Sleep update - later bedtime & better naps

Because I know you all care!  If you remember, E was a horrible napper, really only doing 2-4 short, 20 min naps throughout the day.  He would get soo crabby, we would put him to bed by 615-630 because he was miserable.  Starting about three-ish weeks ago, he would get up every 30-40 min from the time he first went down until 11pm, then he would sleep his longest stretch, sometimes only 4ish hours.  DH and I were exhausted from dealing with him (he slept better as a newborn!) and first the first time ever, things were not great between DH and I.  I think it was a combination of both of us being tired, I felt like I was doing everything, etc.  I had a mini breakdown last week and felt at a complete loss for how to get E to sleep better.   I think DH finally had a wake up call about how tired / stressed / etc I was, and he took care of E all Friday night (all 8+ wakeups) and I enjoyed some wine with a good friend.  I woke up Saturday refreshed (with mini wine hangover) and ready to figure out a real solution to our problem.

I followed the 2-3-4 rule starting Saturday, and it was like magic.  E had two naps, total daytime sleep of about 3hr 15 min.  And E he has consistently napped for 2 hr 45min to 3hr 15min since Saturday!  We also moved his bedtime back a little, and our new bedtime is 715-730ish and he each since Saturday has been a little better.  Last night was amazing!  He woke up only once at 11pm, I nursed, he went right back to sleep and slept until 6am this morning.  I know we're still not out of the woods yet, but it was nice to have some relief and feel like I am doing something right / know what I'm doing.

I just wanted to post because I know there are other mamas struggling with nap and nighttime sleep, so I hope this gives you hope.  I found a plan that I thought would work for us, modified to fit our schedule, stuck with it and had results.  I hope you get some relief soon!  I also wanted to be of an example of how moving a bedtime later can help - I was hesitant because I read early bedtime is good, but I think we're starting to find the right schedule / routine that works for E.