N/W & E/W- am I doing the right thing?

[Red head]

Hi, I am mom to 2 boys, Finn nearly 4 years & Woody who will be 15 weeks tomorrow and has been on EASY since he was 1 week old. For the last 2 weeks he has been on a 4 hourly routine and the transition was pretty painless. I had managed not to feed him after the df until 7am, even if he woke up (I used PU/PD if required).
However for the last 5 nights ds has been waking more frequently in the night (usually after 3am) although at different times and can stay awake for up to 2 hours each time. The first night he did this I gave him a feed but I have been trying to resist this since as I don't want him to get used to this . I have tried to increase his feed time during the day since to see if this helps and also feed from both breasts as well as using expressed milk on occasion. His routine generally is:
7am    Feed (but recently 6.30am)
9am    Down for nap- usually awake after 45 mins but with PU/PD will settle most of time.
11am   Feed- 20-30 mins.
1pm    Sleep- again awake after 45 mins- PU/PD
3pm    Feed
Between 5-6pm  Catnap usually for 30 mins.
6.15pm onwards bedtime routine- bath (sometimes feed before bath if unsettled), feed then bed  by 8pm (usually before 7.30pm)
10.45pm Dream feed
Last 5 nights has woken. Last night for example he awoke just after 3am and was awake until 4.30am- fussing & mantra cry but not outright cry if that makes sense. I did not do PU/PD and just lay quietly to not disturb him further as he was not 'crying' and he settled by himself after 1.5 hours of fussing. Then he awoke at 6am and I put off feeding him until 6.30am when he started to cry.

He has been showing symptoms of teething for quite some time now- chomping on hand and dribbling ++ but does not seem to bothered by this in the day and although not quite broken through, I can see his bottom front teeth below the surface of his gum. So wondering if recent nw is because of teething or a growth spurt, or both? Should I be practising PU/PD  when he wakes in night for long periods if he is not crying (I obviously would intervene if he was crying as I have never left him to cry it out) or should I just see it through? I am not sure if I am doing the right things and would be grateful for any top tips.
Thanks in advance!

[*Nicola*]

Hiya

Sorry it's taken a while to get to your post

Teething can definately cause NW's.  If you think he is in pain then you could medicate before bed and again when he wakes (as long as there is an adequate gap of course).  If he resettles then I would guess that the wakings are teething/pain related.

There is a BIG growth spurt around the 4 month mark and it is pretty notorious for causing all sorts of sleep issues.  An extra waking in the night may well be caused by hunger.  Did he settle well on the nights that you offered a night feed?  This link might help you ...

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=66001.0

With regard to your routine, most babies are doing around 1.5 hours A time and 1.5 hours sleep at 3 months.  As you are working on the 4 hour EASY your LO's A time is obvioulsy a little longer but if he copes with then then that's great   Have you tried using pat/shh or W2S to extend those 45 min naps?  They might actually prevent him from waking at the 45 min mark and help him get a good sleep AND learn to make that transition independently.  How long are his naps once you  have done PU/PD?  Does he sleep 2 hours?  If not I would worry that he is OT.  Does he wake from the catnap or do you wake him?

Also just wanted to add that Tracy recommends PU/PD be used on infants of 4 months and older ... http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=121330.0 

[Red head]

Hi Nicola
Thanks for replying to my post & the advice:). Well since I was last on Woody has cut his first tooth at 15 weeks so I think this was definitely what was disturbing the poor chap. I did not have to use any medication although he has worn amber beads since birth so maybe this helped. Fortunately I have not had to go back to feeding during the night after his dream feed apart from the 1st night of unrest. The last couple of nights he has stirred in the night but settled back off to sleep & awake no earlier than 6am (but usually nearer to 6.45am) .

I moved Woody onto a 4 hourly routine at 13 weeks as he wasn't taking much milk (5-10 mins max)when offered 3 hourly and this has improved significantly since the change. I do a hybrid mix of shh/pat (used from birth) & PU/PD at naptime (only introduced recently)which seems to work for the wee man. With PU/PD he will usually go on to sleep the full quota. On the days this does not work then once he's up he does not appear unsettled and will wait until his next feed. Woody usually wakes up naturally from his catnap and then I breast feed him before a bath, top off of milk & then bed by 8pm.

It's been hard work settling Woody onto E.A.S.Y although the results have been well worth the effort. I used E.A.S.Y with Finn (nearly 4 years) although looking back in the diary I kept I was not so strict . This website is a fantastic source of support and along with Tracys books, is a godsend. Thanks again xx

[*Nicola*]

great news x