My son is almost 5 months old and here is his schedule more or less:

Bedtime (asleep by) 7-8pm
Wakes up 11pm (breastfeed)
Wakes up 1-2am (Breastfeed.. sometimes he wont go back to sleep...)
Wakes up 4am (breastfeed.. sometimes wont go back to sleep at this time)
*sometimes will wake up at 5:30am and wont want to go back to sleep
Wakes up 6:20am for the day

After that, he cant stay up for longer than an hour and 15 minutes without going down for a nap.. which is a battle... So he naps like 4-5 times in the day and each time i have to feed him, rock him and he ends up crying anyway.

I am so tired and dont know what to do! I let him cry it out last night when he woke up at 2am (I breastfed him at 12:30am) but he cried for over an hour on and off and finally I went in to soothe him.

Is this normal? What do people do in this case?

Right now he is tired, was falling asleep in my arms but then woke up all alert and I put him down in the crib and he is crying.... =(

Yes, sounds exactly like my roman but he has a dummy so is relatvely easy to get to sleep.

My LO was like yours in the day time (not at night though) he would take a couple of short naps, be really hard to settle at nap time and often it took longer to settle than he'd sleep for. He'd be tired after such a short time. Then one day at just before 6 months he took a 2.5 hour nap and has done since. So what I am trying to say is there is light at the end of the tunnel - so to speak.
I tried baby wearing but he just didn't like it, I started putting him in his cot, or taking him up to his darkened room just as he was showing signs he might be tired and putting him in his cot with his comforter and his light show. If he cried then I would offer to feed him and then he'd either feed to sleep, if he didn't I'd make sure he was calm before putting him back. Eventually he got the message about this was nap time just the same as when he goes to bed so it's like he knows what to expect.
x

DS just turned 5 months and has a very similar night routine. During the day he is up for 2 hours and then naps for anywhere between 45 min and 3 hours. The morning one is the longest and they get shorter as the day goes on for some weird reason.

Can you get someone over for one afternoon a week or something so that you can get a rest and a sleep?? I am fortunate in that my mum lives 20 min away so she pops up when I need a break and I get a nap myself!!

We use a limited CIO method for naps and have done since he was born. So we pop him down and wait ten min then go in and comfort him if he is crying and when he is calm pop him down and then wait 5 min and repeat and wait 5 min. If he is still not asleep after 10,5 &5 then I get him up and we play or have some cuddles for another 30 min and then try again. This was hard to do for the first few weeks but now we do an abbreviated version where I only do 5 & 5 min. If he is awake then we get up. It is unusual for him to be crying, he just enjoys his mobile and sucks his thumb til I come back and then laughs at me and signals 'up'. So we get up.

its time consuming but not very stressful for either of us, he is obviously very confident I am coming back and it gives me some time to blob on the couch.

Not like my LO at all - but anything is normal!!

My LO doesnt feed that well all day - snacks now and again, he doesnt sleep either during the day!

Yesterday he got up at 8am, and I managed to get him to go down for a nap at 3pm!!!! Then bed at 9.30am - he did sleep through til I woke him at 6am!! I normally wake him for a feed at 2am, but switched the alarm off as I was tired!!

My LO has been really settled at night for the last 5 weeks and I hope it stays that way......though I am still waiting for the 4 month sleep regression - my LO was 3 wks early so maybe its still to hit us!!

My baby does exactly the same as yours at night. I can't wait for him to grow out of it

My 4.5 month old is kind of the opposite. He does not sleep during the day at all. He takes two 25-30 minute naps all day. Usually one in the morning and one in the early afternoon.

His nighttime routine

6:00pm Bath
6:15pm Pajamas and Story or Singing
6:30pm Feed
6:45-7:00 Bed
3:00 a.m. - 4:30 am - wakes up for feed
6:30- 7:00 Up for the day (sometimes we have to wake him up)

Similar to us.

6:30pm getting tired
7pm Bed and feed to sleep
11pm Feed
1am Feed
3am Feed, change, awake for a while, feed again
4-6am Fusses/sleeps on and off
7am Awake for day