If you are following the EASY routine, come in please!

LunaBug924 · June 2014

A few questions...

How old is LO? And how old when you started/intend to start?

Do you put LO down for naps still awake but tired, or do you rock to sleep and then lay them down?

If they are still awake when you lay them down, do you pick them up immediately to soothe if they start crying? Or if you let them cry, how long until you pick them up?

If your LO is eating more frequently than the 3 hours (for example DD is every 1.5-2hours during the day), what are you sacrificing? Awake time, sleep time, or you time?

I'm just looking to see what's working for other moms. I've been trying EASY with DD for almost 2 weeks, started around 3 weeks old. It's actually going ok, but I can't put her down awake at all. She cannot soothe herself to sleep, even in her swing. And 9 times out of 10 even if she's in a deep sleep and I put her down she wakes up within 10 minutes. I won't pick her up until she cries, so sometimes she'll be awake and content for another 10 minutes or so. But she usually only takes 1/2 hour naps during the day, even if I hold her the whole time. Since she eats more frequently during the day, I realize she won't be sleeping as long as the routine suggests, but I also want to make sure that she is getting enough sleep. A lot of times she's fussy in the evenings, and I think it could be because she's overtired by that time. It's also hard because right now I'm not really getting the "Y" part of the routine.

Here's the part that most other moms would be jealous of, but I don't know if it's a good thing. DD will go down for the night between 10:30-11:30pm and STTN until 6:30-8am depending on the night. It's been great for me, but I feel like she should be going to bed earlier, even if that means waking once during the night. I've tried doing her bedtime routine earlier (diaper change, lotion or bath, PJs, feed from one boob, swaddle, then feed from other side until she's asleep), but if we start earlier it just takes longer and we both end up frustrated. So do I just stick with what works for now, or do I need to keep trying with the earlier time?

I realize that 6 weeks is still really early to be worrying about sleep training and a schedule for her, but I want to set myself up with good/better habits now so that we have success later on. I'm also getting nervous because DH goes back to work on Monday and I won't have as much help. So what are your thoughts? Thanks!

ksyknelvr73 · June 2014

I don't have the time to respond completely at the moment, but we didn't try this with DS1 until he was 6 weeks old. But it worked so perfectly for us with him that I am fully intending to do it again with this LO, but I am not even attempting it again until 6 weeks. I don't know why that was our magic number but plan to follow it again. The only other thing I can respond to right now is we don't really employ any crying it out whatsoever, even though this method seems to somewhat advocate it.

I will come back later and answer the other stuff!

Rocknroll64 · June 2014

I do want to try this method but I haven't really been doing the activity part. DD wakes up every 3-4 hours so I feel like letting her do some activity will take away from my much needed sleep time. I try to do activity before naps and bed time though....but sometimes it's hard to keep her awake. How long do you guys do activity for and do you do it during MOTN feedings?

DD has been getting pretty good at soothing herself to sleep though. We just started putting her in her crib awake this week. She'll be 6 weeks on Friday. So I rock her until she's sleepy then swaddle her and then put her in her crib with her soother still in her mouth. She would start crying immediately but I would let her cry for 5 mins then go in and put my hand over her head to let her know I'm there and put her soother back in her mouth until she calmed down. Then I would go back to bed and she would start crying again...this time I would let her cry for 7 minutes....and actually a few times she doesn't even make it to 7 mins before she falls asleep on her own. Sometimes she is crying hysterically and in a frenzie and in that case I know that something is wrong and I don't let her cry. I can kind of tell when she's just fussing and when something is actually bothering her. I would never let her cry longer than 10-15 minutes though....then I know something is bothering her. Anyway this is what is working for me. It takes patience but it has been successful so far.

LunaBug924 · June 2014

Thanks @ksyknelvr73! I know that was a long winded post with lots of questions, haha.

I really don't like the idea of CIO either, so that's why I'm wondering how other moms are getting their LOs to sleep if they're using this method.

cnbean · June 2014

OK I hope this all ends up making sense.

I have been using method since about week 2 with DS2 and I also used it with DS1 starting at about 2 months. I found that it takes a while for babies to learn to self soothe, especially when you are starting out so early. I swaddle DS, give him a snuggle, then put him in his RnP and leave the room. Sometimes I barely make it out the door before having to go back in and give him the paci. But I am not letting him CIO and I don't feel like this method is really advocating that either. Once DS1 got a little older we would let him cry for a little longer before going in to see if he would soothe himself, but when they are this little they don't have the skills to do that. Also I rarely get him up before he has had a good solid 1.5-2 hr sleep, otherwise I might be getting him up before he was really ready to get up.

I don't really have any advice for stretching the time between feedings. The only way to do that is to get them to eat a little more at a feeding.

I never do activity time during MOTN feeds, that way they go back to sleep right away. Otherwise you are teaching them that nighttime is play time, and that will suck when you want them to STTN.

If you haven't read the book this method comes from I would recommend it. Almost all of these questions are covered much better than I can.

The book is "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg.

ksyknelvr73 · June 2014

No activity during MOTN feedings @Rocknroll64‌ , bc I think the idea of using this method is to encourage sleeping through the night.

ksyknelvr73 · June 2014

So I am having a hard time remembering exactly how we did this with DS since it was 3 years ago. I do know he had been going to bed around 10 and we moved his bedtime to 8 but I cannot remember how we did that...I feel like no help. It was probably a gradual transition though, like first week put him to bed at 9:30, next week 9:00 and so on. We always put him down to sleep while he was still awake, but drowsy. We swaddled, gave a paci, and used the sleep sheep (white noise) and it always worked for us. Like a PP said, I wouldn't let him cry much at all,so sometimes that meant giving back the paci quite a few times. I feel like he just caught on eventually, it probably wasn't right away. I remember though at 10 weeks was when he really seemed to embrace the whole routine and started STTN consistently.

So, I think what you are doing is probably working but is a process. If your LO starts her cycle every 1.5 to 2 hours, I would just adjust each time frame for each part of the process, not necessarily cutting anything out, but just adjusting the time for each part if that makes sense.

LunaBug924 · June 2014

I think the biggest problem I have is that she doesn't take a paci consistently. It's hit or miss and if she's already worked up and crying it's not happening. And I wouldn't mind letting her comfort suck on the boob except for her reflux she doesn't fall asleep nursing either.

Rocknroll64 · June 2014

LunaBug924 said:

I think the biggest problem I have is that she doesn't take a paci consistently. It's hit or miss and if she's already worked up and crying it's not happening. And I wouldn't mind letting her comfort suck on the boob except for her reflux she doesn't fall asleep nursing either.

My sister followed EASY and her son didn't take a paci either so when he cried she would pick him up and calm him down and then put him back down very quickly.

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If you are following the EASY routine, come in please!

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