Author Topic: 6 mo trying to get E.A.S.Y. working - HELP!!!!  (Read 1061 times)

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Offline Sleepless in Singapore

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6 mo trying to get E.A.S.Y. working - HELP!!!!
« on: June 11, 2006, 11:11:20 am »
Well last week we took the soother away from my lo and I think she is doing amazingly well with it...after a day and a half I was already able to put her in bed and walk away and she went to sleep by herself!!!  The reason I am here in the E.A.S.Y. forum is because I can only put her to bed like that if she is not overtired and that is where my problem is...

...she seems overtired all the time.  If I put her down when she looks tired I find I can barely get her to bf and have solids before it is time to go back to bed again and she doesn't necessarily eat well because she is not that hungry.  On the days where I have tried to keep her up longer in order to get a bf and solids in I find I have a lot of trouble putting her to bed and the day gets even more messed up!!!

So here is my question...do I just try to get her to sleep enough in one day so she is not overtired (and not necessarily stick to a schedule)  or do I get strict about the E.A.S.Y. schedule and suffer for a few days??  I just wonder if I need to 'reprogramme' her sleep cycles to be the same time every day.  Will that help?


Offline HeatherC

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Re: 6 mo trying to get E.A.S.Y. working - HELP!!!!
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2006, 16:27:34 pm »
Hi!
What is her current routine?  Please include lengths of A and S times.
Kelsey, Feb. 4, 2005
Landon, Jan. 2, 2007

Offline Sleepless in Singapore

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Re: 6 mo trying to get E.A.S.Y. working - HELP!!!!
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2006, 04:13:55 am »
Hi HeatherC

Well...usually day starts at 6:00am (at least that's when I hear her but she may have woken earlier)

6:00 - wake and bf
7:30 - breakfast
8:00 - nap (usually 1 1/4 hours)
10:00 -  bf
11:30 - lunch
12:00 - nap (usually only 45 mins - try to keep her in bed at least for longer)
2:00 - bf
4:00 - dinner
5:00 - catnap (usually half hour in stroller since she is WAY too overtired to sleep in bed)
6:00 - bf
6:30 - bed
10:30 - df
night wakings are all over the map - some nights she settles herself so I am not sure if she is waking or not.  I do suspect most nights she is awake at around 4.

This is a sort of typical day but some days if she has had a short nap I put he back to bed an hour later which gives her a bit more sleep in that day but messes up the routine (and maybe her body clock since she is sleeping during what would normally be A time?). Today for example she woke at 5:30am and I tried to settle her until 5:45 but then decided to feed her since it was close enough to A time.  After the feed she seemed really drowsy so I put her back in be and she drifted off and slep until 7.  I put her back down for a nap at 8:30 after her breakfast but she woke up at 9:15 and I couldn't get her back to sleep before 10:00 bf.  Makes me wonder if even though she needed the sleep, sleeping until 7 confused her body clock and made for a short morning nap?

I am looking at Tracy's latest book 'Baby Whisperer Solves all your Problems' and on p 43 she outlines a plan to get baby on E.A.S.Y. which involves waking when it is time to wake and keeping them up if it is still A time even if they are tired.  I am tempted to do this for a few days and see if I get results...we are sort of close to that anyway.  What do you think?


Offline HeatherC

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Re: 6 mo trying to get E.A.S.Y. working - HELP!!!!
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2006, 01:02:11 am »
...she seems overtired all the time.  If I put her down when she looks tired I find I can barely get her to bf and have solids before it is time to go back to bed again and she doesn't necessarily eat well because she is not that hungry.  On the days where I have tried to keep her up longer in order to get a bf and solids in I find I have a lot of trouble putting her to bed and the day gets even more messed up!!!

I think this is the part of your question I don't quite understand.  It seems in your routine that you are indeed bf and having meals before naps, but are you saying that keeping her up to feed the solids is making her too tired?  If so, have you tried feeding the solids a little sooner?  My dd actually started straight off with solids followed by bottle.  You can do it what ever way suits your dd best.  You don't necessarily have to wait 1-1.5 hrs after bf'ing.
2 hrs of A time is typical at 6 months, but if you feel that is making her too tired, then you should definitely shorten it.  A confusing thing though is that short naps at this age also means the A time is too short.  However, if she is clearly showing tired signs, but still takes a short nap, then you'll need to use pu/pd or some other resettling technique to put her back to sleep.  You will need to do this for both naps and for at least 40 minutes or until the next feed time.
I encourage you to follow Tracy's guidance in the book.  You have picked an excellent reference for your situation.  Also, we have a forum dedicated to Nightwakings (https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=33.0), and one to Naps (https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=30.0) in case you have to opportunity to visit those for further assistance.
Kelsey, Feb. 4, 2005
Landon, Jan. 2, 2007