[AIKATERINI FILI]

Dear Emma,

Thank you so much for replying. I will try to answer all of your questions in the best and most enlightening way possible.

Firstly, we have figured out the right formula (we also conducted an allergy patch test to verify it) and he has been consuming it for over 6 weeks now. And after the first 14 days of using this particular formula, the results were really obvious he stopped crying all day long,he achieved his first stretches when it comes to his night sleep and started smiling and laughing and been eager to play. I would also like to add at this point that he is feeding more than enough throughout the day (he has 5 meals of 6oz split every 3h throughout the day) and only the last month he started waking up for extra feeding,when he consumes another 5-6 oz(I have been trying to follow your advice to gradually decreasing by half a dose each night I am currently at 4oz)

As far as what his night sleep looks like, He has a steady bedtime routine,which starts at 19.30 and usually falls asleep at 20.00 max 20.30. He usually sleeps until 3-3.30am,this is when I feed him(dark quiet room,no eye contact, no talking) and put him back to sleep. His sleep after that is extremely light-he may have an hour of quiet sleep and after that he seeks his pacifier and if I don’t give it to him and try to shush him his crying will escalate.and after 3or4 pacifier-reapplications he wakes up at 5-5.30,mostly crying and needs to be held,takes a lot of time to put him back to sleep and still needs his pacifier ever 5-10 minutes .He always wakes at 7-7.30 on his own and I am exposing him to light as you have suggested.

Moreover,when it comes to his napping is has been chaotic from the beginning.its like he has an internal alarm clock and every 20-30 minutes he wakes up no matter what. I used to follow suggested wake windows duration for his age and it would take me forever to get him to sleep sometimes even up to 30 minutes only for him to sleep for only 20 minutes.

I have been using your pyramid method and as I mentioned I was happily surprised that he was able to achieve 50-55 minutes long daily naps.of course, I should mention at this point that I am a working mother so I am only able to practise your method for only a couple of naps throughout the day. I also followed your advice to introduce a shorter version of his bedtime routine for napping(white noise,dark room,gently rocking one lullaby and put him in his crib) The thing is it’s not that I am having trouble in the effectiveness of your method, it’s just that after introducing it as soon as I enter the dark room and listens to the white noise machine he starts yelling,and arching his back and kicking-it’s like he psysically expresses his not wanting to fall asleep,even though his up for almost 2hours yawning and rubbing his eyes.Sometimes i may be able to put him to bed after 3-4 tries (i am taking a breath resetting and start the routine all over again)sometimes it’s no use and go back to play and try again a bit later or use the stroller as a rescue nap,which only lasts for 30 minutes and requires me to constantly pushing him back and forth.

Now the duration of the naps it’s not standard-best case scenario 50-55 minutes in his crib by using your pyramid settling method or if we are out for an evening walk he would fall asleep in his stroller only as long as the move goes on if we stop he will immediately wake up and worst case scenario 20-30 minutes naps usually achieved by rocking him or using tha stroller in the house.

He make take 4 longer naps (50-55 minutes) or 5-6 naps if they are shorter first nap is exactly 2 hours after he is awake (I have come to realised this is the best time to put him to bed he falls asleep within 5minutes with no fussing )and as the day goes by the duration of wake windows grow shorter (I always take into condideration his sleeping cues as well as his previous nap duration)

So his bedtime routines for napping is going into the bedroom,putting the white machine on,closing the curtains,lately I carry him in the tiger hold and gently move him in a back and forth manner by gently patting him.(he seems to have outgrown rocking lately)while singing one particular lullaby.them I use a catchphrase “time for bed-we love you”.

His evening bedtime routine also consists of bathing,massaging him with oil,putting his pyjamas on and then the rest is the same.

His sleeping environment is extremely dark,we try to keep it really quiet when he is asleep and the home temperature is always 20-22 celcius. I even followed your advice for dropping it 1 degree for the night.

Lastly,I have always followed throughout the day the wake-feed-play-sleep routine.

Sorry,for the extremely long answer but I tried to be as descriptive as possible.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask for clarification.

Thank you for your personalised answer.

Yours friendly,

Aikaterini