Constant Night Wakings....is this behaviour normal?

[TJ & Stephy's Mommy]

Hi,
My 15 week old son, has consistantly been waking up between 3-4am, 5am, and 6am.  I don't understand why.  He sometimes he cries where he wakes up the entire house and sometimes he makes low crying sounds.  He's not hungry as when I tried to feed him before he wouldn't take a full bottle and would fall back asleep after 1/2oz.  I've also tried changing his diaper but that makes him cry even more and wakes him up.
Last night I tried the PU/PD and shh and pat method.  At first he would cry but after 30 minutes he would fall back asleep but woke up an hour later.  I think he's just a poor sleeper.  Anyways, when he woke up again 6am I gave up (I was really tired then) and just took him to bed with me and he slept til 8am (his normal wake up time).  I know I can't keep taking him to bed with me every night.   This is a bad habit that started when he was 1 month old and I'm trying to break it.  But I'm also desperate to get him to sleep longer through the night.  Any ideas what I can do?
This is what his routine looks like:
8:00am   Eat (breastmilk in a bottle)
8:30am   Activity
9:30am   Sleep (naps vary in length 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hour)
11:ooam Eat
11:30am Activity
12:30pm Sleep (naps vary in length 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hour)
2:00pm   Eat
2:30pm   Activity
3:00pm   Sleep (naps vary in length 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hour)
5:00pm   Eat
5:30pm   Activity
6:45pm   Catnap
7:30pm   Eat
8:00pm   Bath
8:15pm   Bed (usually falls asleep by 8:30pm)
11:00pm Eat
Wakes up around 4am, 5am, 6am

Thanks for your help!
Melodie

[teezee]

i think that if you start transitioning to a 4 hr routine this would help lo a lot.

it would allow lo to be hungrier before a feeding, thus he will eat more and be able to hold himself longer without being hungry between feedings.

at about this age lo's generally only need 2 longer naps and 1 catnap in the evening. your lo may be getting too much sleep during the day and not tired enough to sleep thorugh the night. what are doing when he wakes? how is lo? do you feed?

this would help stretch out A times some and that would help make sure lo is more tired when going down for naps so he isn't making up for the night's sleep with naps, but just replenishing energy kwim?

i think you may want to opt for an earlier bedtime - by say a half hr or so. without all of the naps  lo will probably have to go down a bit earlier - at least for awhile til he is transitioned to 4 hr routine.

you will probably have to do the transition slowly as you don't want lo to go hungry or get overtired (which will cause wakings also) so start stretching it by 15 min or so every couple days (if you can go longer w/o lo being affected go for it!) good luck!

[TJ & Stephy's Mommy]

I bottle feed breast milk, 4oz every 3 hours.  My lo is currently 15 weeks old.
For "A" time, we either go for walks, tummy time on a play mat or on his back on the play mat.  At the moment, most of the "A" time is spent with the grandparents (my inlaws) as they're visiting from out of town.  I think my lo maybe getting too much stimulation which may cause him to not sleep and nap well.  But I'm not sure about that until my inlaws leave this week.  I'm hoping that maybe his sleep patterns improve and the night wakings will go away.
Will overstimulation cause him to not sleep well through the night?

[Kimberly®]

overstimulation plays a big part in night wakings. Good naps help a lot with night time sleep. Try moving naps 10-15 minutes earlier and see if that helps.