Early NW-5 month old

[Zomeo]

Hi all!
We have sucessfully moved from the props board:)  But now we are onto the night wakings...
We weaned the paci from my 5 month old about 3 weeks ago.  And his sleeping got much better.  He is awesome at putting himself right to sleep.  He sucks him thumb and goes down within 5 mins.  He still has one arm swaddled at his side and other arm out for sucking thumb.
He has been waking A LOT at night.  Anywhere from 3-6 times.  The wakings are mainly within the first few hours after he goes to bed.  So if he goes to bed at 7:30pm, he then wakes up around 8:30/45 and then again at 9:45/10pm.  Then maybe one more at 11.  Then at 4ish. 
He just won't do a long stretch like he used to a few months back. 

When he wakes he screams and can't put himself back to sleep like he does going to bed.  I can never get him back to sleep and always end up nursing him...nothing will soothe him.  It's like he totally forgets about his thumb;)

I can't figure out if he's OT (which I think most of the time he is-he has a hard time doing more than 45-60 mins for more than 1 nap per day) or really hungry (he is a tiny 5 month old).  What would cause these early night wakings?

Here is a rough daily routine...

7am Wake and Feed
9/9:15 Nap (1 hr. or 1-30mins.)
10:30am Feed
12:30 Nap (1 hr).
2pm Feed
3:30pm Nap (45-60min)
5:30pm Feed
Bath PJ's
7:15pm Feed & Bed (or bed whatever is about 1 1/2 or 2 hours after he wakes from last nap).

[newkidontheblock]

Hi there. Just some quick thoughts - 

I notice that for your first nap, with an A time of 2.15, you are mostly getting a long nap. You could try that time for the next 2 naps too. Approximate A times for 5 month olds are around 2.5 hours. It might help with your overall day if you move towards that A time by extending it by 5 minutes every few days and holding. Hopefully that would extend the second nap too and then you could cap the CN at 30 - 45 minutes.

Waking soon after BT indicated OT for us. We went through a similar experience at 5 months which was due to 1) Her A times needing to be extended. Her A times jumped so tremendously between 5 & 6 months - 2.30 to 2.45 to 3 and then settled at 3.20!
2) As her A times extended, we had to move from 3 to 2 naps which led to a lot of OT

This was not something that got solved over night. As we pushed A times and went to 2 naps, we bought BT early to compensate and to try to get ahead of the OT. We also realised that she needed 3 hours or more day sleep. On days that we met the quota, no NWs. It was tough while this whole transition happened but one day it just stopped.

HTH!

[Zomeo]

Yea I think you are right.  It seems like OT to me since he wakes so suddenly and so upset.  He is very hard to console.  He has never really gotten enough sleep during the day.  I will try extending his A time.  I'm also trying to extend his feed times because I think he is ready and seems to eat more at 3.45-4 hour mark.
It is just so hard to adjust that with short naps happening...
I think I may try to take his other arm out swaddle too.  He is grunting a bit and seems like he wants it out.  Maybe that will help him sleep better.
Fingers crossed!!

[Zomeo]

Hi again!  I'm needing some thoughts again on these NW.  They are still happening and I just can't seem to figure out the issue.  His daytime sleep has gotten sooo much better.  We are now on a solid 4 hr EASY and his naps have lengthened.  It seems he needs about 3 hours of sleep during the day otherwise he wakes very early in the morning like around 6. 
Here is a good day...

7:15am: Wake and Feed
Nap: 9:45-11:00 or 11:15. 
11:15am: Feed
Nap: 1:30ish-2:50pm
3:15pm: Feed
Catnap: 5:30/45 (amount of time for nap depends on how long he has slept so far for the day)
7:15pm: Feed
In Bed at 7:45pm.

His shortest amount of awake time is before bed (about 2 hours instead of his normal 2 hrs. 20/30 mins).  He is still waking between 11pm-12:30am screaming.  Last night he woke at 10:45pm and 12:45am.  I thought maybe it was because he wasn't awake long enough before bed so for 3 days I made his awake time before bed longer but those 3 nights he screamed going to bed and it took up to an hour to get him to sleep so I don't think that is the issue.  He goes down right away at a 2 hour mark before bed.
Any thoughts on why he wakes screaming early in the night?  Sometimes he can put himself back to sleep, like out of the 2 wake ups last night he put himself back to sleep for 1 of them.  But the other I had to nurse him to get him back to sleep.

He goes right to sleep during the day and most of the time I have to wake him from naps.  Could he need more sleep during the day? 
I appreciate any thoughts!!
Thanks:)

[newkidontheblock]

With OT, you can't just look at one day. It could simply be residual OT that has built up over time. For us too, the shortest A time is before bed. Is it possible to you to do BT a bit earlier? Maybe aim for a 7-7 day?

I'm glad that naps are improving. As I mentioned before, A times do increase pretty rapidly at this age, so if you get resistance or naps start getting shorter, it is time to increase the time. Do you think it might be time to drop the catnap and move to 2 naps? Like I said before, our experience was very similar to yours at the time, and things only got better once we were firmly on 2 naps.

All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months

As you move to 2 naps and drop the catnap, you can bring BT earlier to cope with the inevitable OT

Good luck!