Gage's mum,
Don't beat yourself up. The thing which struck me when my lo was 6 months was how much of a stab in the dark it all was. I ended up going with his sleep cues (remember that Tracey does say that whilst you should have a routine, it is NOT a schedule, and you need to be flexible to what your lo needs) and sometimes that meant going to nap in the am only 1.5 hours after getting up for the day. But what you will notice is that if you do this, he will be more refreshed after waking = better A time = better 2nd nap = etc.
Also remember that his naps will most likely shorten around this age as well as dropping the catnap (I freaked when I was going through this because it seemed so much less than he was getting before, but trust me here) so beware of letting him sleep much beyond 2 hours in any one nap because it will screw up your night.
So confusing, isn't it?! But go with HIS cues, and you can't go wrong. Heck, you might even go for 3-4 short naps per day while he adjusts, just try not to be too freaked out by it all.
Also, a couple of things which struck me when reading back through this thread:
- Has Gage started solids? With the additional feeding (usually solids 1 hour after each milk feed), this works quite well for stringing out their A time - they like the solids, they are hungry with their additional activity level, and they tend to be able to hang on a bit longer on their A time when eating etc.
- Have you eliminated the df or did you never do it? I still have a df with my ds and I am sure it really helps with sleeping right through.
- No point introducing df now if you never did it before, but to compensate for the calories, maybe tank him up at bedtime with a big solid meal and a full milk feed as well.
HTH