatherC]

You could try letting her sleep as she wants in the am, but limiting the second nap to 1 hr so she's up by 5 and ready to go to bed at 8.

[Purple_Rose]

I have now changed her routine so its as follows:

8am Wake up Bf
9am Solids
10-10.30 Nap (1.5-2hrs)
12.00 Wake up Bf
1.00 Solids
3.00 Nap (1.5-2hrs)
4.30 Wake up Bf
5.30 - 6pm Solids
7.00 Bath bedtime routine
8.00 Bed

Today is my 6 day with EASY and i must say was tough, she woke up at 6am and just wouldnt agree to go back to sleep!! i tried PD until 7am she just screamed so i just let her be and didnt try to get her to sleep again. At 10am put her down for her nap and she slept for 40 mins (which is unlike her) again i tried PD and she wouldnt have it...gave her dinner at the usual time and did the routine and put her down at 8pm.

Was she going through the regression period?

[bellymum]

what is PD?

[LŠuren]

Bellymum - I think it is PU/PD (pickup put down)

[bellymum]

thanks a lot! Well I am doing the picking up, its the putting down that causes the trouble..

I wonder if any of you can help me. I am beginning to get quite distraught. I know that one should not beat oneself up if you dont get this baby stuff right at first, but my baby (my first as you can hear) is going to be 7 weeks tomorrow and there is nothing constant that I can latch onto to say I am doing this right and its improving. It seems to be getting worse and worse.

I began trying to do easy this week and he has begun to get really fussy and need to be held all the time. I can't ever put him down or he screams, except in his swing. I aim to do eat, activity sleep and he just wants to sleep after eating or he wants to eat, activity and eat again not even 90 minutes later. I can not carry him on my shoulder all day long - its just impossible.

I am in Southern California. I wonder if there is a baby whisperer trained person who could come out here for a consultation. Would anyone know if this exists, before I go completely crazy?

Thank you

[Purple_Rose]

PD is Pick Down only not the Pick UP. At this age 8 months and older Tracy recommends we only do PD with them i am sure the moderators can talk more about this.

Bellymum i am sorry that i can not be of much help, i hope you eventually find someone who can!

[HeatherC]

Bellymum-do you think there is something in particular about your routine you need advice on?  Wanting to be held is mostly a baby thing, but providing all the extra cuddles when you can might help ease his anxiety over being put down.
Is he napping well?  Give us a run down of his routine if you like.

[bellymum]

Hi again,
Well thanks for offering advice.
My baby, Benjamin, is 7 weeks old.

I am struggling in particular with him doing eat, activity, sleep in the right order.
I feed him (25-45 minutes) and he wants to fall asleep, but I keep him awake to do activity and he gets hungry or tired/overstimulated, (I am not always sure which) and then i try to put him down to nap when I see the cues, but he cries so much, quite hysterically for so long as soon as i put him down (while i show him I am there but trying not to pick him up unless he gets really upset) that I eventually pick him up. As SOON as I pick him up he is quiet and starts to dose on my shoulder. I again put him down and it all happens again. Eventually he is crying from hunger as its gone on so long, so we end up doing eat, activity, cry, cry, cry, eat and then i feel he is so very tired that he must sleep.

The only one that seems to work ok is at bathtime, whereafter i put him down and he manages to sleep eventually. I think this is the most well defined ritual, bathtime so he seems to know after that its sleeptime.

So of course, the Y in easy is non existant.

However, at night, when he is swaddled he sleeps really well for 3 or 4 hour stretches - no problem.

SO the schedule looks something like

Appreciate any advice,
Thanks!

[HeatherC]

Are you swaddling for naps also?  Do you have a winddown routine?  You should be couting all feed time in with the A time, so if he's feeding for 45 mins, he can probably only handle staying awake another 10-15 mins at his age, so you would want to start the winddown soon after feeding.  At least until you can get him out of the cycle of overtiredness from not napping properly, then he might start being able to stay awake longer.  Do you know his temperment?  If not, you can take this quiz:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=52283.0
Also, try following the 4 S ritual for naps as your winddown:
Setting the stage-the environment
Swaddling
Sitting-quietly without stimulation
Shush/pat-do this with him in the crib until he drops into a deep sleep

[bellymum]

Thanks Heather, I am going to try that.
I have not been swaddling him in the day time nor have I dont a winddown.
I will try this and see how it goes.
I will keep you posted.
Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

[bellymum]

Heather,
I dont quite understand the timing thing.
I think my baby is spirited, by the way....he's quite jerky and has very strong grasp and has grabbed at his bottle from only a few weeks.

So if eat is 7.30am - finishes eating at  8am. Then activity for 15 minutes
So sleep begins at 8.15 for 45 minutes to an hour, that only takes us to 9-9.15am.
What do I do from 9.15am until 10.00-10.30 when its again eat time?

From what I read there should be Eat, Activty, Sleep and then it starts again....(but if he wakes up after only 1 1/2 - 2 hours since the last eat began, what do I do with him?)

I also cant seem to find the reference to dream feed in the book. What is this?