I was thinking of trying the 4 month plus, never had a routine route in the book, which implied that I go right to PU/PD from nap on day 1 to get baby into EASY, but maybe I misunderstood.
You didn't misunderstand
Tracy did recommend going for a really strict 4h EASY routine with PUPD to get something established for a LO that has never had any type of routine. I think probably the collective 'wisdom' of those of us who spend time here would suggest this is a super tough way to do it, and it may be a little more gentle to just observe your LO for 2 days, recording all sleep cues/times/lengths etc and then post here so we can help you with a plan. Often huge improvements can be made just by making some simple routine suggestions such as not keeping LO awake so long (overtiredness tends to be a big problem with many LOs). If you fancy keeping a diary for the next 48h then post it here I'm happy to see what I can suggest for you
Questions are:
-should I continue to hold him to sleep for naps for awhile to get him sleeping longer in the day, or try and do something to fix this as well as nights?
-how do I get him on an EASY if I can't get him to nap more than 30 minutes?
-what do I do when my baby wakes after 5 minutes and he's wide awake? start the pat and shush again from scratch until the time is up?
-how is pat and shush going to help him sleep on his own-is the idea to gradually take stuff away? I've never been clear about this
-how does baby get onto his back if I prop him on side for pat and shush? Move him when he's asleep-that terrifies me!!!
Will try to answer all of these! Yell if I miss anything
Given he isn't napping that well anyway, I'd go straight to shh pat/PUPD (your choice) for all naps and nights. The more chances he gets to practice, the quicker he will 'get it'.
30 min naps are very common with overtired babies. Most babies once the routine is a bit more sorted are actually very capable of sleeping longer
Which is why we suggest to observe for a couple of days first and it may become more obvious what might help. That said, EASY is not meant to be a schedule so even for true short-napping babies it is possible to come up with a flexible routine that suits you all.
If he wakes after 5 mins of a nap that suggests to me he never really got past the first light stage of sleep, and certainly isn't rested. I would be thinking about how you might help him through that phase to avoid it altogether. If you are using shh pat, in the first instance you would be shh patting all the way until he is in a deep sleep (20 mins or so) so hopefully you would avoid that early jolt awake anyway
I think your comment about 'until time is up' relates to Tracy's quite intense schedule for starting at 4 months - as I said above it is perfectly ok to do it that way, but honestly I think if you were planning for a 2h nap as per schedule, and he wakes after 5 mins, that's a totally miserable 1h55 mins remaining trying to resettle!! As a general rule with resettling I would say spend a few mins only, you'll get a sense quickly (max 10-15 mins) if it's going to happen or not. Personally, I feel life is too short to spend all day resettling and would instead just get up, move on with the day and move the next nap early if needed.
Shh pat is a tool to teach LO to settle in bed. As he grows more comfortable, you gradually shh and pat less, e.g. lighter/slower pat, fade out the shh, do it for less time so that he does more of the falling asleep himself. So yes, gradually take it away
Re propping on his side - not strictly necessary. You don't have to do it 'by the book'. We all know advice is for babies to sleep on their backs so I would adapt it for that position. With DD I sat beside her an patted the opposite hip with my hand across her nappy area. DS didn't like shh pat really so I stroked his head or just rested a hand on his tummy with a gentle shh sound.
Hope that helps you a bit more - really it's a case of just trying it and seeing what happens. You can't plan for every eventuality but we will be here to cheer you on xx