Need advice on how do you keep the same E.A.S.Y. schedule day to day?

[motherof3]

This is our second week on EASY with my 14 wk. old dd.  She is doing well on a 3hr. schedule, the only problem is trying to keep her on the same schedule day to day.  I try to get her her up at 7am. and give her her reflux meds. and then eat at 7:30am.  She does really well on this schedule, sleeping for 1.5 hours and awake for 1.5 hours. But some nights she wakes and eats just an hour or two prior to getting up at 7am and this throws off her whole day.  Here is her schedule today-

E: 2am 5oz.

E: 6am 4oz. (didn't let her finish the bottle b/c she usually gets up at 7am)
 
8:15 am woke her up to give meds.

E: 8:45am 5oz.
A
S: 9:30am-11am

E: 11am 5oz.  (seemed like she wanted more but spit up a decent amount so I didn't give her anymore)
A
S: 12:30

99% of the time she finishes her whole bottle.  Should she be getting more because of this?  I never know when to increase because of her reflux. 

Has anyone else run into this problem (keeping the same schedule day to day)?  What did you do to help?  I can use any advice. Thanks

[LŠuren]

Hi Andrea

E.A.S.Y. is not a schedule.  A schedule is more about focusing on the clock, whereas E.A.S.Y. is about focusing on your baby and his cues and needs.  Rather than following time slots, E.A.S.Y. follows a daily pattern of events.  By doing so, we guide our children and teach them by repetition.  "The most important aspect of E.A.S.Y. is to read your child's signs-of hunger, of fatigue, of overstimulation-which is more important than any time slot."  (page 20)  Tracy uses example routines in her books that include times.  This is for informational purposes to generally advise on how to use EASY.  But babies vary, and each baby varies every day, and you shouldn't panic if a feed time is off by 15 minutes, or if baby doesn't nap for 2 hrs.  Also, not all babies wake at 7 am to start their day; some are early risers, and some sleep later.    https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63534.0

You will find that your routine will vary from day to day, the best thing is to have a set wake up time and treat anything prior to this as a night waking, if your LO is draining bottles durung the day this is your cue to increase your oz/ml at each feed.

To start implementing EASY;

1. Set a time to wake your Lo up each morning and a bed time.   We usually say 7am wake up and 7pm bedtime and a dreamfeed at about 10.30pm.
2. Stretch your LO to 3hrs between feeds.  (or 4hr, as I am not sure how old your LO is)
3. Get your LO down for naps in each EASY 3hr cycle, (or 4hr, as I am not sure how old your LO is)
4. Finally, get your LO to nap for longer than 1 sleep cycle (45mins) as often as you can, using various sleep methods i.e. shushpat, wake 2 sleep...  (your goal is 3 naps each lasting between 1hr 30mins to 2hrs)
5. Keep a log, you can download an E.A.S.Y. here --> https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=6208.0

[motherof3]

I know that I don't have to stick to a strick schedule but for example if she eats at 6pm and her bedtime is 7:30pm, should I still put her to bed eventhough she is supposed to eat at 9pm?  If I do put her to bed, do I skip the 9pm feeding and just dream feed her at 10:30pm?  I'd like to DF at 11pm but I have a hard time staying up this late.  As you can see I am pretty confused .  Thanks for any answers ahead of time. 

[HeatherC]

I think you could experiment with those situations.  For example, if she has a feed at 6, then you could try a top-up at 7:30, and then df at 10:30.  If that doesn't work, then put her to bed at 7:30 as usual, then she if she wakes on her own before the df.  Any feeding near 10-11 could be considered a df.  It's a lot of trial and error.

[LŠuren]

Andrea

Even though you feed at 6am (nightfeed) and I am assuming your Lo goes back to sleep  wake her at 7am and give the first feed - either a topup or reduce the 6am feed so it only lasts until 7am and offer a full feed at 7am.

Then feed every 3hourly after that, so your routine will look like this;-
 E 7am
 E 10am
 E 1300
 E 1600
 E 1900 & bath or vice versa    or    E 1800   &    2000  with bath in the middle (clusterfeeding)
 S 1930                                       S 2030

DF between 10 & 11pm

Heather - you got there first 

[Grace's Mom]

My lo is also 14 weeks old as well and when she wakes at around 5 or so for a feed we give her a 4 oz bottle and then put her back to sleep.  We then get her up at 7am (her normal wake time ) or earlier if she wakes up a few minutes early we then let her eat until she is done (usually less than the normal amount if she ate that close to 7am). Then her day is pretty much on track.  Usually no matter what happens during nap time we try to remain consistant with feeding every three hours give or take a few minutes here or there so that she has her last bottle at 6:45ish and in bed no later than 7:30. 

Her is her schedule as it stands this week.  Mind you we do not sitck to the exact minute...it can be different a few minutes one way or the other.

E 7am
A 7:15-8:30
S 8:30-10:00

E 10am
A  10:15-11:30
S  11:30-1:00

E  1pm
A 1:15-2:30
S 2:30-4:00

E 4pm
A 4:15-5:30
S Cat Nap 5:30-6:15 ish

A 6:15-6:30/6:45
E 6:30/6:45
A Bath, PJ's more food
S 7:15/7:30

No Dream Feed for us

E Between 3:30-5am she wakes up somewhere in there to eat a 4oz bottle

Hope this helps.

Melissa

[LŠuren]

thanks Melissa