Help! Multiple night wakes for weeks now... Can't take it much longer

[Thirdisthecharm]

Hi all,

So my LO is almost 6.5 months and has been waking multiple times a night. He goes to bed at about 8 then will wake up every two, sometimes 1.5 hrs. I know he is not hungry because I am able to resettle him for some of the NW with shush pat (sometimes just pat), Other times I need to pick him up before putting him back down.
When I do nurse him, he will fall alseep on the breast and not stir when put in his bed, but will wake within 20 minutes and need to be resettled.
He is EBF, on a 3.5/4hr easy. Our routine can be messy sometimes because we do struggle with 45 minute naps more than 50% of the time. I used to be able to extend the naps but am no longer able to, as we wakes happy, talking to himself. He does not take a pacy and as far as I can think of, has no props really, other than the swaddle. He manages to fall asleep for naps and nightime with minimal shush/pat and a few times did it by himself.
We do not do a dreamfeed but he has been waking up at 9:15 or so, at which time I resettle, then again between 10 and 11 (I feed him here hoping he  will sleep longer but  does not help), then againhe wakes at 12:30 or so and it keeps going until morning. He also wakes early most days (5 am) and I have been successful at putting him back down and he will sleep til 6.
Mom is here to help me, but he won't resettle for her at night. It has to be me, even just to do the patting. In fact, he refused to take a bottle from her at 10pm the other night and was screaming but calmed down the moment I came in! I am just very tired and need some help. I know he is not hungry for all his NWs. I would like to teach him independant sleep, since he can do it on his own sometimes. Help!!

[marensmama]

If he is waking happy during the day after a short nap, my best guess is that he's UT.  I'd try extending his A time a bit especially earlier in the day.  Babies his age usually have 2 naps per day, of 1-2 hours each, and can handle up to 3 hours of A time.  I think he's UT and his NWs will sort themselves out once you get his A time figured out during the day.

Hugs, and hope you get some better nights really soon! 

[Thirdisthecharm]

Tanks Marensmama. Yesterday was weird: he took  three 1.5hr naps. He has never done than before... His night wakes were as follow: 11:30 fed him, 12:30 s/p, 2:45 fed, 3:30 s/p, 4:09 s/p, 4:25 diaper change ( I thought he had poopooed), 5:05 s/p, 6:10 woke for the day.
I think some of the NWs were bc he was hot as our heater was set one degree higher than normal.
Is it normal for babies his age to take three naps? Normally he does two which vary in length plus a catnap ( not always) of 45 mins. Yesterday even with the long naps ,, after the second one he wanted to sleep at the two hour mark and so I tried real hard to get him to stay up longer but he fussed and fussed so his A time was close to 21/2hrs . Just weird.
One of the questions have is if I keep doing s/p. For some of the NWs, will stop waking at those times?  I think he still needs 1 or two nightfeeds as he is distracted during the day and will usually take a full feed at night. He just does nit need to feed every hour
Thank you!

[marensmama]

A baby his age on average needs two naps per day that are an hour to two hours long. If he has short naps then you'll need to fit more in to prevent him from getting OT.  So his first a time of the day, make it longer than he's usually getting by 15 min. If he naps for an hour or more, then keep that same a time for the next block. If it's closer to a 45 min nap then shorten the a time a bit to prevent him from getting OT.

As far as the  Nws go, feed as necessary. My dd2 had one nw for a feed until her first bday. He might be getting a bit old for s/p but if it works then use it for the other nws and get his day sleep under control. That's the key to his nights.