What am I doing wrong with my 5 month old

[NCH]

Hi

Not sure where to start....my 5 month old son is an excellent sleeper at night (DF 10.30 pm and still wakes around 3/4am for a feed then back to sleep.

But daytime naps are an issue...in the beginning he was very much textbook in the way he slept and fed during the day and we quickly moved to feeding 4 hourly (exclusively bottled fed). However his sleep doesn't seem to match up to a 4 hourly schedule. Does this mean we should be on a 3 or 3.5 hour schedule. I have tried reverting back to 3 or 3.5 however he doesn't drink very much and becomes fussy with his milk.

For a couple of months he has been having 1 x 45 min nap then sometimes another 30 min catnap of a morning (can't seem to do 1 big stretch of sleep in the morning), a big lunch time sleep and catnap late arvo. The last few days though he is only having 1.5 hours at lunch and numerous catnaps in the arvo to get through to bedtime 6/6.30pm. After his 45 min nap in the morning I generally take him out in the pram, car etc and he will have another 30 mins closer to his next feed, but recently I have just kept him up until his next feed to see what happens.

Here is our EASY the last couple of days - it is starting to look like feed then sleep the last few days!!

E - 7am
A - 1hr 45 (recent change from 1.5 hours in attempt to extend morning nap)
S - 8.45 to 9.30am
A - 1.5 hours
E - 11am
S - 11.15 for 1.5 hours
A - 1.00pm to 3.00pm (wouldn't go down)
E - 3pm
S - 3.30pm to 4.10pm
A - 4.10pm to 6pm (includes bath)
E - 6pm
S - 6.15pm
E - 1030pm
E - 3am

My questions are:

Why does my LO only want to nap for 45 mins each morning and then another catnap closer to his 11am feed? Why can't he sleep longer than 45 mins in the morning?
Should he still be having a feed at 3/4am? He would polish off a whole bottle if I let him, but I have cut this feed back so he feeds better when he wakes around 7 am otherwise he justs take a little at this time.
What is the average A time for 5 month old?
Should I go back to 3.5 hour easy?
Gina Ford (controversial methods I know) suggests a short nap in the morning, a big lunch time sleep and a catnap in the arvo - what are people's thoughts on this method? It makes transitioning to 1 day sleep easier (I did this method with my other son, but wanted to be more flexible with the second bub).
Any other advice as to why my LO does not sleep longer in the mornings?

I should mention that keeping him up for 1hr 45 mins is a recent thing and the last couple of days he is taking bigger bottles - indicating to me a growth spurt? The other thing is that he just wants me all the time - dad and even grandparents can't hold him unless he can see me and just wants me told him all the time (difficult when I also have a 3 year old going through a clingy phase too).


Thanks, E

[oneplusone]

I can't answer all your questions, but have you tried wake to sleep or holding through the jolts to get past 45' naps? It helped me to get another sleep cycle in.

As for A time I think the average is 2 + hrs for 5 months, however each baby is different. I think if you got longer naps then you'd be able to have longer A time. He probably wakes up from one sleep cycle a little refreshed is awake for a bit and then needs another nap... repeat... repeat...

Hopefully someone else can answer you other questions. My LO is only 4 months.

[brittanyalice]

Sounds like OnePulsOne has it right, your A time looks too short orob due to the short Naps. I would say start out with having his A time extended to 2hr then put down for the first nap, if he wakes at the 45min mark extend the nap by using pu/pd and shh/patt it takes some work the first few times you try and extend but after that he will either do it by himself or you will be in the room less and less:) If you have any specific questions let us know.