TEETHING/POOR NAPPING/CRANKY

[KPCP]

WHEN I FIRST STARTED EASY, MY BOY WAS ABOUT 2.5-3 MONTHS. THINGS SEEMED TO BE GOING WELL AND HIS NAPS WERE INCREASING AND I WAS ABLE TO READ AND UNDERSTAND HIS CUES...NOW HE IS ABOUT 4.5 MONTHS AND EVERYTHING HAS GONE DOWN HILL. IT IS GETTING HARDER AND HARDER TO BREAST FEED HIM (HE PULLS OFF AND SCREAMS) ALSO HIS NAPS ARE SHORTER AND SHORTER AND HE IS WAY MORE CRANKY WHEN HE WAKES UP. I HAVE TRIED SWITCHING HIM NOW TO THE 4 HOUR ROUTINE, AND HAVE TRIED THE SHHH/PAT PU/PD FOR 2.5 WEEKS NOW AND DONT KNOW WHERE TO GO ANYMORE! SOMETIMES I THINK I AM OVERTHINKING THINGS....

THE FIRST NAP OF THE DAY IT IS EASY TO PUT HIM TO SLEEP ON HIS OWN, AND BEDTIME SLEEPING IS GOOD TOO, IT IS JUST THE NAPS IN THE DAY. I AM HAVING A HARD TIME DOING THE SHH/PAT FOR TOO LONG BECAUSE OF A BAD BACK, AND IT DOESNT WORK ON MY SHOULDER! I WAS THINKING THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE DUE TO TEETHING....? DID ANYONE ELSE HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM DUE TO TEETHING? IS THERE HOPE THAT NAPS/BREAST FEEDING AND GENERAL CRANKINESS WILL GET BETTER AFTER TEETHING?? HELP PLEASE!

[deb]

Hi there and welcome! Deeeeep breath......

OK, a couple questions:

Have you started solids yet? (some have by now, some haven't, just trying to work out if it's part of the picture)

How long is he awake before you put him down for his first nap? And how long does he sleep once he's down?

It might be teething, in which case you might try some Infant pain reliever 20 minutes or so before sleep time and see if it makes a difference; if that helps, you know you're on to something, although it also might be an ear infection.

If possible, can you post an approximate schedule, just when he wakes for the day, when he eats, and when he sleeps and how long, something like this:

Awake and Eat: 7AM
S: 9AM
A: 10AM

or whatever your particular schedule is most days.

Oh, and try to turn off your Caps Lock key. It's easier for me to read without all-caps. No worries, lots of BW's will be by shortly to have a look, and the more info you can give, the easier it'll be to sort out what might be the problem.