Hi everyone - firstly I've used these boards for so much advice since my son was born so thank you. I've registered because I'm hoping someone can help me sort out our days a bit. I'm sorry if my post is a bit confusing, I've really struggling with anxiety since having my little boy and it can make me obsess about the details a little bit.
Up until recently my son wasn't great overnight, he was still feeding several times and could be hard to settle. I recently stopped breastfeeding and at the same time he dropped his overnight feeds and so now he generally wakes once or twice and can be settled with a few strokes on his back which is great but our days are sometimes a real struggle. My whole day is defined by how his naps go and if they don't go well I spend a lot of time trying to decide what to do differently the next day. Our routine looks vaguely like this:
6 / 6.30 Awake
6.30 Bottle
7. 15 Breakfast
Playtime
9.30 Nap - depends when he woke up. If he was up at 6 it's often nearer 9am but I try to hold out until at least 9 if we can.
10 / 10.30 Wake
Play time
12 - Lunch
1 / 1.30 Nap - if he only has 30 mins in the morning this is more like 12.30 or he's too tired.
2 / 2.30 Wake
Playtime
3 - Bottle
If he's only had two 30 min naps he has a catnap at 4.30, otherwise:
5 - Tea
6 - Upstairs for either playtime or bath time
6.30 Bottle, Book, Bed. Asleep by 7
We used PU/PD for bedtime a while ago so now he goes into his cot awake but clearly sleepy and wriggles around then settles. For nap times he has his dummy in while I read him a story and he falls asleep then I put him down - this doesn't seem to affect whether he has 30 minutes or 1hr +.
There's just no consistency. For example he went down nicely this morning at 9.25 but has already woken up, so now he'll be tired at lunch time which makes it quite stressful. On other days he might nap for an hour plus in the morning, but then some of the advice I've been given is to limit that morning nap so that he sleeps after lunch because it's rare that we get a long nap out of him post lunch. He tends to be reasonably cheerful after half an hour in the morning but if he only has half an hour after lunch he's miserable. I don't know whether to decide on nap times and stick to them to teach his body it's time for sleep, but if he only has a short nap he'll get over tired. I really think two chunky naps would suit him better because getting him to take that catnap is a nightmare even if he's clearly shattered and I think it then gives us a worse night.
Any thoughts / suggestions?
Thanks