Is this what it looks like?

[3littlemen]

DS3 is 8wks. A usual day looks like this...forget that, to hard to type out. Basically he's up around 5.30most mornings, feeds then and has about an 1hr-15 til he's asleep again. He cues around 45min or 50m. First nap is always in the baby bjorn, and lasts up to 2hrs. He then feeds (sometimes he'll only last 2h30 between feeds) and again about an hour. Next nap I try to do in the cot. Third nap is in baby bjorn as is catnap before bath. bath between 5.15-5.45 generally then feed to sleep for bt about 6-6.30 somedays early as 5.45pm depending on naps and last catnap. The day is generally EAS though.
Today he settled for sleep in his cot, slept 30m then I had to shpat for 5, 30m shpat for 5m, and again 30m shpat but couldn't get him back to sleep. At which point we fed. It was pretty light sleep looking at him and he could have been OS as DH is home. He is swaddled though fighting out of it, and he has a dummy which I only replug if he is not crying...I try to settle him first with shpat and blocking stimulation with my hand over his eyes and once he 's quite then he gets it back.
Just wondering, is one nap a day enough to st? it's about all I can do with the other lo's running around. also, is blocking stimulation a prop? Is that how it should work?

[Layla]

I started sleep training dd3 around 6-8 weeks and I concentrated on 1-2 naps a day. Our 1st nap was sometimes in the car during school run; 2nd nap was in the cot and so was 3rd nap (or in the car if I had to go out) and the last 2 naps were in the baby carrier (the girls were home and it was important for me to tend to their needs too-snacks, homework, etc...). That worked really well for us and sometime around 3-4 months, when dd3's naps started to consolidate a little bit and she could stay up more and her morning and afternoon nap was in the cot and the last nap was still in the sling and then finally when she dropped to 2 naps, they were almost always in the cot.

I don't think blocking stimulation is a prop, we also did that with dd3 (put hand over eyes)... at 8 weeks we had to do some very low key activities during our A time as otherwise mine would get really hyper and unable to sleep! Is the room nice and dark? My lo can only sleep in a really dark room - we have roller shutters so its pitch black in there! I introduced a nice windown routine when I started sleep training and I used to dedicate around 20mins of shh/pat in the cot and if there was no sleep, I used to pick her up and give her some more A time and then try again.

HTH a little

[3littlemen]

Can't really darken the room anymore than it is. I find it hard to st due to the 4yo and 2yo wanting attention or to help, and I have a weekend at a time to st unless I do it over Christmas, as no relatives (or friends) nearby...
I know it'll eventually get there, ds's sleep fine now. but frustrating you know? nice to hear that everyone has naps around the place and not just in the cot. will try and find one to work on each day.
thanks for your input. IWith your suggestion of stopping after 20mins and going back later  doesn't your whole day end up chasing shpat and the cot?

[Layla]

If the room is already dark, then there is no point in darkening it anymore. Could you maybe set up an activity for the 2 and 4yo when you're trying to resettle the baby? Again, you could just pick 1 or 2 naps which you will resettle and the rest may be catnaps or you could AP them.

With regards to stopping after 20mins, that was what worked for me as I found it too stressful to be standing over a cot for up to the length of the nap (1.5hrs) to shh/pat. I found getting out the room gave her a break and gave me a break too - change of scenery. I could never get my LO to settle/resettle when I was stressing about it... she could feel the stress!