10 week old restless at night - not hungry!

[smalikkhan]

My lo is 10 weeks old and for the most part on a good schedule:
7am- wake and feed
8-9:45- nap
10am- feed
11:15-1pm- nap
1pm- feed
2:15-4pm - nap
4pm- feed
5:00-6pm- nap in bouncer in living room
6:30pm- bath, bottle and sleep
10:30pm- dream feed
Sleeps through till 7

All his naps except the late evening one are in his crib in the bedroom (white noise, black out blinds, the works!). He is able to self settle.
The problem I have is after about 4am he is restless he will cry and he's not hungry- I know this because even at 7am he's not too hungry- he'll have 4oz max whereas during the day he sometimes has 5/6os bottles. I've started putting him in the premium type nappies overnight to be sure that he doesn't feel wet. It's not gas. He isn't dependent on the paci- we give it to him when he's about to sleep but after a few min he spits it out and stays asleep. But when he wakes repeatedly every 30 min or so starting at 4am we don't know what else to do so DH gives him the paci and he falls back asleep (for a short while).
I'm all out of ideas as to why he could be doing this.
Since he's sleeping through the night with only a dreamfeed I'd like to move him from our bedroom to his own room but the thought of going to give him the paci every 30 min starting at 4am is preventing me. Should I let him CIO? I just want him to fall back asleep before he fully wakes up because otherwise it throws off the schedule for the rest of the day. When his sleep is disturbed after 4am he can hardly stay awake 45 min for his morning nap and an hour for the one after (sleepy by 10:45/11) when usually his WT is about 1-1hr 15 min.
Sorry about the long post- please advise!!!

[jessmum46]

Hi there,

Wow your routine looks great!  Very jealous

From 4am onwards babies start coming into light sleep more frequently.  It's at that time that any sort of discomfort/hunger/other disturbances can lead to them waking up fully.  Some things to think about - light?  Noise?  Heat/cold?  Although he isn't always that hungry at 7am have you ever tried feeding at 4am when he first wakes to see if he has more settled sleep? 

Do his naps always happen the way you listed or does he ever have short naps?  Just thinking that overtiredness can be another cause for early morning unsettledness but I wouldn't have thought that was the culprit if he is napping as well as you said.

We don't support CIO here on the BW forums, so wouldn't recommend doing that.  If LOs are truly independent sleepers then usually hard crying means a genuine problem.  Have you listened closely to see what kind of cry it is?  Is is an all-out 'I need you', tears etc kind of cry, or more of a fuss and whine?  If it's a fuss and whine then it's ok to leave him, that's not CIO, and he may well fall back asleep without intervention.  If it's an all-out upset cry though we would suggest you go to him.  Maybe you could try shh pat instead of giving the paci? 

My only other thought is that he may just need time to grow out of it, many mums report LO being quite unsettled in the early morning for no obvious reason.  Reflux is sometimes thought to be a culprit - you could always try elevating the head of his bed to see if it makes a difference?

[Honeymonster]

I'd also say that looks amazing for a 10wk old. And very early to be sleeping through the night! Are you sure it's not gas/ poo related as my LO also used to do this from about 5am onwards until she got up then she'd do a big poo in the morning. I asked the HV and they said that little babies bodies need time to adjust as they don't poo in the womb so it can take a while for them to get used to it. Sometimes is she was really fussy I'd sit her up on my knees and rub her belly gently and if this wasn't enough I'd give her a little gripe water(although I'm not sure if your LO is too young I can't remember the age) she'd usually do a huge poo or pass wind and you'd hear little bubbles in her belly. Then she'd go back to sleep.