I read through the FAQ's, and they somewhat apply, but our issues are just a bit different. My 5 1/2 month old has been pretty much on an EASY schedule since month 1 or so (although I just discovered the formal Baby Whisperer). He was taking anywhere from 1 1/2 - 3 hour naps from about 3 1/2 months on, usually 3 naps per day. All of a sudden, when he was almost 5 months old(about 3 or 4 weeks ago), it was like a switch flipped and he wakes up screaming and kicking 30 minutes (almost to the minute) into every nap. What?!? (He's an active baby - probably 70% of the time when he's awake, his legs are kicking.) Anyhow, if I leave him there, he just cries (it's been up to an hour). If I go in the room, patting him but leaving him in the crib does not work. If I pick him up, he'll calm down; when I put him down (awake), he goes nuts again. But if I let him fall asleep on my shoulder and then put him down, I'll usually get another 20 minutes or so of naptime. ((Note that he's been placed in his crib awake but drowsy for months now, and usually does not have trouble falling asleep on his own, naps or nighttime. Also, he was in a swaddle until just after 4 months but we've weaned him of that.)) The only way I get long naps is if he's in his carseat, either on a car-ride or a stroller-ride; then he will often take a 2+ hour nap. This is wreaking havoc with our schedule, because I now don't know when to get out and run errands, then often he falls asleep in the car because he's overtired, then our feeding gets off track, etc...vicious circle! Thoughts?
Our schedule:
E: 6:30am (he wakes around 5:30 or 6 (depending on the day) but babbles to himself for a little while before I get him up)
A: end of E until 8:30am
S: 8:30am (should be until about 10am)
E: 10:45am (ish)
A: end of E until 12:30pm
S: 12:30pm (should be until about 2:30pm)
E: ~3pm
A:
S: sometimes a catnap around 5 or 5:30 (we were going to work on getting out of this, but it's all haywire now with the horribly short naps, so I haven't really been able to focus on this)
E: 6pm jar food, then 7pm milk
S: 8pm
(We had been doing a dream feed at 11:30, and we're working on getting out of this. Right now he wakes about 50% of the time for a small feed and about 50% of the time he sleeps through the night.)
Thanks!
Alison
