Time to move to 4hr EASY?

[Mummy81]

My 17week old DS has been following the EASY routine for a few months now, and until recently we had our routine sorted. It went a little like this:

Wake up- 6.15/6:30
E-6:30
A-7.00
S-8.15

E-9.45
A-10.00
S-11.30

E-12.45/13.00
A- 13.15
S-15.00

E-16.00
A-16.15 (including quiet time at 6.00, bath time at 6.30)
E-18.50
S-19.10 ( would always be put down awake)
e-dreamfeed at 11pm(goes through until morning)

Now, over the past few days he is only sleeping for 25mins at his first nap, and then waking and refusing to settle. When he woke previously during his nap, he would either settle himself, or i would just pop in for 2 mins and reassure him and he would go back to sleep. But now, if i go in to settle him if he is still making noise after 5 mins, he just smiles and talks and won't take his dummy and shows no interest in going back to sleep. I make sure that i am not talking to him and not making eye contact, but no matter how often i leave him and go back in, he just doesn't settle. He doesn't really cry though when he is left, he just babbles to himself and winges a little. By the time i have gone through the process of trying to settle in, its feed time, and then he will only feed for 5-7mins. When i put him down for his 11.30 nap he is not settling until 12 and then only sleeps for 40 mins, but when he feeds at 13.00 he is feed for 20 mins off both breasts.He is then tired by 2.30 so sleeps for 40mins.  Hi next feed at 4 doesn't seem to be massive, and then he will sleep for 20mins between 5-6. His total nap time is around 2-2.5 so he is exhausted by bedtime.

Not sure if it is related but he seems to be a bit more of a mummies boy lately, and if he wakes, i can get him to sleep in  my arms.
Just wondering what you guys think. Is this a growth spurt, teething or a need for a change in routine.

Currently EASY is looking like this:

wake 6.15/6.30
E.6.30
A- 6.50
S-8.30 (awake 8.50, try and resettle for 40 mins)
A-9.40
E-10 ( only feed for little while)
A-10.07
S-11.45/12 (awake by 12.40)
A-12.40
E-1pm
A-1.20
S-2.30 (awake by 2.40)
A-2.40
S-5.15
A-5.40( bathtime at 6.30)
E-6.50
S-put in cot at 7.10, asleep by 7.20.
E- dreamfeed at 11pm

BTW- he is EBF

[trimbler]

Hiya, 4mo is hard - hugs, hang on in there! So much going on at that age - developmental spurts, growth spurt, sleep regression... Short naps are really common as they have to learn how to transition between sleep cycles themselves. Have you tried pushing his first A time a bit? I know he's been doing around the typical 2h for that age but some can go longer. It just sounds like he doesn't really want to go back to sleep after that short first nap and then the rest of the day gets thrown off. Most LOs struggle a bit with stretching their A time at first and show all the tired signs, you may have to work hard at keeping him up and calm, but sometimes just 5-10mins extra A can make a big difference. I must admit that I also really relied on the sling at that age, even if just to be sure of one decent nap in the day, to break the short nap cycle. Do you have a prop you can use like that?