Could someone check my EASY routine - problems with sleeping

[LondonOntario]

Hello everyone:

I have been fortunate to get lots of help with my LO during my attempt of doing pu/pd. One of the moderators suggested I post my routine just to make sure my LO is getting enough food since he truly seems hungry at night.

Here it is:
We currently have this routine:
E:   7am bf (sometimes he doesn’t eat since he had been eating all night!)
       8am breakfast solids
A:    for around 1 ½ hours or 2
S:    9:30am or 10am (for one hour always in the swing located in the bathroom. I know it sounds awful but it was a way of showering while keeping an eye on him. Also the white noise helps) if he is up before 11am, we do activities
E:    11am bf
A:    for around 1 ½ hours
S:    12:30 or 1pm (for 40 minutes to an hour in his crib) After this nap we usually have an activity outside of home like a mom’s group, movies, swimming, etc
E:    3pm bf
A:    for 1 or 1 ½
S:    around 4:00 or 4:30 (it varies from 15 to 40 minutes) – it can be in the car seat (if we are out) in the swing or in the crib
E:    at 5pm dinner solids
A:    we play for an hour then at 6pm it is bath time, massage and story time
S:    at 6:30pm bf and he falls asleep while eating 

He would wake up at 830 and 930 (I do pu/pd) then again at 1030 (bf) then again at 1200 and 130 (pu/pd) then again at 2 or 230 (bf) then he wake up at 430 and it is hard to get him to settle. It take me up to 1 1/2 hours to get him down and it is almost time for the next feed at 6!! He eats at 630am and then wakes up at 730.

I have been doing pu/pd for 8 days now and he is progressing very well on falling asleep quickly and on his own but the wakings continue to be the same.

Am I missing something?

Any help you could provide would be appreciated!!!

yours in sleeplessness,
Lisette

[claires mum]

Hi Lisette

At your LO's age the average A time is somewhere between 2.75 and 3 hours....so my suggestion would be to drop the catnap and move the lunch nap out to 1.30pm/2.00pm.  To do this you will need to:

1)  increment A time 15 minutes every 3 days
2)  bring bedtime forward to prevent your LO being OT by bedtime until the pm nap is within 2.75 - 3 hours of bedtime

Another observation is that he seems to be waking at consistent times during the night...this could be from habit (expecting a feed when he's not really hungry) or not being able to settle without intervention.  If he's waking out of habit and only taking a little feed then I would consider weaning off those feeds.  You can do this by substituting water or just gradually reduce the the volume of the feed. He'll work out that it's not worth waking up for.

If he's waking because he can't re-settle....then:

1) continue independent sleep training and he'll get it eventually
2) consider swaddling (if you don't already).  Sometimes this is enough to get them to transition from one sleep cycle to the next.  It looks like he's having trouble after 2 sleep cycles (one light REM sleep and one deep REM sleep - each an hour long).  Does he need a dummy/paci and is unable to find it?

Re the food issue...do you give solids at lunch?  Other than that (which might be an omission from your routine only) ... it looks good.  Does he drink/eat well during the day?