4.5 month old EW at 4am!

[newmum22]

After really working on teaching independent sleep for about 2 weeks, our DS finally started sleeping through the night...I mean, really sleeping through! Down at 6:30pm, DF at 10:30, waking up at 6 or 6:30am.

For the past 5 nights he's been waking up every night at 4am. I try to wait 5 or 10 min to see if he's just "fussing" and will put himself back to sleep, but he doesn't and his crying gets louder and louder so I go to him, check to make sure he's not wet/soiled  Shh patt, but it takes an hour and a half to get him back to sleep (5:30) and then he wakes at 6am. Last 2 nights I nursed him back to sleep because I couldn't think of anything else to do and he seemed hungry. Is this a growth spurt? I know he is capable of making it through from the DF until 6, but he stopped doing it. Any suggestions? I can't figure out what changed.

I'm thinking of trying the W2S and feeding him a little to break the habitual waking and give him a few extra calories. Could the DF be interfering? We haven't started solids yet at all so I thought we should keep it for a few more months at least.

TIA

[Tweakster]

Hi there, they are changing all the time.  I think it could be a growth spurt or perhaps he's thinking he needs a bit more A time.  What does his day look like?  It's a bit early for solids so you would try to get more into him during the day first.  Any signs of teething?  It starts early for some, my LO started at 4 mths and we are still getting teeth in at 20+ mths!

[newmum22]

Could be teething but I can't really tell. He sucks on his fingers pretty much all day, but I don't see any changes at all to his gums. I may try more A time. Our EASY looks like this:

E:6:30
A:6:30-8:30
S: 8:30-10am

E: 10:30
A: 10:30-12:30
S: 12:30-2pm

E: 2:30
A: 2-4:30
S: Catnap (40 min or so) until 5:15

6:30 Wind down- feed, and then sleeping at 7pm.

DF at 10:30, unless he wakes up at 10 and then I just feed him then.

Thanks

[Tweakster]

Hi there, how's it going?  His day looks pretty good.  I would have to say growth spurt or discomfort.

At 5 mths they are closer to 2 hr 15 so maybe try a small bump to see how he copes.

[newmum22]

thanks! bumping up the A time definetly helped. DH and I also discovered that he's wetting through his diapers (and clothes) at night so we had to come up with a better overnight diapering solution since this seemed to be the main cause of his NW.