Hello, I have posted before asking for help on sleep...I got good advice but seems like things are just getting worse and worse. My LO is turning 16 weeks this saturday. When he was 2 months he was sleeping pretty good through the night only waking a couple times to eat, his naps were decent, then as he turned three months his naps changed to 30 mins for every nap unless I hold and nurse him the whole time and night sleep deteriorated. He was waking every 2 hours, then every 1 hour, then every 30-40 mins, now its basically every 1-2 hours again. He tries to stay asleep but he just ends up waking up and I have to put him back to sleep which can take up to an hour sometimes. He still only sleeps in his swing, I have tried to co sleep with him but still the same thing happens. His WU and BT are all over the place bc of all this. But generally he wakes up between 6-7 (used to be 7) and I try to get him to bed around 7-8 but he wakes up 30 mins later and stays up another A time, ends up having a meltdown and then goes to sleep for maybe 2-3 hours. After that he wakes up more frequently the rest of the night. I try not to always nurse him to sleep when he wakes, I try to rock him or pat his back but it doesnt always work. He will nurse to sleep but when trying to put him back in the swing sometimes he stays asleep, sometimes not, this process of getting him back to sleep can take 30-60 mins each time, sometimes less. Usually what I do is when he starts to stir, he rubs his head like crazy and so I gently hold his hands and wait till he settles back into a deep enough sleep where I can let go but it doesnt always work and when it doesnt and its been 2 hours or so I nurse him. I know he is going through a lot right now. Do I just go with it all and tough it out and it will sort itself out on it's own? Oh and his A time is about 1hr 30mins, I read it should be 2 hours at this age? But he seems to be tired and irritable before 2 hours. For naps I have to hold him and nurse him the whole time to get good naps, even holding him he will wake at the 30 min mark and I give him the breast to get him through, he will take a 1 hour nap, sometimes 1.5 hours. I really don't have an EASY bc Ive been so frustrated I just stopped keeping track and just going with the flow, living in the moment rather than stressing out about keeping a schedule all day. But I can try and put up what our day looks like..
6:00-7:00 wake up, eat
8:30is -9:30ish nap/nurse
11ish-12ish nap/nurse
1:30-2:30ish nap/nurse
4-5ish nap nurse
6:00 start bedtime routine, try to be in bed by 6;30-7...
this is a very rough example bc his naps vary in length and his wu and bt is always different..I try to keep it a 12 hour day and night but thing is lots of times he wakes up after bedtime 30 mins later and treats it as a nap and then ends up going to bed 8:30-9pm and he still wakes up at 6-7 am ,I think he treats that first morning nap as nighttime sleep but after a long night of NW I let him just get up at 6 or 7 bc he doesnt seem to want to go back to sleep anyways.
Any advice I would so appreciate. If I left anything out let me know and if I repeated myself at all, I apologize, trying to type this out with my baby in my arms. TIA
Brittany
P.S. Today he is not evening making it to the 1.5 mark before becoming verrry irritable. nothing is soothing him except nursing to sleep...I don't think he is teething, I dont see or feel anything but he is very drooly and sooo whiney!