I'm feeling totally lost! My 5 month old has never been a consistent napper, but always gone down easily at night for 12 hours with 2-3 smooth night feeds. Have been using sh pat successfully since he was around 3 months. Weaned him off the pacifier 3 weeks ago fairly easily, and he has since been using his hands to self settle after mantra crying for about 10-20 mins, or sometimes falling asleep after a few minutes sh patting. Naps have always been unpredictable, but ranging betwen 45mins-2 hours, usually with one longer nap and 2 shorter ones. About 2 weeks ago, he started having 30-45 min naps, with an occasional 1.5 hour nap, but was still settling eventually, although taking longer and longer. He was tired and cranky by the end of the day, but it was manageable, and bedtime was the light at the end of the tunnel! Also at night for about 2 weeks he's been waking outside of his feeds just crying. I've been able to settle him fairly easily - but this has been getting progressively harder too; I used to 'shhh' with just my voice and he would settle, then I needed to lay a hand on him, then pu pd. But last night he woke up every 2 hours and was SO hard to settle - arms flailing and screaming til he choked. Sh pat wouldn't work, and PU PD seemed to make him more upset every time I put him down. Eventually I sshhhh'd super loud and let him fall asleep in my arms (after about half an hour of crying and trying everything), then transferred him to bed with me.
I tried to put him down for his first nap this morning after 1.5 hours A time. Did 15 mins wind down and put him down calm. He mantra cried for 10 mins, then was sucking his hands happily for 10 before mantra crying which turned into a real cry. I then spent 2 hours trying everything - sh pat in and out of the cot, feeding, pu/pd, even letting him cry for 3-4 mins while I was at the other end of the house screaming into a pillow! He eventually fell asleep in my arms with sh pat and after i tranferred him slept for exactly 5 minutes before waking hysterical. He's now been up for 4.5 hours, and I'm scared to even try settling him for another nap.
I know theres supposed to be a 4/5 month sleep regression, but i thought sh pat or PU/PD would see me through it! Nothing i do seems to work like it did. I have a OT and cranky baby who wont sleep and im terrified his night sleep is starting to fall apart. No matter how tough the days were sometimes, i always knew he - and I - would get a break come nighttime. Im a single mum and so that's the only time i have to do anything if he doesnt nap during the day. I've tried shortening his A time to 1.5 hours, and lengthening it to 2.5 and everything in between, but there doesn't seem to be a sweet spot! When he gets good sleep, he is a spirited baby, maybe a bit textbook. But nothing is textbook when he's not getting enough sleep!
Any advice is appreciated as I'm kind of losing it! Can post EASY routine, but it's pretty all over the place. He is EBF, if relevant, and here are no problems with feeding.
