switch to 3.5 EASY,waking at night to feed

[pineapple2]

Hi,

 I am a brand new poster!
My DS is 16 weeks old and has been on EASY since day 1 although this was difficult as both he and I had long recoveries from his birth and lot of medical appointments.  Thats all over now luckily.  Anyway, his sleep training started seriously about 6 weeks ago and although he could always put himself to sleep at night, daytime naps were an ongoing struggle and most of my days were spent in his room trying to extend his naps.

He is breastfed and takes expressed milk from a bottle once a day

He weighs about 7kgs

We have a consistent night time and nap time routine which includes him being swaddled.  He is very slowly being weaned form the swaddle.

So, he was beginning to eat less at his 3 hourly feeds so we began the transistion to 3.5hr EASY.  This went very well day one and his naps automatically improved. He naps for 30minutes and then wakes,I can now extend for an hour or more.

THE PROBLEM: He is now waking at night to feed.  It would appear that he is not getting enough in the day and is wakinghungry at 9.15ish and taking a full feed.

THE ROUTINE (past 2 days)
WAKES about 6ish and plays in cot
E 7am
S Wind down and sleep by 8.15 or 8.30 depending on his tiredness. He goes straight to sleep but wakes after 25-30 mins.  I know this should be a sign of overtiredness but regardless of when I put him down he wakes after 30 mins.  Generally after sh-patting for 10-15mins he will resettle for 1hour.

E 10.30am
S 12.30 (or a little earlier if he is very cranky)

E 2pm
S 3.30 . This nap has been difficult as he sleeps for 30 mins then the remaining nap is very difficult to extend. Sometimes we resort to a walk in the stoller so he can sleep for another 30 mins otherwise the nighttime routine is a struggle cos hes so tired.

E 5.30pm (had to feed him at 5 yesterday cos he was crying for it)
Prepare for bed at 6.15 and then put him down about 6.45. Topped him up before he went to bed.

I was doing dream feed at 10.30pm but since the 3.5 EASY he has woken screaming for food at 9.15.

So i really don't know what to do.  I have been pumping to increase my milk and have over the days of the 3.5 EASY offered him supplementary ounces but he has generally refused them and is draining both breasts at each feed so it would appear that he is satisfied at each feed.  Don't know where to go from here so any  suggestions would be welcome. 

I wrote this with some distractions so I hope it makes sense.

Thanks in advance

[Grace's Mom]

Hello and Welcome 

When did you transition to the 3.5 hour EASY?
It does take some time for babies bodies to adjust to any change.
The best thing to do is be really consistant in order for things to reset in their little bodies.

Do you think the cluster feeds are helping him at the end of the day?
Is he taking full feeds then?

For naps, when he wakes up at 30 minutes, what is he doing?
How soon do you go in?
Have you tried W2S?

Is he up for the day at 6:45pm and up at 7am? 

-Melissa

[pineapple2]

Hi Melissa and thanks for the response.

It looks like he is already adjusting to the new routine and he seems to be leading the way in the adjustment.  when I posted first I was a bit panicked that I was going to create an habitual nightwaking but he has already gone back to sleeping as he used to,thankfully.  I won't be able to follow the 3 -4 hr transition in the book as his naps are pretty inconsistent (well consistently inconsistent!!) so we'll just have to work it out between us (me and him). It looks like he knows what he wants to do. 

The naps are a difficulty although they have improved.  I don't know i I should post on another board about them.  He sleeps for 30 minutes for each nap and has begun settling himself.  I have tried a variety of A times and don't think its overtiredness that causes him to wake, i think its just habit. I have tried w2s but don't know how many attempts I need before that starts to work, maybe I haven't tried it often enough. I will generally go in after 20 minutes and try either gentle patting or to rouse him slightly(I don't do this for all naps).  This has never worked to extend his nap. I always need to shush pat for another 15 -20 minutes and then he will go back to sleep for 45minutes to an hour.He generally does not cry when he wakes on the 30 min mark.  I have left him to see if he will return to sleep but he can spend the remaining hour in his cot happily looking around unless I help him back to sleep.  I am happy to do this as it is a major improvement on his inability to nap previously.  Night sleep has always been pretty good and he can generally resettle himself if he does wake at night.

To answer your question about night sleeps, he usually goes to bed about 6.45pm and settles to sleep by 7. DF at about 10.30 and then he wakes about 6.10 am (ISH) and chats to himself.  I change him about 6.40am and then feed him about 7am.  Also he refused the feed at 5.30pm yesterday and fed only at 6.30 pm before bed so there was no cluster feed.

Thanks so much for your help and sorry for waffling on so much. HOpe it makes sense again.