4 month old waking at 2am and won't settle back to sleep

[georgiemummy]

Hi my 4 month old is going down easily at 7 and sleeps soundly for 4-5 hours. We then dream feed him and he goes straight back down. However he then wakes an hour-2 hours later and is then awake on and off until 7am. I have posted before because I thought his dummy was becoming a prop but even with the dummy he won't go back to sleep and he will spit it out and doesn't actually want it. I know he can't settle himself back to sleep but why does he wake up in the first place? He's not even getting through a 45 min sleep cycle. Shall I try PUPD? We are all exhausted and need to get this problem improved.

[anna*]

Hi there, can you post his daytime routine? Are you feeding him again between dreamfeed and morning? Is he upset when he wakes up?

[Mama2boys]

I have to listen in as we are facing similar issues

[georgiemummy]

Hi, this is his routine
E - 7am
A - until 9am
S - until 10.30am
E - 11am
A - until 12.30
S - until 2pm
E - 3pm
A - until 4.30pm
S - 30 min doze
E - 7pm
S - 11 (11.30pm)
E - Dream Feed
S - until 2 ish and then awake on and off until 7am again.

He just starts to make noises at first but then if we leave him (which we rarely do now) it develops into full blown crying. At first putting his dummy back in and sh patting him would send him back to sleep but now that's not working. He's not hungry and I know this because he will often only take half a feed at 7am.

[anna*]

I know it seems like a step backwards but I"m wondering if giving him a feed at two might just send him back off to sleep. What do you think?

[Mama2boys]

we still do the 2-3am feed abd it makes it a bit better for us., SOmetime she goes right backa nd sometimes takes abt 45-1hr to get him back to bed but he does sleep.

We are doing a 3.5-4hr EASY when it come sto feeidng. I try for 4 but wont starve him if he looks hungry anytime after 3.5hrs

[georgiemummy]

I had thought about that. I don't mind taking a step backwards if it helps. We did try this a few weeks ago but found that he didn't want it and only took a tiny amount and he thrashed around and didn't really want it at all. However if he is having a growth spurt it might be worth trying again. I moved froma 3.5 hour easy to a 4 because of this. He would cry and thrash about if I tried to feed him too soon.
Mukta - What is your little ones daytime sleep like? I am finding that he is sleeping really well during the day now but this is probably because he has had such a disrupted night. I don't want him to have so much sleep in the day that he won't sleep at night but as you know it is impossible to keep a tired/upset baby awake! Aaargh.
Anna - Do you think my EASY sounds ok?

[anna*]

Your EASY looks pretty much perfect, if I HAD to look for a place where OT could creep in it would be in the stretch from 2pm to 7pm with only a 30 mins catnap - but OT is more often shown in waking in the early evening. You could try doing the catnap a little earlier and a little longer (say 4pm for an hour) to see if that helps? But it doesn't sound like 'classic' OT.