I am having this exact same problem except my DS is 4 months old. He has been taking only 30 minute naps since he was 2 months old. I have tried and am still trying shh/pat to put him back to sleep except I just end up shh/patting for an hour before it's time for his next feed. DS will be wide awake the entire time and/or crying alternating with screaming. I will pick him up at that point and try shh/patting while holding him until he calms down and then put him back down and continue shh/patting. Still no extra sleep. I am completely exhausted and very frustrated. DS is cranky by the end of the day because of being so overtired and his routine gets out of whack because of this as well.
I have tried shortening his activity time which is only about 1-1/2 hours and I will shorten it further if he exhibits signs of tiredness which are shorter by end of day due to being overtired, but this puts him further away from feeding time by the time he wakes up which is still 30 minutes later with me trying to get him back to sleep the entire time before he's due for a feed. I keep thinking my persistence will pay off one day but this hasn't changed one bit.
His night sleep is generally good. He goes to bed around 8:30 p.m. (I can't get him any earlier without him thinking it's a nap and waking up 30 minutes later) and doesn't wake up until 6-6:30 a.m. He usually feeds and then sleeps for another 1-1/2 to 2 hours and then he's up for the day and the 30 minute naps begin. I'm working on slowly getting his bedtime to be earlier (it was at 9:30 p.m. about a month ago), but I don't think this is the problem since he sleeps so well during the night. Every once in a while, he will wake up during the night every 1-1/2 hours but it usually only lasts a couple of nights and then he goes back to sleeping well at night again.
I have tried going in early and getting him through the wake up period. This worked one day and I was ecstatic thinking I found the answer; however, it only happened that day and hasn't happened again since. I have tried waking up early. This resulted in him being awake earlier and remaining awake. I have been very persistent when I try something knowing it can take a week or two to see improvement, but two months of this is ridiculous.
If anyone has any suggestions - PLEASE HELP US!!!
