Help with the E.A.S.Y. way!?

I have a 8 week old baby and have been demand feeding since he was born. I really want to get him into some kind of routine and have read countless books, they all say the same , eat then play then sleep, every 3-4 hours, the problem is he eats (15 mins max and is full) then plays 30-1hr then has a sleep but only 2- 2 1/2 hrs tops have passed. Then he wakes and has a feed and goes back to sleep. So we are stuck in a 2 hr routine!!!
How can I start to make him go longer between feeds and stick to the eat, play, sleep, if he wakes up before the 3 hours have passed.Hope this makes sense HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh books! Ignore "them" and do what feels right as Clare said. My little ones never did that four hour thing, however, they did when they were about four months, the routine gradually came about. it does take a few days to get the routine establisheed. I decided to feed taine only every four hours, and this was a battle initially. He was a grazer. he'd feed until he wasn't hungry, sleep and be awake half an hour later hungry again. By not letting him feed, he'd cry and cry, but then when hewas eating, he'd eat a lot more and be more satisfied for ;longer. I tended at first to fill him up on "snacks", rather than let him have "meals" After this, he slept a lot better too.

james was the same with eating but he was a 3-4 hour between feeds try leveing hing a extra 10 mins after he has woken for a feed and solwly extned the time till u get the 3-4 hour time you want thats what my midwife got me to do and after around two weeks he got into a 3 hour feed time

well this will go against what everyone else has said but it works for us with both babies. My first born was in neonatal and they got him into a 4 hourly feeding routine from two hourly, they increased the time between feeding by half an hour each time so if baby is asleep you still wake them and if they wake early just try and hold them out (remembering its only half an hour for a start. Each time baby should only be up and awake for about an hour, back to bed even if awake (or you can get them to sleep, your choice) but for example our feeding times are 2, 6 & 10 so even if baby is asleep we wake her then. We were a bit nervous about setting this routine ourselves without the help from hospital but have fallen in to the pattern already and addy is only 3 weeks old. I must say though it does help that Im bottle feeding so I know that she is getting enough.

maybe he's overtired? Also babies know a sucker. I'm going through that at the moment too. My six month old has been sick, vaccinated and teetheing, so we've been snuggling him to sleep, letting him in our bed, generally feeling sorry for him. Now he's decided he';ll go to bed when HE feels like it! I had to listen to him scream for an hour tonight. I so wanted to go in and "rescue" him but knew it would start all over again.. Don't feee like a bad mum emmaohara cause most of us have been ina a similar situation, if not the same age as your little one, another age!

Sounds like the babe might be overtired. It's so annoying that you have such a short window to get them to sleep in!!!

I don't know if I'd be too concerned about the feed/play/sleep thing... Maybe it's just me, but if they wake up before they are meant to, they can just play until the next part. For me the most important bit was keeping the feeds 3 hours apart. (Though not strictly, it seems a bit nuts making your babe scream for 3 minutes and 30 seconds just to reach the 3 hours IYKWIM.)

The other important thing is having a bedtime routine... whatever that involves... for me it was giving her a bath, getting her snuggled up and then giving her a last big feed before putting her to bed. I was a sucker for the crying too and just used to let her fall asleep on me. (I figured if I was happy to deal with the consequences then so be it!) I started putting her to sleep awake much later on and that wasn't a proble... just took 3 days of hell. She's pretty good sleeper now. (Apart from the baby rebellions she joins every now and again!)

Anyway... good luck!

We gave up on the 3hrly routine after a few weeks, as we kept getting out of whack. He would be awake for the hour or so and then could take another hour to settle to sleep properly and then we would have to wake him up to feed which he wasn't happy about and wouldn't feed properly so we would put him down, within the hour and he would be awake and hungry an hour later, so I gave up and went to demand feeding which is working heaps better, he tends to have longer sleeps and then feed twice really close together. He is in a bit of a routine himself. He feeds twice between 6am and 10am and then again round 1-2pm and 3-4 and 6-7, if he doesnt wake up by 9.30 - 10pm I will wake up up for his last feed. We are all a lot happier.

I think that every baby is different and you should try out the theories and find which one suits you and your baby the best. Although, Im only a first time Mum with only one months experience :)