My 41/2 month old has never been a great sleeper, despite a bed time routine and falling asleep on his own since 2 months. He doesn't even need his soother anymore to fall asleep after his night routine which consists of bath, lotion, pj's, nursing, lay down in crib awake (takes him 10-15 min. but soothes himself calmly to sleep). He is down by 645-7pm. He was doing some decent stretches of 3-4 hours without waking, but now it is every 1-2 hours all night. I breastfeed and I used to feed him every time he woke, but over the past few days I have been trying to shh-pat and only feed him every 3-4 hours in the night, but pretty much always need to pick up, put down several times and he just screams endlessly on the wakings where I don't feed him. He has never been a fussy baby so this is very hard on us.
I have tried but with timing his naps and feeds I haven't been able to make EASY work. During the day he feeds every 3 hours and has 1 hours 45 min. awake time before I start to wind him down for a nap. He has done most of his napping in the swing, where he will sleep for inconsistent amounts of time for 1-3 hours (total of 4-5 hours a day). I have been trying to wean him from the swing but he only naps in his crib for 45 minutes most times. I even started a short nap routine which includes sleep sack, rocking and sing a lullaby and lay down very drowsy which helps him fall asleep easily but he still doesn't stay asleep. I can tell he is so tired. I have tried everything from letting him self-soothe to sneaking in at the 35 minute mark (when he usually starts to stir) and help soothe him back to sleep but nothing seems to work. He wakes up wide eyed and won't go back to sleep.
Am I trying to do too much at once, tackling night wakings and naps at once? I think that if I let him nap in his swing his nights might improve but then when I get him back into the crib for naps it will be back to square one again. I know I could work harder to establish a better schedule during the day, but I can't control how long he sleeps for which makes it very difficult.
I will also mention, I know he has just been through a huge developmental leap, and I know about 4 month sleep regression. He just found his feet and rolled front to back over the last week and can sit unassisted for short periods now. He is also so much stronger and more aware every day, it's a noticeable difference. I have not given him solids yet.
Running out of ideas and overtired! Any suggestions??
