Hello! I have a 7 month old LO and he has never been a good sleeper. Right now, I am using shh/pat to get him to sleep for his naps and sometimes for bedtime. At night he usually comes to bed with me and I nurse him to sleep. For his naps it usually takes 5-10 minutes to get him to sleep.
Usually I nurse him set him on his belly and pat him for a short 2 or 3 minutes. And he mantra crys for a bit and puts himself to sleep. Other times, if I don't nurse him I have to pat him 5-10 minutes until he's just about to fall asleep and he can do the rest or... sometimes I have to do it til he's completely asleep. He definetely loves to be nursed first, it's easier for the both of us!
He usually wakes up 45 minutes after he does fall asleep for naps, and sometimes he can put himself back to sleep after squirmming a bit. But usually he wakes and I have to go pat him for 5 min. This happens for both of the naps (he has 2)
For bedtime, At around 6 I get him ready for bed with a bath, lotion, pj's, then I rock him in a rocking chair and nurse him. I put him down a little before 7 or right at 7, sometimes he doesnt need any patting at all, other times I need to pat him a bit. If I'm lucky he'll sleep 4 hours before waking to nurse, I can nurse him, put him down and he goes to sleep, BUT that's if I'm lucky
usually he'll only sleep for a couple hours and wake up. I will either pat him to sleep, nurse him to sleep then put him down, or just bring him to bed with me and nurse him to sleep for the rest of the night. Its definetely a bad habit that ive tried breaking but no success!
What do you recommend that I do to keep him asleep longer at night? or is what I'm doing okay? When he gets older do you think he'll sleep longer and get rid of the 45 min intruder? He has definetely improved with sleep so much so im hoping he keeps improving.
