Author Topic: 4 month old - please help with routine  (Read 1745 times)

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Offline stmead2003

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4 month old - please help with routine
« on: June 10, 2006, 10:12:43 am »
Hello all
I am from the UK and new to this site. I have been following a rough version of EASY since my son was around 8 weeks old. He was born at 36 weeks and is currently around 18 weeks (14 weeks adjusted). I am currently using a 3 hour cycle and also have a few issues with my routine and could do with some help in sorting this out. I have included a current typical day below:

8.30am - wake and eat
8.50am- 9.30am sleep
9.30am-10.30am activity
10.30am -11.30am sleep
11.30am eat
1130am-1.00pm activity
1.00pm -2.30pm sleep
2.30pm eat
2.30pm-4.00pm activity
4.00pm -5.30pm sleep
5.30pm eat
5.30pm - 8.30pm activity (attempt to take a catnap here at around 7pm for around 40 mins)
8.00pm bath
8.30pm eat
9.00pm sleep

Josh sleeps pretty well at night and normally gets up between 530am and 630am for a quick feed. I put him straight back down after this and he normally sleeps until around 8am and I give him his first morning feed at around 830am.

My issues are as follows:
In the morning Josh appears to be tired after the 830am feed and as I feed him in bed at this time i normally put him back in the cot for a sleep. I know this does not follow EASY but I am afraid he won't have his full 12 hours sleep if he does not take this. This means that the first 3 hour cycle is messed up with ESAS before the next feed at 1130am. Should I be getting him up at 830am even though he is tired or is this ok?

I have trained Josh to go down for his naps in the cot and most of the time he goes down with little fuss unless v.tired. He occasionally wakes early from a nap but manages to self-sooth (sucks fingers) and normally drifts back off to sleep. This means he can oversleep - should I leave him asleep or wake at the next eat time to keep the schedule on time?

I am not happy with the late bedtime and would like to bring this forward to at least 830pm - how can I achieve this? - is it likely to affect his wakeup time as I would prefer to keep this around 830am.

For the last feed, I feed Josh in bed in dim room and he gets v.drowsy almost asleep (I am breastfeeding). I normally try to rouse him slightly when I put him in the cot and often he has eyes open when I leave the room but then drifts off soon after - is this ok or should I be adding something extra to bed routine to separate feed/sleep. At this point he is v.tired and not interested in playing.

As Josh is now 4 months old should I be moving to a 4 hour routine? He appears to be tired after 1.5hours awake - yawning/fussing etc. so not sure he can handle 2 hours awake although could probably go 3.5hours between feeds. I have no idea about how to structure the routine to adapt to 3.5hour or 4 hour as I want to keep the bedtime the same or earlier.

I know I have a lot of questions but would really appreciate your help/advise with these issues as I am getting v.confused and worried about whether I am doing things right!
Many thanks

Suzie

Offline corrina01

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Re: 4 month old - please help with routine
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2006, 09:40:52 am »
Hi Suzie and welcome to BW boards

Your routine looks pretty good to me.

Answers to your questions.

[quoteShould I be getting him up at 830am even though he is tired or is this ok?]
Quote (selected)

If you want to get on the 8.30am wake up for the day and 8.30pm bed for the night, I would get him up at 8.30am no putting him back to bed for a sleep after you feed.

Quote (selected)
This means he can oversleep - should I leave him asleep or wake at the next eat time to keep the schedule on time?

Wake him up so you can get his next feed on time to keep to the EASY. 

Quote (selected)
I am not happy with the late bedtime and would like to bring this forward to at least 830pm - how can I achieve this? - is it likely to affect his wakeup time as I would prefer to keep this around 830am

You can bring this forward to 8.30pm, as long as you get him up and ready for the day at 8.30am, his inner clock will work to this time in a few days.

Quote (selected)
For the last feed, I feed Josh in bed in dim room and he gets v.drowsy almost asleep (I am breastfeeding). I normally try to rouse him slightly when I put him in the cot and often he has eyes open when I leave the room but then drifts off soon after - is this ok or should I be adding something extra to bed routine to separate feed/sleep. At this point he is v.tired and not interested in playing.

No, this is perfect how it stands.  As long as you not breastfeeding to sleep, and he is awake when he goes down in his cot, this means he has learnt independent sleep, and not relying on you to send him off to sleep.

Quote (selected)
As Josh is now 4 months old should I be moving to a 4 hour routine? He appears to be tired after 1.5hours awake - yawning/fussing etc. so not sure he can handle 2 hours awake although could probably go 3.5hours between feeds. I have no idea about how to structure the routine to adapt to 3.5hour or 4 hour as I want to keep the bedtime the same or earlier.

I would follow the 3.5hr routine.  My DD could only keep awake for 1.5hrs at a time.  So we did the 3.5hr EASY till she was 6 months, then as she started to be awake a little more I moved her on to the 4hr EASY.

You could follow this routine (roughly)

8.30am Wake and Eat
10am Sleep for 1.30hrs
12noon Wake and eat
1.30pm Sleep for 1.30 - 2hrs
3.30pm Wake and eat
5.00-5.15pm Sleep for 1.30hrs
6.45pm Wake and eat
7.30pm bath
8.00pm Eat (top up)
8.30pm Sleep.

If you have any more questions please ask.

HTH



Corrina
Mum to Faith
A very spirited toddler with a touch of angel