4-month old with lots of wakings the last two weeks

[ehaulenbeek]

My DS has been a great sleeper from the start. Until about two weeks ago, he was going to bed about 8:30 (I have three other kids so I can't manage an earlier bedtime for him) and sleeping between 6-8 hours before taking a good feed, then sleeping until 6:45 wake up. About two weeks ago, he starting waking earlier and earlier for his feed, now he's up at random times all over the night. Each time he takes a good feed, but it seems like when he eats a lot at night, he's not interested in eating as much during the day. I haven't been doing a dreamfeed since he was only eating once at night.

My other concern is his wake time. He starts to gets fussy after only 45-50 minutes of wake time, even after a long nap (2 hours). Haven't been successful in increasing his wake time without ending up with short naps (45 minutes or less).

Suggestions??

[becj86]

His night's quite short - should be more like 12hr long at this age, so if BT is 8:30, he should really be sleeping til 8/8:30am. He could be getting a little overtired.

There's usually a big growth spurt around this age and lots of mental development too, which can make sleep a little more dicey. What's the day routine look like?

[ehaulenbeek]

His daytime schedule varies quite a bit due to the older kids' school pick ups, etc, but he's pretty much on a 3 to 3-1/2 hour EASY. He gets up about 6:45 with the other kids (quite a bit of noise in the house) and gets in a nap around 7:45.

I think you're right, though, that his night needs to be longer and he does seem to be hungry during his night waking. I think I'll try bumping his feeds during the days and see if I can scale back his bedtime. 

[becj86]

Good luck, keep us posted