Is it just me with this problem or does everyone feel like they're fighting a losing battle when they start EASY?! I've been doing the EASY routine for 4 weeks now with my 7 week old. At first I tried the 4 hour EASY, as he only ever demanded feeding 4-hourly, but that didn't work too well, and so I took people's suggestions of trying 3-hourly as he was getting overtired. It certainly seemed to suit him better, but I was still finding it hard to put him down to bed in the evening. Then slowly things started to get better and last week I was even about to post what a success it had all been! He was sleeping through til I woke him for a feed, and when it came to putting him down for a nap/bed, I'd leave him in the cot contented but awake and he would put himself to sleep. Bliss! Then he started becoming difficult to put down again, and then he started waking during his afternoon nap. Today, he woke during every nap after 30 mins - 1 hour, and I only managed to settle him back down once. Our routine (when it works!) looks like this:
7.30: E
8.00: A
9.00: S
10.30: E
11.00: A
12.00: S
1.30: E
2.00: A
3.00: S
4.30: E
5.00: A
6.00: Bath, wind-down
6.30: E
7.00: S
10-11.00: DF
4-5.00: E
I've discovered that any disruption to his afternoon (3.00) nap leaves him overtired and difficult (usually impossible) to put down to bed. He usually then ends up awake until his DF if not even later. But the last couple of days, he's woken in the middle of that nap and hasn't settled with or without my help - and has then been awake all evening. I've tried putting him down for a catnap after his 4.30 feed but I've never yet managed it, and have had to stop trying to get him to sleep before it eats into his bedtime. I've never rocked him to sleep, I use a dummy but he's not dependent on it, I swaddle him, I use shush-pat when he's really unsettled, but it's only worked a couple of times. I'm really confused because sometimes he can go to sleep independently and I know he can get through the transition stage in a nap without my help, so I'm not sure why sometimes he can't. Despite my keeping everything consistent, his sleep pattern seems to change from day to day - just when I think I'm getting a handle on things, everything changes again! I'm finding it so stressful, as just when I think it's working, it all seems to fall apart again, and I just don't know what to do to make it better. Are these just glitches he needs to go through or is there anything I can do to make things better? I'm not expecting miracles but a little consistency would at least let me know what I'm dealing with!!!
