I have a 13 week old Ds (dc1) who is lovely :) however sleeping becoming more and more of an issue for us. He is FF (EBF until 9 weeks, then mix fed and now totally FF) and still eats 4-5oz every 2-4 hours, day and night.
So...nighttime we have a pretty good bedtime routine, and is usually asleep (on bottle) at 7ish and can be moved to cot, and stays asleep with white noise, dummy and some shuh patting a few times when he stirs - he usually asleeps 3-4.5 hours. After this he normally drops off to sleep again pretty easily (hardly wakes up to feed). He then wakes every 2/3 hours (eg 2am, 4am, 6am) and often will not go back to sleep without being walked around and then cosleeping. Until the last week or two, he would fall asleep after every night feed (still waking a couple of times a night) through til 7 or 8am without making a fuss. He also sleeps really lightly so stirs at every noise, and can't resettle by himself. So after putting him in his cot after each feed, I'm up 3 or 4 times to pop his dummy back in, or prop him back on his side (how he sleeps best). I don't mind him waking thought the night, totally understand he needs to eat regularly at this age, but getting him back to sleep is the battle. And teaching him to self settle at each sleep cycle.
Naps - fights them terribly! I try to follow baby whisperer guidelines and not let him stay awake for much more than an hour, but it can take an hour or more to get him to sleep. He'll fall asleep if I take him for a walk in the pram or in the car, but at home he gets himself in such a state when he gets tired and there is no surefire way to get him to sleep. When i was BF it was a lot easier! Ideally I'd like him to nap in his cot, but at this stage I'm more concerned about him getting the sleep hours he needs. If I hold him in my arms he writhes and fights and cries, but if I put him in his bouncer or cot he can't fall asleep by himself (apart from the odd rare occasion!). I feel like I spend my entire day trying to get him to sleep. He's also now resisting the sling, which did a great job of inducing lovely long naps up until recently :(
I'm at a bit of a loss on where to start with getting him into some good habits and its really getting me down. I like the baby whisperer principles but not really sure how/where to start with it all. I've tried shuh/pat for a few naps, and although it usually calms him he doesn't stay asleep long, or if it doesn't work he is then super overtired and the next nap becomes even more difficult.i think we need some consistency for naps/falling asleep but not sure what. I think swaddling might help (he is a fidgeter) but haven't done this since he was brand new and now it seems to make him cross, or he can wriggle of it.
Any advice or pointers gratefully received....