I have been asked a lot of questions from friends, family, and followers regarding James’ sleep schedule so I decided to do a post!  While every baby and family is different, this worked for us and James has been a great sleeper ever since incorporating both of these methods into his routine.

I am going to take it back to the beginning when we first started our sleep schedule. During Thanksgiving break of 2016 (when James was about two months), James slept through the night every night. Being with friends and family every day stimulated him throughout the day and nighttime seemed like a breeze. As soon as we got back to our home in Brooklyn, James was up every hour on the hour during the night for a few days. We’ve been told babies wouldn’t be able to sleep for the whole night until they turned 3 months or 15 lbs. James was neither of these but we knew we had to do something in order for everyone to get the sleep they needed.

We discovered the E.A.S.Y. method and used it as a guide for James’ day.  Once this was in place,  we noticed a difference right away and bedtime became easier and more sufficient.

E.A.S.Y. (acronym for Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time)

7am wake up/change/eat/play
8:30am nap at most 2 hrs
10:30am wake up/change/eat/play
12:00pm nap at most 2 hrs
2:00pm wake up/change/eat/play
3:30 nap (we don’t let James sleep past 6)
5:30pm wake up/change/eat/play
7pm eat about 1-4oz, book, bed

*Times change everyday depending on when he goes down for naps – sometimes they’re 30min while others are 2 hrs – just look for the tired cues and adjust accordingly! We never let James sleep more than two hours and in between naps around about 1-1.5 hours

*Each feed is probably around 3-5 oz from breastfeeding  so never really know how much he’s getting and 7pm feeding is formula

As for nighttime, we referred to the Ferber, or cry it out, method.  It is definitely not easy but it worked like a charm.  We haven’t looked back since and we’re very happy with our decision to use it. It’s based on a 7 day schedule but it took James only a few nights to adjust to sleeping through the night. Other babies could be shorter or longer!

Ferber Method

Day 1 : 3 min (1st wait), 5 min (2nd wait), 10 min (3rd wait), 10 min (subsequent waits)

Day 2 : 5 min, 10 min, 12 min (subsequent waits)

Day 3 : 10 min, 12 min, 15 min, 15 min (subsequent waits)

Day 4 : 12 min, 15 min, 17 min, 17 min (subsequent waits)

Day 5 : 15 min, 17 min, 20 min, 20 min (subsequent waits)

Day 6 : 17 min, 20 min, 25 min, 25 min (subsequent waits)

Day 7 : 20 min, 25 min, 30 min, 30 min (subsequent waits)

So let me explain starting with day 1. After you put baby down and he/ she starts to cry you may go into their room after 3 minutes and soothe them.  You may rub their belly, sing a song etc but you cannot pick them up. Once they calm down or you feel it’s been the right amount of time, you leave.  If they start crying again, you wait 5 minutes and proceed to soothe and leave room.  Next, if baby cries again, you wait 10 minutes to go into their room etc etc. For a better explanation, you can buy Ferber’s book here.

HELPFUL TIPS

• James sleeps in a sleep sack every night and has since he was a newborn.  We swear by it and believe it helps him sleep! We had this sleep sackwhen he was 0-6 months and currently have this one.
• To start James on the EASY schedule, we would keep a journal of when he would wake up and get cranky for a nap or sleep to see if there were any patterns and then went from there. For example, we noticed James would get tired around 7pm every night and so we made that his bedtime and have stuck with it!

I hope this helps! Please let me know in the comments below what methods you use with your baby! 🙂