5 month old help

[AZmom09]

I am having a hard time getting my 5 month old on an EASY routine because he doesn't like to nurse all his feed at once. Our schedule looks something like this:
6:20- awake, nurses half feed
between this time he plays or dozes in and out of sleep. Then at 8 hes hungry so he nurses 15 mins or so and then falls asleep till 9ish.
9- feed, half
9:30-A
10:40-E to S
11-S
12-A, E

He also only naps 45 mins or so during each day nap. Sometimes I can get him to do one nap usually in the middle of the day or towards the end, for 2 hours. If it is towards the end of the day then it also confuses things since he is up at 4:30 or 5 and wants to go to sleep 6:30 but for some reason he acts like that is a nap. and is up 30-45 minutes later.
I'd like him to so a 7am-7pm schedule.
Basically I feel like I am nursing him all the time and bc of that he is starting to rely on me to nurse him to sleep!

[becj86]

Ok, at 5 months, average A time is around 2:15 to 2:30 or thereabouts - 2:45-3hr at 6 months.

If he's dozing til 9am, what time is bedtime?

I think if you want to get a more steady daytime routine, I'd get him up at 6:30 when he wakes and just start the day there with a nap at 8:45 or 9. You could do a topup feed at 7:30 then feed after the nap if you're looking to get your feeds more consolidated and stop feeding to sleep. The 45min nap means he's UT for that first nap and no surprise given he's having an A time appropriate for a 3 month old.
The day might look a bit like this:
6:30 - WU, E
7:30 - offer topup E
9 - nap
10:30 - WU, E
11:30 - offer topup E
1 - nap
2:30 - WU, E
3:30 - offer topup E
5 - catnap 45 min
5:45 - cluster feed if you/LO wish
6:30 - BT routine - bath, feed, bed aiming for sleep by 7/7:30

As he gets used to going that amount of time between feeds, you can gradually move the topup feeds closer to the main feeds and consolidate them so you're feeding on WU. You may find they persist until you establish solids though.

[AZmom09]

oK I tried this and it worked in the morning but the rest of the day was nuts and here I am now with an awake baby... help!
Here was the schedule today
(he was showing major signs of tiredness at 12:45 today so seems like 2.5 hours was too much but as you see the rest of the day ended up being nuts..)
7-up eat
8-e
9:30 s
11 up e
12 eat
12:45 crying nursed bit to sleep
1:40- awake
2:20--2:40-e
3:20- crying.  Put in crib
He was sucking hard on paci crying so nursed and was asleep by 3:35.
Put in bed
4:15 up!
4:40-crying held him off a little
5:15-e to s
6-awake
7:15 s
7:45 awake , wont go back to sleep.took him out

[becj86]

Ok, so the rest of the day's naps were UT, OT and UT again which left him OT at the end of the day. He's been so used to too-short A times for so long he will be a bit tired looking for the first few days as he gets used to it but I think the morning's result show you're onto a good plan if you can stick it out for a few days.

At this age, tired signs can also mean he needs a change of activity - try shifting to a new location or changing toys or something to extend the A time

[AZmom09]

Ok I tried but today was even worse! At the 2 hour mark he is showing major signs of being tired but still today was such short naps!! I think because of the short naps he is getting tired even sooner than 2.5 hours also, even 2 hours seemed like too much. Please help me!
7-up eat
8-e
9:30 s
10:10- up! E
11:45-trying to put to sleep,  crying..
Took out
12- put back in,  s
12:55- awake
1:15-e
2:50- trying to put to sleep
3-s
3:40-awake
4:15-e
4:40- crying, rubbing eyes but wouldn't go to sleep
6:40-e and s
7:30-up e
8-s
10:10pm-up e

[becj86]

All UT naps today. We know he can sleep a longer nap if he gets enough A time. To see a result here, you really have to push and stick to it for a few days.

[AZmom09]

Ok so today was better, but how do I make the afternoon/night work? (he did wake up at 6 am though today..)

6-up eat
8-s- he was crying and crying and fell asleep so fast (probably was so tired since he got up at 6?)
9:15-up e
11:40-s
1:10-up e
3:25-s
4:10-up e
6:40- e and s by 7
7:40- awake, nursed back to sleep then did that on and off till around 8:30pm. finally asleep, for now...

[becj86]

Looks good, really. He coped with most of the day pretty well, could have had that last nap say 10min later which may have then left him that bit less OT at BT but really, as he settled into the routine, the afternoon/evening should get better