Thanks for your reply Laura.
As far as a routine, DS is BF and I feed on demand so I've been following a modified EASY for a while. When DS was a newborn and had a short A time, it was easier to do an EASY cycle between feeds. At 12 weeks is when the naps shortened literally overnight. Once he started being able to stay awake longer I modified it to EAEASY since he pretty much demands to feed every 2 hours and obviously I can't fit one EASY cycle into the 2 hours with him now.
His bedtime is between 7/7:30pm. He sleeps well at night and will go until about 4/4:30am before he wakes up to nurse and back to sleep
Wake up is anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30 am
E- Nurse
A - bouncy chair/exersaucer/ or playgym while I eat breakfast, then I play with him on the floor (rolling, tummy time, etc.)
After about 1:30/45 of A time he gets a little fussy and wants to be held so I will sit and hold him and we do some quiet activity.
E - Nurse at about 2 hours (by now he starts to show sleepy cues)
A - diaper change in his quiet, dim room
S - I darken his room and do shh/pat with him on my shoulder until he's very relaxed or drowsy and then I put him down.
(He was going down well and cooing himself to sleep for a few weeks)
Then for about a week and a half he started napping 1-2 hours at a time. If he did wake at 30 min. he was putting himself back to sleep or I could just intervene and get him back.
Starting last week, it's like we're at the beginning. Putting him down is a struggle. He fights it all the way. I try to settle him in the crib with shh/pat but if he gets very worked up I will do pu/pd. If I do manage to get him to fall asleep he wakes up after 30 min. and won't settle himself down. It's like he completely forgot how to after weeks of doing it. I will try for about 20 min. to put him back to sleep but after that I end up just picking him up and starting at quiet A until the next E time.
This ends up throwing off the rest of the day which is basically a repeat of the morning but sometimes worse. By bedtime he's cranky as ever and just passes out from exhaustion after his bath and feeding.
I've tried playing around with his A time but that varies a lot from day to day. Because of the wacky naps he can go anywhere from 2-3 hours before he shows any sleep cues. He's also going through a phase where he's very distractable so feeding him is like a wrestling match with him craning is neck around to look at everything and everyone that happens to be around. I've been taking him into a quiet dark room for feedings. I do feel like at times he's not taking a full feed because he's so into everything else. I think this might also be affecting my supply.
I've been trying to stretch out his feedings to 2 1/2 hours to make sure he's hungry and he's been tolerating that well but I'm not sure how to fit it into the routine. As far as cereal, his ped suggested we wait until he's 6 months. I don't think he's waking from hunger since I feed him right before he goes down.
I do work about 2-3 days a week (not every week though) and my mother in law and mom take turns watching him. Mom is very good at picking up on his cues and working on his naps but my MIL on the other hand doesn't seem to "read" him as well and he usually ends up overtired with her. I don't think an occasional day with my MIL here and there would throw off all his other days, would it?
Well, sorry if this post is rambling and long but just wanted to give you as much details as possible. As you can see my little guy is all over the place with regards to his daytime schedule.
Thanks!
