3.5 hr easy with nw and ew problem

[Sarah8019]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post so I hope this is in the right place!  DS is a 15 week old spirited baby.  He was on a 3hr easy but at around 12 weeks he started to not appear hungry at the 3 hr mark and was no longer taking a good feed so we moved to the following 3.5hr easy:

7am feed
8.30 2 hr nap ( normally wakes after 1.5 hrs but can be resettled easily to take him through to the next feed)

10.30am feed
12-12.30 1.5 hr nap

2pm feed
3.30-4 1.5 hour nap ( with both the 1.5 hr naps is 50/50 whether he will wake up at 45mins and need resettling)

5.30 pm feed
Bath
7pm top up feed and asleep in bed by 7.30

11pm dreamfeed ( or sometimes he wakes up just before so its not a dreamfeed as such)

The issues we are having are after the 11pm feed. DS will wake up between 2 and 3, at which point he has two ounces of milk then back down to sleep, (we only give him two ounces as he started to not want his 7 am feed). Some nights he will then wake up at 4 but can usually be resettled, then he wakes up somewhere between 5 and 6am and thats it, he refuses to go back to sleep for longer than 5 or 10 minutes at a time.  DS can self settle when he wants to and we have ruled out hunger, the room temperature is consistent throughout the night and we use black out blinds. He is always very sleepy when he goes down for all his naps and at bedtime, and goes to sleep without any resistance.

The 3.5 hour easy on the whole is working well in terms of feeding, although it is hard to keep to the routine as DS struggles to stay awake any longer than 1.5hrs and I don't want to keep him up and have an OT baby. I'm at a loss as to what is causing the NW and EW, is this a suitable routine for a baby of his age? I did wonder if he was getting too much daytime sleep but he is unable to sustain any longer A times at this point. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi and welcome to the boards!

what do you mean by rulling out hunger? He really sounds hungry to me...
it's normal for many babies to not want the wubfeed straight away when they wake up, one usually feeds them a bit later then,  but it's really normal for a baby hiscage to still need calories at night,  yk?

it doesn't look like there is something obviously wrong with his Easy...
what do you think?

[Sarah8019]

I have tried feeding DS when he wakes at 5am, but he doesn't want any more food and wont eat. 

If I give him a full feed at 2-3am he will still wake at around 5am and won't want to eat at 7am either.
If I give him 2 ounces at 2-3am he will still wake at 5am but will take his 7am feed.  So when I say we have ruled a hunger I mean that he won't eat at 5am regardless and if I give him a full feed a 2-3am he just seems to be having that feed rather than his 7am feed if that makes sense? I guess I thought it was better to give him less in the night and for him to take a good feed in the morning rather than him getting more calories at night and less in the day?

[Ima shel Alon]

Well, yes, but you also want better sleep, no?
Him being full will might help him sleep longer and better.

Have you tried to give a feed at 5 and he wouldn't take it? That would be the only case that will make me think he is NOT hungry.

[Sarah8019]

Thanks for your reply.

DS had now completely changed and instead of waking at 5 he has taken to waking at 3 for a feed staying awake chatting to himself for an hour and a half in his crib then finally going back to sleep until about 6.30 so I'm taking that as an improvement!

As a ftm with little to no experience of babies it's hard to keep up with my spirited baby!

[Ima shel Alon]

I've been there! And I am still there in a way, just with a toddler...

He sounds Ut actually, if he stays awake happy at night. You can try and increase his A times by 10min and stick with for a few days and see if that helps.