My son Evan is 5 months old today. I just started the EASY routine one week ago because he wasn't napping well and was cranky most of the day. I'm doing the four hour routine and I'm sticking by the times, regardless if he's tired or hungry early, as Tracey suggests in her most recent book. The only variation is after a couple nights of frequent night waking we tried cluster feeding (the past couple nights) in addition to his regular dream feed, but the night waking seems to be getting worse.
His first two naps are 1.5-2 hours long, but we have to put him back to sleep in the middle of his naps a lot. His catnap in the afternoon lasts 30-45 mins. Every time he goes to bed, I wind him down, swaddle him, use a pacifier, and do PU/PD if necessary (which it normally isn't). I don't know if this is a problem, but I also leave my hand on his chest until he falls asleep, it seems to keep him calm.
His bedtime now is 7:30, although it used to be between 9:30-10:00 before we started EASY (he used to sleep for a 5-6 hour stretch, which hasn't happened since startine EASY). Before the cluster feeding, the routine would be eat at 7:00, wash his face or bath, change diaper/outfit, wind down, then bed.
He is bottle fed and eats anywhere from 6-8oz/feed.
Evan sleeps in the same room as us because it's the only way to keep him close to us. When he wakes at night, he usually rolls over and gets out of his swaddle, then starts to cry. A lot ot times it's just a mantra cry and he'll go back to sleep within ten minutes, but as the night goes on it turns into a real cry and it takes up to an hour to get him back to sleep. We try to comfort him in bed, but if that doesn't work, we usually pick him up, reswaddle, wait until he's calm, put him back down, use pacifier, and keep a hand on his chest until he falls asleep. When we started EASY, he woke up only once, but now it's 4-5 times/night.
His A time consists of playing with toys, hanging out in exersaucer and jolly jumper, being read to and exploring the house. He seems to get sick of his toys quickly. His A time is usually around 1.5 hours, depending on how fast he eats. Because I'm trying to stick to the times, he's often tired well before it's time to nap, so he's probably overtired by the time we get him to bed.
I don't think he's teething, he may or may not be going through a growth spurt, it's hard to tell. He started rolling over a few weeks ago, so I don't think that it's a newfound mobility issue.
Should I put him to bed when he's tired, even if it's early? If so, is it ok if the EASY routine turns into an EASYAEASY routine? I plan on cutting out the cluster feeding, should I? What else am I doing wrong? Please help!
Tina
