Thinking of transitioning to 3.5 EASY

[Jazmyn]

My lo is 3 months old and I have been pondering on whether or not to transition him to the 3.5 hour EASY.  SOmetimes he will eat alot every 3 hours others not so much.  The only thing with him is we are going thru 30 minute napping which is a nightmare, and he cannot stay awake for longer than an hour.  I actually kept him up a bit longer yesterday and he got himself into a right state so stuck to putting him to bed for his nap after an hour. 

Do you think its too early as yet and maybe I should wait a while?  HE has been on a 3 hour EASY since 4 weeks old, but recently due to his short napping its gone all over the place.

Many thanks.

[*Mona*]

hi

I think he's still maybe a bit too young for 3,5 easy. do you BF or formula feed? maybe you could change the bottle teat to a faster flow one if you're bottle feeding- sometimes babies can get a bit fussy at feedings if the milk flow is not fast enough for them.

could you post your routine here?

[rebecaq]

I agree with Monika, he's a bit young for 3.5 hour EASY. What have you tried to extend his naps? It seems to me that if he can't handle being awake for more than an hour 3.5 hour EASY is going to be really tough on him.

I'm anxious to see what your daily routine so we can help. 

- Beca

[Jazmyn]

My daily routine is basically Tracys 3 hour EASY for 4 weeks old.  The evenings after 4 o clock are a disaster at the moment.  He is always cranky after 4pm (probably to due lack of naps)

eg.

7am - wake and feed 3-4oz
7.15am - chill out (I usually let him chill out for 10-15 mins after a feed before changing him)
7.30am - Nappy change/Activity
8.00am - Wind down
8.15am - Down for nap (usually 30-40 minutes)

Then the process starts again at 10am.  This is just an example, the times do vary.  From about 8.45am - 10am he is cranky, and just wont go back to sleep and doesnt want anything, he just fusses and fusses.  He IS tired but refuses to sleep.  If he wasnt tired and was quite happy I would be more than glad for him to have a 30 minute nap and get up again but he is.  After 4pm we almost have to feed him hourly, because he seems to want more and more feed after this time up until about 6.30pm before he goes to bed.  Sometimes around 5pm he will have another 30 minute nap.

I dont think we overstimulate him, we try very hard not to and really work on winding him down but it doesnt seem to work.  Lately his routine has just been shot to pieces and is all over the place at the moment.  I did post an example of a typically bad day in the Nap forum. 

I just dont know what to do.

I have tried shush/pat, and W2S but havent quite got the timing right on that yet.  He always wakes up anyway.  What I dont understand is that he copes well with jolts at night, obviously because he goes to bed about 6.30pm and sleeps until 1-2am with a dream feed at 10-10.30am then after the 1am feed will go to about 7am.  So night times I have no worries about just these darn naps!!

 

[rebecaq]

Hi Jazmyn,

For the most part, the afternoon is babies "social" hour. Now, I don't know why the heck they call it that because it basically means all they do is fuss and cry. My ds was notorious for this, he would start up at 5 till about 6:45.  I made sure the day from 3 pm on was very mellow and easy going. It helped to not get him as worked up during the infamous "social" hour. I also found that because since he started laughing and recognizing me that I thought he was a big boy, when in fact he was just as in need of tons of sleep and low-keyness (is that a word??) as before.

A typical sign of moving to a longer EASY si when their sleep gets erratic, and he seems to be suffering from short naps more than need of a routine tweaking.

Is he going through any milestones at the moment? That always sets their naps off.

- Beca

[* Paula *]

Jazmyn,

It might be worthwhile for the next few days to try and do your feeding, straight after the nap, change nappy and windown for nap and see if this works.  The short naps could be a sign of being over tired, so it might be worthwhile just limiting the A time for a few days to see if this makes any difference.

I agree with PP, I do not think that your lo is ready to transition to 3.5 hour, I think it is more of just tweaking your routine.

I also totally agree with the crankiness - my DS used to do this too.  Just try to keep things lo key and perhaps try for a cat nap.

HTH's
Paula x

[Jazmyn]

Thanks so much for your input.

Its probably not really ideal but it seems to have worked out better to do AES instead of EAS.  He wakes from his nap.  Has an hour of activity, then has his feed.  I then change him and wind him down for a little while then he goes off to sleep.  This seems to have extended his naps.  Yesterday he did 1hr and 50 minutes and just over an hour on two of his naps just from being fed before napping. 

I am hoping to switch back to EAS eventually but for now this seems to work better for him.

[* Paula *]

If that is working, then keep it that way.  I am pleased to hear that things are starting to go smoothly.

How are the nights going?

[Jazmyn]

He goes to bed about 6.30pm every night and usually sleeps thru till 1.30 -2am when he wakes for a feed.  He has a dream feed at 10.30pm. Then he wakes again between 4 and 5am, usually wanting a drink of water or needing to be reswaddled.  Then again around 7am when he is ready to get up but usually isnt too bothered about a feed straight away though sometimes he is.  I would like to kick the 1.30am feed and try to stop this habitual waking at 4am eventually.  To be honest though I am not complaining.  It could be worse.

[* Paula *]

Do you clusterfeed?  This helps them tank up even more, as well as the dreamfeed.

[Jazmyn]

Between 4pm and 6pm he tanks himself up.  He demands feeding every hour practically.  For example the other day he did 3 x 4 oz feeds from 3.30pm - 6.30pm, sometimes he will do more.

[* Paula *]

You may find that as he gets a bit older, he will start dropping the middle of the night feeds.  Have you tried re-settling instead of feeding at 4am?

[Jazmyn]

I actually dont normally have to feed at 4am.  He just usually wants to be reswaddled and have a drink of water.  That said though I am sitting here and the little heathen woke at 4.30am and would NOT settle at all.  In the end he had 3oz milk, and I changed him because he was soaked and he has just gone back to sleep.  He IS teething at the moment though so has been very unsettled since yesterday.

[* Paula *]

Awwww, teething can play a major part in why he is waking in the middle of the night. 

Hugs, it can be hard - Our 16month DS is going through the same thing at the moment.

Keep us posted.

[Jazmyn]

Thanks for all your help Tom Toms Mum, and to everyone else.