My 5 month old son has never been a good sleeper. He has had some good nights (6-8 hour stretch), some fair nights (5-6 hour stretch), and many bad nights (wakes up every couple of hours). I can't find the rhyme or reason behind it. He puts himself to sleep fine, no props or anything. A bath, I nurse him, and I put him in his crib awake. He rolls onto his tummy, mumbles and moves around for a bit, then falls asleep. I nurse him once during the night when he awakens (occasionally twice when I second guess that he might be hungry), but either way, it doesn't stop him from waking up other times. For the past 2 months (since he was 3 months old), I have done the sh/pat. It works, he does go back to sleep in about 15-45 minutes (and I stop the sh/pat before he is fully asleep). But it's been two months and there is no real sign of improvement. Has the sh/pat become his prop even though I only do it for a minute or so?
His day naps are terrible too and always have been. He is in day care so I can't really do much about it. He does take 3-4 naps per day and usually within 2 to 2.5 hours of being awake. His naps are short though, only 30-45 minutes, occasionally a longer one.
So his schedule (loosely) is:
5:30-6:30 wake up (variable)
6:30 nurse
8:30-9:30 nap (variable - usually only 30/45 minutes)
9:30 nurse/bottle of expressed breast milk at day care
11:30-12:30 nap (variable - usually only 30/45 minutes)
12:30 nurse/bottle
2:30-3:30 nap (variable - usually only 30/45 minutes)
5:30-6:30 (sometimes a short fourth nap at home)
7:00 bedtime/nurse
Then I nurse him once during a wake up (as early as 12:30 some nights, as late as 3:30 other nights).
Is there nothing I can do to reduce the night wakings?
