Co-Sleeping - Am I the root cause of my baby's sleeping problems???

[stellybelly]

I'm a sleep-deprived mom of a 6 mo, 1 week old, who is in need of some advice.  EASY was much easier with my 2-1/2 year old, and I'm almost at my wit's end with my little one.  He has always been high-need baby, wanting to be held and cuddled a lot.  He cried A LOT in the first 4 months suffering from a lot of gas, screaming during EVERY car trip, and he started Zantac at 4 months.  It didn't seem to make much of a difference at the time, but around 5-1/2 months, the daily crying/fussing decreased significantly.  For the most part, he's a happy baby now, except for some separation anxiety when I leave him with someone else.  For each nap/sleep period, baby uses props:  pacifier, sound machine that plays rain sounds for 45 min, and sometimes uses a crib "soother" that has lights and plays music for 5 min. 

Daily routine (varies some each day)
Wake/Breastfeed 6:30-7:00
1st nap in crib 8:30-9:00.  Typically wakes after 40-45 min.
Eat 11:00
2nd nap in crib 12:00-1:00.  Typically wakes after 45 min.  Can sometimes get back to sleep for another 45 min-1 hour.
Eat 3:00
Rarely catnaps between 5-6pm
Bath 7:00
Breastfeed 7:30
Sleeps in crib 7:30-9:45
Dreamfeed at 9:45.  This is when I often fall asleep in big bed with him while nursing, and end up there for the duration of the night. 
1st Nightwake between 12p-1a
2nd Nightwake between 2-3am
3rd Nightwake between 4-5am

He always nurses on 1 side for approx 10 min.  I started introducing some solids about 1-1/2 weeks ago, but we're not yet in a consistent daily routine.  I've been wondering if I should postpone solids until we get his napping/sleeping under control?

I'm exhausted all the time, I'm worried that my LO is not getting enough sleep/deep sleep, and now that he's so mobile, I'm also concerned about his safety in the big bed. 

Are my baby's bad nap habits (short duration) and night wakings due to co-sleeping part of the night?  How can I get him to take longer naps and sleep more solidly at night?  Do I focus on the night-time or nap sleeps first.  In order to transition out of co-sleeping, do I need a cold-turkey PU/PD "intervention"? 

Any advice anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.
Julie

[Bex09]

Hi hun, I think that the co-sleeping isn't really helping as your DS will wake, at night or during naps, and want you to be there with him yk? To answer your question, yes to wean this you will need to use shush/pat or PU/PD to calm him in his cot and not bring him into sleep with you.

His short naps may well be down to prop issues but his first nap also looks a little UT to me. Due to the short naps he may then get OT as the day goes on and you get into UT/OT loop if that makes sense? Around your LO's age most babies are doing around 2h 30-2h 45, so his A time of 2 hrs is a little low. Maybe try to push that A time a little longer, just 10-15 mins every few days and see if that helps to lengthen his naps.

As for solids, that shouldn't really alter anything and guidlines suggest starting around 6 mo anyway, so if you think your DS is ready I would continue with that.

[becj86]

Part of the issue for the short naps is possibly that just as he needs the white noise to get him through to the next sleep cycle, it turns off. Have you tried playing it for the whole nap?

I second Bex' suggestion of additional A time to help extend naps too.

Must attend to screaming son, best of luck