short naps, night wakings, and early mornings - help!!!

[RL.Fox]

I've been trying for 10 days now to get my 4-month-old to sleep better. When I started, he was taking irregular 30-40 min naps throughout the day and waking at all hours of the night. Since then, there have been days that have been better and days that have been worse. One night last week he even slept through the night, but he hasn't done so since.

He'll usually take a 2-hour nap in the morning (sometimes I even have to wake him). In the afternoon he'll sleep for 40 min and then we'll do PU/PD for another 50 until it's time to get up, and then he'll take another 30-40 min catnap later in the day. But it's completely unpredictable.

Nights are unpredictable also. He goes to sleep between 7 and 8 and wakes anywhere from 0-5 times a night. He's pretty easy to put back to sleep without feeding, which makes me think he's not crying from hunger. He wakes up for good at 5:30 or 6. None of my efforts can get him back to sleep at that point.

I feel like I can't work on so many things at once. At night, I just put him back to sleep each time (which usually takes about 5 min) and hope that this will discontinue at some point. As for the early wakings, I've given up and I let him get up at 6. Maybe when everything else settles down we can work on that. But the day naps are what worries me most - I've never been successful at getting him back to sleep with PU/PD during the day. If all these sleep problems are affecting each other, how can I break the cycle?

In general, he's a textbook baby, happy while he's awake and eats well - 6 times a day for 20 min (breastfed).

I was hoping that after more than a week of EASY, I would be seeing improvements. What am I doing wrong?

[lilac83]

Hi!

It sounds like as the day wears on your little guy gets OT (over tired). Could you post what a typical day looks like? Most 4 months old can handle a 4 hour routine. Meaning he's awake for 2 hours, sleeps for 1.5-2 hours, is awake for 2 more hours, another 1.5-2 hour nap, awake 2 more hours, 30-45 minute catnap and then awake until bedtime. The night wakings and early wakings you're experiencing are probably because of OT.

[RL.Fox]

Like I said, no days are really typical because every day is different, but this is what it usually looks like:

5:30/6:00 wake up
6:00-6:20 E
6:20-8:30 A
8:30-10:30 S

10:30-10:50 E
10:50-12:30 A
12:30-1:10 S
1:10-2:00 PU/PD

2:00-2:20 E
2:20-4:00 A
4:00-4:30 S

4:30-4:50 E
4:50-6:30 A
6:30-6:50 E
7:00 bedtime
11:00 dream feed

Then he wakes, some nights more, some less. If he wakes it's usually around 9-10, then around 3, then 4, then 5:30.

If he's overtired, does that mean he's not ready for a 4 hour routine?

[lilac83]

It looks like he does a pretty long stretch of A time in the morning (2.5 hours). This is usually the shortest A time of the day. How is he waking from his second nap, happy and wanting to play or crying? I see you then try PU/PD. Have you ever tried getting him up and then just having a shorter A time before the third nap? That third nap is probably OT because he's been awake since 1:10 (the time spent doing PU/PD doesn't count as S time) he might do better being back to sleep by 3:10 at the latest and then letting him sleep for 1.25-1.5 hours.

So, I would leave that first A time alone since he's taking a good nap. If he's waking crying from that second nap he probably needs less A time but if he's waking happy he probably needs more. Then depending on the length of that second nap, shorten up the A time before the third nap. You may also want to move bedtime closer to 6:00pm as a 12 hour day and a 12 hour night work best for LO's.

Let me know what you think!