Background:
My son is exactly 4 months old, and both he and I are extremely OT. He never naps longer than 40 min, and wakes up 5-7 times a night (hourly after 3 am). I am new to E.A.S.Y. although we've always followed the pattern naturally - just in 2 hour intervals due to his short naps.
I have been feeding him every 3 or even 4 hours the past few days due to trying to extend his naps, and feeding seems to be going fine although he spits up alot more. I have trouble getting on a regular schedule because his naps and the time to resettle are so erratic, and I'm not even sure if he should be on a 3 or 4 hour schedule.
I have also been reducing the night feedings to 2 a night (used to be every time he woke), but if I don't feed him it can take up to an hour to get him completely back to sleep.
He is awake from 1 1/2 to 2 hours before the next nap, I try to watch his signals closely to catch a good window to put him down. In the morning or if I can't extend his nap he can usually only last 1 hour.
My question is on the technique I am using to extend his naps and to get him back to sleep. I want to make sure I am doing it correctly, as I spent hours doing this last night and I don't want to invest the time only to have to correct it later!
Here's the details:
1. Baby falls asleep at the beginning pretty easily - swaddled and with paci, held until drowsy then placed in crib awake. Sometimes he awakes after 10-15 min (after jolt) and I replace paci and he goes back to sleep. This is the only time that replacing paci works. I have recently moved his bedtime earlier to 7 pm (from 8 pm).
2. Baby awakes after 40 min usually for naps, and lately he has been doing this at night also. I wait until he is steadily whining and about to all-out cry before intervening.
3. I attempt to pat his back and Shh in the crib - usually doesn't work, and baby starts arching back, thrashing head, and escalates crying. Replacing the paci at this point never works - he won't take it.
4. I pick him up to settle him - this entails holding him in cradle position and replacing paci and bouncing somewhat. If I hold him over my shoulder, don't use the paci, or don't bounce then he just escalates further (although sometimes he escalates anyway, continuing to arch his back and throw head back).
5. After settling, I put him back in the crib and Shh-pat. If he starts winding back up/crying I pick him up again. Otherwise I continue patting or even just keep my hand on him until he closes his eyes. He usually spits out his paci at this point, which will sometimes jolt him but usually not.
I try to stay there for "jolts", for which I pat him and usually have to replace paci. When he falls asleep sometimes he has the paci, sometimes he doesn't.
6. If I am successful in resettling him after a short nap, he will sleep another hour or so. At night, he has only been sleeping another 30 - 60 min, as if it's a nap.
So before I spend hours repeating this every night, am I doing something wrong?
Is it OK to hold in cradle position and bounce to calm him when I pick him up from shh/pat? Otherwise he doesn't settle...
Do I need to lose the paci? I'm not sure if it's a prop because he often falls asleep without it, and replacing it when he wakes never works. I plan to wean him of it, perhaps in combination with removing one arm from the swaddle - but I wanted to take things one step at a time. When I try to do this now I never get him to settle.
Is it something else in his schedule, such as the amount or intensity of awake time that cause him to have short naps? Or just the fact that he's OT?
Is he getting enough to eat, esp since I have reduced night feedings?
Thanks for reading the long post, I wanted to provide all the info - and I hope that some of you experienced mommies can give some advice! I am really at the end of my rope, exhausted, and finding it incredibly difficult to continue even the shhing and patting several times a day and night!
