My son will be 5 months old next week and since about 3 months old (when he entered the ‘wakeful’ period) has gotten into the bad habit of snacking and catnapping, as well as feeding to sleep.
He’ll only eat a few ounces at a time, and then has to be fed in order to go to sleep (feeding seems to be the only way to even make him drowsy). He will typically only nap for 40-45 minutes and then can only stay awake for an hour and a half or so, which is very frustrating as his naps always seem to coincide with his feeding!
Like I mentioned, he’s gotten into the habit of snacking – he eats a few ounces when first up and then has a few more before going down for a nap. I feel like I spend ALL day either feeding him or putting him down for a nap.
Bedtime isn’t as bad – he usually goes to sleep between 6:30-7:30pm and has gotten better at going down ‘drowsy but awake’, although we’re still having several night wakings in which he is awake (we always check to make sure he’s not just fussing in his sleep) and requires a quick sip of a bottle to go back to sleep.
I’d like to get him on some sort of routine/schedule, but I have no idea where to even begin. I’m about to just put him down wide awake and let him CIO, but I wondered if anyone had any advice to put an end to the snacking and the short naps.