Up every hour-5mnth old

[favorite123]

I need some advice please my DS is now 5 months and due to his plagiocephaly I have been putting him on his left side to nap during the day. I guess he has gotten so used to falling asleep in this position that now in the middle of the night he is waking every 1-1.5 hrs and he doesnt want milk or anything he just wants me to lay him on his left side and put in his paci and within 2-3mins he falls asleep. He was getting worse and worse with nighttime sleep and was up to eat 3-4 times a night but over the course of the last 2 weeks or so he barely drinks any milk and sometimes doesnt take any. So he will drink 1 maybe 2 times a night just 2oz or so and the rest of the time he just wants me to reposition him. Im about to loose it up literally ever 1-1.5 hrs to place him on his left side and insert paci. Help please!

[Erin M]

Is he able to roll at all independently or is he anywhere near it?  I'm wondering too -- do you think it's just the paci, just the positioning, or does it have to be both that will get him back to sleep? 

What is his daytime routine looking like in
E
A
S
format?  Wakings can often be routine related as well, so it helps to have the whole picture. 

[favorite123]

Yes, he can roll back to tummy but not tummy to back. He also really hates being on his tummy but enjoys rolling onto it. Has been rolling for 1 mnth.
I really don't know if its the paci, positioning or what it is but again last night every 1-2hrs he was up and I would shh-pat, or reposition or put in paci pretty much whatever works at that time to get him back to sleep. Its becoming soooo draining!

8am: awake for the day
Eats 5oz bottle of formula every 3 hours
Naps for 45mins approx. and then has awake times of 1hr30min
Down for the evening at 7:30pm

[Erin M]

I'm wondering if you need to be headed more towards a 4 hour EASY since he is 5 months with some more A time.  If he can't make the time between feeds yet, you can work around that, but I would aim towards more of a 2 hour A time (but stretch it gradually, just 10-15 minutes every 3 days or so).  That should get you some longer naps.  It's entirely possible that he's OT from having a bunch of short naps during the day instead of some longer, restorative ones.

There's some info on that here: Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY

If you think the sleep positioning/paci are becoming somewhat of a prop, you might try getting him to fall asleep in a different position -- if he's getting to the point where he can roll independently, he'll probably be at that point where he settles himself on whatever position is more comfortable soon.  Mine all became tummy sleepers as soon as they were able to roll well.