3 1/2 month can't settle at night

[Posie]

We have our son on a 4 hour easy schedule and until a couple of weeks ago he went to bed no problem.  His schedule looked like this

7am Eat
8am Sleep (2 hours) swaddled
11am Eat
1pm Sleep (45 minutes) swaddled
3pm Sleep (45 minutes) swaddled
6.15 bath and wind down for last feed at 6.45-7pm (unswaddled)
~11.30 Dreamfeed

I swaddled him at night in a sheet until recently, we live in Switzerland in a top floor apartment and it's very warm, most nights at the moment it's 26° and so it's too warm to swaddle our son at night as he's been fighting it.

How do I teach our son to self soothe?  At the moment when he wakes I normally don't even need to lift him out of his cot as shushing him and stroking his forehead is enough to get him to go back to sleep.  I am confused about Pu/PD am I supposed to sit in his room until he passes through the various stages of sleep?  I normally sit until he slips into REM and then leave.

Now he goes to bed no problem but wakes every 30 minutes until about 9pm when he finally goes down for the night.  What is going on?  Our son did learn to roll over last Saturday, could this be what has disrupted his routine?  How do I get our son to nap longer in the afternoon?  Is this the cause of the problem?  Normally when he wakes in the afternoon he's really awake and I haven't been able to get him to return to sleep.

Many thanks for any tips
Posie

[momofclaire]

Hi and welcome to the boards! 

I think your routine might be part of the problem.  He isn't really getting enough sleep during the day which probably causes him to be overtired and thus unable to sleep soundly at night.  He should be having 3, 1.5-2 hour naps at this point.
Do you think he is ready for more A time?  At his age some babies can go four hours between feeds but can't handle the longer A time? Is he ready for that nap at 8? 
Have you tried w2s for his afternoon naps?  If he wakes consistantly at the 45 min mark, he may just be having trouble getting through sleep cycles.

Do you put him down awake or do you nurse or rock him to sleep?  The best way to teach independant sleep is to interfere as little as possible.  I would only pat/shh him if he really needs it. Pu/pd shouldn't be used on babies under 4 months, but if you want to read up you can take a look in the PU/PD forum.
Myia

[Posie]

Thanks for your reply. 

Today was much better, read a lot of postings in the forums and got our LO to have his 2 hour nap in the morning and then another 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  In the afternoon he did wake after 45 minutes but I resisted the urge to rush in when he woke and I stood outside his door for a couple of minutes whilst he tried to get himself back to sleep and wouldn't you know it but it worked!!!  He slept for a full 2 hours and then he had a 45 minute catnap late afternoon.  We put him to bed at 7pm and although he woke after an hour I went in and shussshed him and he settled back down within a couple of minutes and that has been him ever since!! 

We're supposed to go and meet friends on Tuesday afternoon and I'm really hoping I can get him to nap sufficiently whilst we're out.

Here's hoping that this is the solution to our problems!

[momofclaire]

That is great!  Be sure to give him time to self soothe before going in. I think we are often quick to rush in at the first wimper when they are that young.  I hope it keeps up.
Myia