Question about routine in evenings for 7 week old

[teteali]

I have been following EASY since my DD was 2 weeks old and for the most part it works great throughout the day.  My problem comes in the evening when she seems to get really cranky and it is impossible during some points to put her to sleep (during the day she goes down fairly quickly).  I am confused about what to do in between the cluster feeds.  Here is my schedule:

E-7:30/8:00
A
S-9:00-10:30

E-10:30
A-Bath
S-12:00-1:30

E-1:30
A
S-2:30-4:30

E- 4:30
A
S-5:30-6:15/6:30

E-6:30
A
S-7:30-8:30

E-8:30 (can't seem to get her to sleep after this feed, sometimes will catnap in the swing

E-10:00/10:30
S-11:30-3:30/4 (sometimes to 5!)

E-3:30/4
S-sleeps until morning 7:00/8:00

My problem is I can't get her to sleep in the later part of the evening and therefore her last feed for the night is not a dreamfeed and she is really cranky during that time.  Should I maybe keep her up after her 6:30 feed until she is fed again at 8:30 and then put her down?

Right now things are a little out of whack too because I think she is only now having her 6 week growth spurt since she was sick last week.  She wanted to feed constantly last night until 4 am!  In fact she was awake and fussy from 7:00 pm until then and kept sucking her hands everytime I thought she was done feeding.  Anyone else experience this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Grace's Mom]

Congratulations on you new baby.   

I am not an expert by maybe you could put her down for the night at around 7:30pm and then let her continue sleeping and do the dream feed at 10:30 or so.  you won't really want to keep her up if she is tired after he 6:30 feed because then you will then have an overtired baby who won't go down well or sleep well through out the night. 2 + hours of A time at that age is a bit long. 

Maybe you could  make the bath part of your bed time routine to help with the crankiness. We do our night time bottle at around 6:30, give her a bath and then give her more bottle right before bed (right after bath and PJ's).  It helps her take in more food, relaxes her and she knows it is bed time. 

Best of luck.

Melissa

[teteali]

Thanks for your response!  I usually don't wake her after she is down at 7:30, but she seems to wake on her own around 8:30 most nights and then this is when the whole cranky time starts until after her 10:30 feed.  Will that just start to fade on it's own if I keep doing the same routine?  I did originally have her baths in the evening at that time, but would find it overstimulated her and she was tough to put down after that.  So, I moved her bath to the mornings since she was about 4-5 weeks old...do you think that since she is a bit older she may be able to handle it again?

[Grace's Mom]

We initially had her bath in the morning as well and then moved it to the evening.  You may want to try it again.  They change so much that you just never can tell .

I think when they are still really young they get more and more tired as the day goes on so just watch her sleep cues closely  and make sure she isn't getting overtied or going down too early. 

Do you think she is waking at 8:30 because she is use to a feed at that time?  If so, maybe you can slowly give her less and less at that time so that she gets the idea to stay asleep and then hopefully that will get her to take a ton of food during the dream to feed to help her get through the night.

Just a few thoughts...I am definitely not an expert 

Keep up the wonderful work. 
Melissa

[* Paula *]

When she wakes at 8:30pm for a feed, where do you feed her?

You could try feeding her in her room, where it is dark, and this may encourage her to go straight back to sleep.