Good morning!
I have gotten some great advice on here, so thank you! My problem is that as soon as I think I've solved a problem, a new one starts or an old one comes back.
My 7 month old is currently on a 4-4.5 hour EASY. He can usually stay awake for 2 hrs and 45 minutes (sometimes only 2.5 hours, rarely 3) and eats every 4.5 hours. He takes three naps (which includes one, 15 minute cat nap) His naps range from 45 minutes - 2 hours. When he wakes after 45 minutes, I am able to get him back to sleep after about 30 minutes of rocking. He is NEVER consistent with naps, no matter what I do! I was OK with that as long as he was sleeping great at night ...
About a month ago, we finally made some great improvements in night sleep. He was sleeping until about 5 or 6 (sometimes 6:30!) without waking up for a feeding. This week, however, he's back to his old tricks. Waking up around 4 a.m. and not falling back asleep until 6:30 or so, or waking up several times at night.
Last night was simply awful: he was up from 10-11, 12-1 and 4-5. I'm very confused, because he took awesome naps yesterday and seemed to have a really good schedule. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong!
Here was his EASY yesterday, and what I would consider to be the "ideal" for him right now:
WU: 6 a.m.
E: 8 oz at 6:15
E: Solids at 7:15
S: 8:50
A: 10:06
E: 11 (4 oz and solids)
S: 1 pm
A: 2:27
E: 3:01 (8 oz)
S: 4:45
A: 5 p.m.
E: 5:30, 2 oz (this feeding is optional. I only feed him at this time if he acts hungry, and he was!)
E: 6 p.m. (solids)
BATH: 7 p.m.
EAT: 7:15
ASLEEP "FOR THE NIGHT": Around 7:45 (For past several nights I could leave him awake in his crib and he would fall asleep on his own. Last night, I had to rock him until he was very drowsy)
Dreamfeed: 8 oz at 10 p.m. (We haven't done a dream feed in a while, but since he was pretty hard to get to sleep after he woke up at 10, we thought he might be going through a growth spurt and fed him. While he did take a full feeding, he didn't fall asleep easily).
Like I said, he was up A LOT last night and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I would consider it a fluke (the night before was perfect!) but earlier this week he had some trouble during the night, too. Not nearly as bad as last night, but several wakings and a very early wake ups.
Here are my questions:
I've thought about getting rid of the afternoon cat nap, and have tried several times thinking the late nap was making him UT, but I end up having to push his bedtime up, which makes him wake up ridiculously early. (I've kept a normal bedtime and he is way OT) (I think he only needs about 10-11 hours of sleep each night.) I am fine with the early waking, but it leads to early naps, and even earlier bedtimes. Even if we move to a three hour easy, if he wakes up at 5 he would be in bed by 5 or 6, right? Not sure how to handle that.
I'm just at a total loss! PLEASE HELP! I THRIVE on routine and this is driving me CRAZY!!!