I'm not sure the reason why or how to tackle my little one's night wakings. He is almost 5 months old. Our routine is:
6:30am - Awake
8:30am - Nap (usually 1.5-2hrs)
10:15am - Awake
12:15 - Nap (usually 1.5-2hrs; I don't let him sleep much past 2pm or it screws up our last night/bedtime)
2pm - Awake
4pm - Nap (usually 45min; 5:15pm is my maximum sleep-in time for this nap or it screws with bedtime)
5pm - Awake
6:15pm - start bedtime routine (bath, diaper, pajamas, nurse, singing, bed)
6:40pm - in bed
Asleep between 6:40 and 7pm depending on self settling time.
Our feeding is a bit all over the place, I'm trying to fill him up lots during the day to reduce the night wakings but it's not working. We do not feed to sleep (maybe 5% of the time he'll fall asleep nursing for a nap, but mostly an independent sleeper). He falls asleep on his own quite well. When he wakes at night, he feeds for about 10min and then goes back to his crib. He usually is in bed at 6:45ish, awake again at 10pm, 12am, 2am, 4am, and then for the day at around 6:30am. We had a couple days where he only woke at 10:30pm and 3am, I thought we were onto something but now we're back to the every two hours.
I'm wondering a) what could be the reasons for all this waking, b) how to I eliminate it or atleast reduce it to only a couple. I feel like a total zombie and have a toddler that I'm just barely holding it together for. There are no signs of teeth yet as I constantly check for that. I would like to wean him off night feeding all together but realize that he may be slightly young for this (his sister did it at 5.5 months on her own, but I don't think we'll be as lucky with him). If I can't fully night wean him, I do at least need my sanity back and to get it down to 2 feeds max a night. Any help or suggestions would be so appreciated. I really feel like my lack of sleep is impacting my relationship with my toddler and it breaks my heart that I'm always on a short fuse and barely keeping it together.