Sorry in advance for the length!!
Calum is 5.5 months old. I had a great 3 hour EASY going up until he hit about 3-4 months and it's all gone a bit to pot as he's transitioned to 4 hour eating but is usually sleeping for only 45 mins at a stretch. I have a bit of an idea from the nap forums as to what i have to do to sort it but i thought i'd run the whole thing past you all for advice anyway.
Our routine looks like this on an average day:
Awake between 4 and 4.30 am: Feed, generally takes a full 8oz and back to sleep
E: c7.15-30. Takes very little. Between 2-5 oz
A: 8.00
S: 8.40 wind down and sleeps for anything between 45 mins and 2 hours. It varies wildly
A: whenever he wakes up until next feed time 4 hours after his first
E: 11.15-11.30
<this is where it all goes pear shaped>
A: anything between 12 and 3.30. I often try to get him down for a nap and fail between these hours. Although i know he's tired, he rarely sleeps. If he does, it's only 30-45 mins
E: 3.15-3.30
A: 3.30
S: 4.15-4.30 (sleeps for either 45 mins or 1 1/2 hours. again, varies wildly)
A: whenever he wakes until 7. In this time, from around 6.30 onwards, we do massage and bath
E: 7.00 Bedtime bottle (but not fed to sleep). Made with extra milk
S: 7.30 sleep
Then we start the whole thing again at 4-4.30
Generally he's good at going to sleep. Definitely in the morning and late afternoon and bedtime. I can put him down and he'll drift off alone. We had a blip when he learned to roll in his cot but i've figured now he only does that when i haven't done enough wind down. Most days he only does 45 minutes at each nap. I know he can do more but he doesn't often.
I've been wondering whether the 4 am wakening and the 45 min naps are linked? I definitely want to get rid of the early morning wakening as he's not taking the food he should at 7 and i'd like him to take more sleep during the day as he's often obviously knackered and overstimulated.
He's a mixture of textbook and spirited, with a little more of the spirited I think. Erm, what else do you need to know? I guess it's relevant that i have post natal depression and tend to get very stressed when he's over tired and grouchy. I am sure that doesn't help as i know already that he's pretty sensitive to my emotions.
Oh, and we've just begun weaning and it's going very well. He loved his carrots anyway
So, any suggestions?
I am thinking that i need to be much more consistent with naps. We don't have a regular wind down routine for naps and we probably should as we have a brilliant evening routine that works without fail. Any suggestions for good wind down routines? He gets very stimulated very easily so even me sitting in the room with him can be too much. He's so scared of missing something I think!
I was thinking maybe a classical music cd at low volume or something with him in his cot?
Also, how do i get him over the 45 minute bump? He has a dummy (though thankfully doesn't wake when it falls out) so maybe wake to sleep won't work for us?
How do we get rid of the 4am wakening? Will he drop it on his own if we can sort out the nap length? I know we shouldn't feed him but it's by far the quickest way to get him back to sleep and neither of us have much reserves to do PU/PD at that time.
Is there anything else you experts can see from his routine that i haven't thought about?
Well done for making it so far though this and a huge thank you for any advice offered!
Rachael
