6 months old still not recovered from 4 month regression

[3SavBoys]

I am super tired, confused, and frustrated. Up til 4 months, baby was sleeping great! It literally went south in one day, and 2 months later there is no improvement. Shush pat and pu/pd are taking an hour each time, naps are 30 minutes whether I hold him, put him down (which takes an hour), he sleeps in the car or on me in a carrier. He's overtired by afternoon and a cranky mess. I tried extending his A time, but he still only sleeps 30 minutes and is tired again 90 minutes later. I also have a 3 year old and 7 year old, and soon they will be home all day for the summer and I will not be able to spend so long trying to get baby to sleep. Here is a sample routine from yesterday, although it varies greatly.

A 5am - nurse and snuggle, back to sleep with me 5:30am
A 7am-9:30am
E 7am
E 9:00am
S 9:30-10am
A 10am-11:45am
S 11:45-12:05 (in car)
A 12:05-2:00
E 12:15
S 2:00-2:20
A 2:20-4:40
E 2:30
S 4:40-5:30 (on me)
A 5:30-7:15
E 5:30
E 6:00 (small amount of solids)
E 6:45
S 7:15
A 9ish, 11ish (started cosleeping), 3:30, 5:30, up for the day at 6:30

I'm confused as to whether the 30 minute naps are OT or UT. Cosleeping has been our nightime solution the last 2 months or he is up literally every 30-60 minutes. If I try to let him cry on his own, he is hysterical and choking after 2 minutes (I have timed it). Wake to sleep hasn't helped extend naps. Occasionally he will nap longer if I lay down with him, but it's never predictable. Any suggestions? I would like to believe this will get better with time, but am dreading what happens when my older 2 are home all day and I am dealing with a baby who takes an hour to go down alone or needs to be held to sleep. Also, I am finding it hard to extend his wake time by going out and doing activities as he will fall asleep in the car after only being awake for an hour, which then messes us up for the next nap. Help!

[jessmum46]

How does he settle to sleep at nap time? 

I'm wondering if it could be a sleep training issue, but I suspect that his routine needs a bit of a shake-up too.  Many 6 months old are moving to 2 naps (or in transition) and often there are big leaps in A time that if you miss, lead to horrible UT/OT loops. 

Before I go further though - can I check there aren't any discomfort issues e.g. reflux at play? That could cause frequent wakings and I'd hate to mess with things if he's in pain   The 30-60 minutely wakings especially sound like they could be discomfort-related.  What do you do when he wakes at night?  Is he fed or something else?

(((Hugs))), it sounds super-exhausting but let's work through thing one at a time and hopefully we can help you make some improvements x

[3SavBoys]

Thank you so much for the reply! He is on zantac for reflux. The dose was increased recently, and it had no effect on decreasing his wakeups. He has his 6 month appointment with the doctor on Wednesday, so I will ask her about possibly increasing more at that time. If he is still refluxing, it's definitely silent as he rarely spits up anymore, and I don't hear the swallowing sounds he used to make while lying down. He does seem to be excessively gassy, but dairy elimination, gas drops, and probiotics don't seem to make a difference there. Nothing has changed in his diet between sleeping great prior to 4.5 months, and awful sleep started at 4.5 months as I didn't start any solids until after 5 months... and even then it's only a few bites 3-4x a week checking for allergies.

Aside from that, he really doesn't like to be alone. If I walk out of sight while he's playing, he screams hysterically. He will sleep all night in my arms, but frequently wakes upset if not held. He settles fine for nap if I am holding him to sleep, but takes a very long time to try to get to sleep on his own with the pu/pd, and shush pat rarely works at all. When he wakes overnight, my husband tries to get him back to sleep by pu/pd, but if that doesn't work after awhile, I usually go in and nurse. Husband is able to get him back down about 50% of the time. If I try without nursing, he gets very angry and roots around wanting the boob whether or not he's actually hungry.

[Buntybear]

Hi - have you tried about taking soy out of your diet too? milk and soy proteins (that the LO reacts to) are very similar so it might be worth trying?

Does my LO have food intolerances?