When should I wake my 7 week old from his nap for a feed?

[NoelleChristine]

We are currently in the midst of sleep training and right now it can sometimes take an hour to get him fully settled and asleep.  He takes a pacifier and for the last few days I've been trying my own version of the gentle removal because I'm still waiting for my book ...but that's another post. 

Anyway, let's say I put him down for his nap at 2:00, he's finally settled and asleep at 3:00 and last ate at 1:00.  Should I wake him at 4:00 or 5:00? 

For some history, when he has a good nap day (not so good today) he can go 4 hours between feeds, however, he woke at least every 2 hours and 45 minutes for his night feeds.  I consider his night feeds anything after his bed time (between 7:00 and 8:00 usually) since right now I don't DF (I need to go to bed.)  So he was down at 8:15 ish, woke at 11:00, 1:45 and then at 4:30.  That's why I'm wondering if I should be feeding him every 3 hours during the day so his stretches for feeds can be during night time.

What do you think?  I appreciate your input!

[Samuel's mum]

I think it sounds as though you might be dealing with some potential reverse cycling i.e. daytime intervals are longer than nighttime intervals. And presumably you'd like this reversed. So I'd say aim for shorter intervals in the day and try for less than 4 hours - 3 or 3.5hrs. So I'd say try and wake from 4-4.30.
It's obviously such a dilemma though because you don't want to ruin a good nap but hopefully soon he'll be quicker to settle. I think it might also depend on what his naps have been like throughout the day. So if you've had a bad napping day then maybe this one could go to a 4hr feeding interval (does that make sense?)
When I say wake from 4-4.30 I mean spend some time observing and see if you can catch a lighter sleep phase when he's moving a bit more or there's eye movement. He'll be easier to wake, will accept it more easily and feed better.

[NoelleChristine]

Thanks Samuel's mum!  That's what I was thinking too I just needed someone to confirm it for me.