inconsistent nap length-9 weeks

[rumecosa]

My 9 week old son has been on EASY for a little over 2 weeks now.  He did really well his first couple of days, and now I keep having little problems creep up.  Right now, he isn't taking a consistent nap length.  He always takes a long nap at his first nap of the day which is usually around 8:15-8:30.  The next 2 naps are the hardest.  He usually sleeps 45 minutes-1 hour.  The frustrating part is that he can only stay up for 1 hour at a time, which causes the whole routine to be a bit off when he does wake up that early.  Also, he seems like he isn't hungry when he wakes up from any nap, even long ones.  I thought about switching his routine to 4 hours, but I don't think that's the answer especially since he has such a short activity time.  He still isn't sleeping longer than 3-4 hours at a time at night, which I've decided is due to hunger but could it have to do with his naps too?  He wakes at least 2 times a day from gas it seems and can't seem to fall back to sleep on his own.  Should I stand there and shh/pat every time?  Or should I pick him up and wait for the gas to pass and then put him back down?  I thought that might confuse him. 

Also, I have to wake him up almost every morning, and he gets tired really fast after his first feed.  If I put him down for his first nap at the first yawn, then it's really throwing off the routine.  If I keep him up later though, he fusses about going down and has shorter afternoon naps.  I'm sure I have a thousand other issues but does anyone have any solutions to the few I mentioned?  I would greatly appreciate it!

[andibig]

Hi megan
Love your pic of Cohen.
Think some of the problem is he needs his awake time stretched a little bit.do this very gently.
Would it be possible to have a look at your routine so i can get more of an idea?
Andrea

[rumecosa]

Here is Cohen's routine, but with a few variations throughout each day obviously, and he's breastfed:

E:  7:30 wake and eat *sometimes a little earlier if he wakes before I do
A:  7:40-8:00 or 8:15ish (but that's if I stretch the first cues)
S:  8:30-10:15

E:  10:30
A:  10:40-11:15
S:  11:30-? 
*sometimes it's 12, sometimes 15 after, sometimes he'll sleep for an hour, but it's almost never consistent.  If he wakes early, we have activity time until next feed.

E:  1:30
A:  1:40-2:00  *we do wind down for about 15 min, and then the 4 S's after activity time
S:  2:30-3:15 
*This nap is also inconsistent, so who knows, but it's almost never over an hour

E:  4:30
A:  4:40-5:30
S:  5:30-6:15
 
E:  6:30 last cluster feed
A:  7:00 bath and bedtime routine
S:  B/w 7:30-8:00  in bed

DF:  10:30-11:00

I tried keeping him awake a little longer after his first nap today and every nap since he's only slept 30 minutes or less!  I don't know what to do.  I tried shh/pat, but he wouldn't really go back to sleep, maybe doze a little, but his eyes were almost always open.  I didn't take him out of his crib, except at the last 15 minutes of one of the naps I was in the middle of cooking something on the stove, so I put him in his swing because I couldn't stay with him and shh/pat any longer.  DH is out to sea, so no help there.  While in his crib he would fuss the rest of the nap, and mantra cry.  The more the day wore on, the more tired his cries sounded.