Not sure if LO is ready to transition to 4 hr EASY

[OliviaM]

Hi,
I've been trying to transition my 3.5 mo LO to 4 hrs EASY. I first tried the schedule whereby you add 15 min of activity each so many days, but found that a bit confusing, so I thought I'd try the 3.5 hr EASY. That seems a little bit more straighforward in terms of keeping track of the time slots.

Anyway, I'm not sure if my LO is actually ready to transition. He seems to get tired/overstimulated very easily, sometimes it's a struggle to get 1-1.5 hrs of A out of him. On the other hand, he doesn't get hungry that quickly and often only takes very little feeds after 3 hours. He seems to be a lot more calm and efficient with his feeds after 3.5 hours.

What's been happenning is that I would put him to bed after 1.5 - 1.75 hrs of A, then he would wake up after 1 hr, so I would be left with another 1 hr of A time to deal with to make up 3.5 hrs. I've tried Sh-pat to get him back to sleep - sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. He just seems fully rested and alert after 1 hr nap. And, of course, having that A time before the next feed eats into his A time after the feed making it shorter! I'm not sure how to break this cycle! Does anyone have the same problem?

Olivia

[jomige]

My LO had that problem at first with a 4 hour EASY (she skipped the 3.5 all together and went cold turkey to 4 on her own) and occasionally now...we are battling a 45 minute nap monster for her first nap.

I was told (and please, anyone correct me if I am wrong) that if they wake up happy after 45-60 minutes that their A time needs to be increased.  I am currently trying that with my LO by extending A and using W2S.
So what I do if she does wake early is count her A time from the time she wakes  so if she wakes at 9:30 am (she gets about 1.75 hours-2 hours A time) then I make sure she is in bed around 11:15 a or 11:30 a.  I feed her (10:30) then start winddown shortly thereafter.  So often my EASY is more EASAES.  She often wants to take a bit of a longer nap for her 2nd nap (which I am currently seeking advice about on the naps board) and that gets us back on track. 

At this point if eating wise your baby is doing well on the 3.5 hour EASY eating wise, I would stay put and and have more of a EASAEAS or EASAES until you can extend A times and naps to fit.  The better rested your LO is the better!

HTH,

Jodi

[* Paula *]

Olivia,

If you are battling to keep her awake for then you could always try the 3 1/4 hour easy, and then slowly transition over to the 3.5 hour.

I agree with the PP, some los are happy with EASAE etc.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

Paula x

[Leanne]

Honestly, I never made a conscious decision to convert from a 3 hr EASY to a 4 hour EASY. I just followed Ben and his cues and he eventually pushed himself out from 3 to 4 hours, and now at 10 months he's doing a 4 - 5 hour EASY (4 hours in the morning, 5 hours in the afternoon, then he's up for 3 hours before he goes to bed, two 1.5 hour naps/day.)

My point is, just try to be flexible, follow your LOs cues, and don't feel the pressure to make EASY rigid... it's supposed to be flexible.

Good luck!

[* Paula *]

Totally agree with you Leanne  follow your lo's cues, they will tell you when they are ready to transition.

Paula x