Would like some advice/ help on tweaking 5 month old schedule

[jaylabliss]

Hey everyone!
my ds has been on EASY since birth and it has been great. we've had our ups and downs but overall-wonderful! Just a little background info- I breast feed at night ( well the 5:30 am feed)  but give expressed breast milk in the day b/c of a variety of reasons. My son will be 5 months in one week and he weighs about 16 pounds.
i feel like my schedule could use some tweaking especially since i will be starting solids soon.....- any advice is welcome!!!

5:30 am- breast feed (not much though seems to be more soothing) and back into bed
8:00 wakes up and takes 4-5 ounces of ebm
10:00 nap
around 12:00 wakes up and 6-7ounces of ebm
2:00- nap
4:00- 6-7 ounces of ebm
5:30- 45 minute cat nap ( he's so cranky and fussy around now that i feel like he needs it but it always takes him awhile to settle in and sleep)
6:30- 6-7 ounces of ebm
7:30 bedtime
around 9:30- 10- 6-7 oz of ebm dream feed (lately it has been harder and harder for him to fall right back asleep aftert his feed)
then he sleeps through until 5:30ish- (it used to be 630 for like a month not sure what happened)... except that he wakes up once or twice a night for his pacifier- which is getting really hard for me and dh's sleep - our house is so small!!!
the only day to day differences is sometime he only naps 1.5 hours so we seem to be more on a 3.5 hour schedule. when that happens do i wait 30 minutes to feed him so he's still on the 4 hour schedule? and sometimes he sleeps until 8:30 or 9 in the morning- so that kind of throws off the day too....
okay thanks anyone for your help it is appreciated!!!!!

[Amandamom]

Hi!  It doesn't sound like you have any major issues, so I don't think your routine needs a major tweak.
A couple of suggestions that come to mind...
Around 5-5.5 months babies can move to 2.25 hours of A time.  If your LO starts having a hard time settling for naps that could be why.
If the dreamfeed seems to be disturbing his sleep you could stop doing it and try clusterfeeding in the evening instead.
As for the 5:30 a.m. feed, if he isn't hungry it is probably best not to continue feeding him.  You could try pat/shh or the pacifier at 5:30 to get him settled.  When I dropped the nighttime feed I gave a bottle of water for a few days and she stopped waking up to eat.  But with the water you do have to be careful that you aren't just trading one thing for another.
As for the catnap, he probably does still need it.  One thing you could try would be to push the catnap back until 5:45ish and only let him sleep for 30 min.  He might settle a bit easier that way.  Right now he is only awake for 1.5 hours before his catnap so he may not be quite tired enough to settle down.
If you want a consistent wake up time you can wake him up at 8:00 everyday.
Personally, with my LO if she wakes up within a half an hour of her next feed I go ahead and feed her to keep to the EASY routine, but either way is fine...feeding when he wakes or waiting a half an hour until it is time to feed.
If you want to take away the pacifier there is some great info over on the Props board!  I weaned my LO off her paci at 5 months because she was waking up for it a few times during the night.
These are just suggestions because you asked...it certainly doesn't seem to me that you have anything big going on that you should be concerned about.