Hi! I am very new to this, but we figured we'd give it a shot. My husband and I have a 5 1/2 week old and an 18 month old. Jillian (18th months) was adopted from China in July. She has adjusted incredibly well and is on a great routine. But......Olivia (our infant) isn't on much of a routine at all. From what I read in the book, we were doing a lot of things wrong that in turn were leading to the development of bad habits. Basically, Olivia will eat and fall asleep at the end of her bottle, sometimes before she is finished and there is no waking her up then. Once asleep we were putting her in the Papasan and she would sleep for a good bit, until hungry again. She didn't like the bassinet, but she is actually napping in it now, so that might be a good thing. We know we need to get her into her own crib in her own room. Needless to say, we are losing our minds without a schedule and without SLEEP!
So...these are our questions:
1. Any suggestions on how to transition to EASY and what it should look like? We are sort of trying it today, but are most definitely flying by the seats of our pants.
2. Because Olivia has become accustomed to falling asleep in our arms, we need to break that habit and get her used to going down without that help. Or...we find that she starts crying and we can't get her calm enough to fall asleep. If she has been fed, changed and had some activity time, what do we do when she should be going down and isn't because she is so upset? (Not sure if I am asking this question clearly.)
3. At this age, what do you do for "activity" and how long should it last? What's hard for us is that unless Olivia is sleeping or eating, she seems to really fuss. (She doesn't like to just sit/lie down and look around. She will lie on her belly for short bit and I sometimes put her on her back to interact with her that way. But...I wouldn't necessarily classify her as grumpy or touchy based on the descriptions in the book.)
So...once again, we are sort of at a loss.
Anyway...I babbled on and on.....the bottom line is that we are really looking for help on how to transition into the EASY and if anyone has insight as to how long that transition might take.
Oh..just thought of one other question...what to do if the baby falls asleep before finishing her bottle, because inevitably, wouldn't she wake up earlier and hungry again?
Thanks to sleep deprivation I am not sure if I asked any of my questions clearly and thoroughly, but if you have any input for us that would be wonderful!
Thanks!
Kristen
