Slipping from a 3 hour schedule to 2.5 hour during the day and more NWs!

[PDXmom]

My 3.5 month old has been waking early and seemingly hungry after a 2.5 hour cycle for the past few weeks.  He is also more challenging to get down for a nap and is waking more often at night.  Since birth he has been a great sleeper and would only wake us twice at night (with just one feeding!)... Now he is waking 3-4 times at night and sometimes I'm feeding him twice.  He gets his last feeding about 7:30pm, then a dream feed at 9:30pm.  In the past, he wouldn't wake until 5am, except occasionally around 3am - but then he would just go back to sleep with a pacifier and a bit of patting very quickly.  Lately the wakings at night require a good 20 minutes of shushing and patting and I'll feed him at around 2am and 5am.  I'd really like to get back to our old schedule! 
Any tips?  Is this just a phase that will pass? 
What about going to a 2.5 hour schedule during the day?  I was hoping that we would begin moving from a 3 to 4 hour schedule over the next month and am frustrated that we're moving backwards...

[Colin Macs Mom]

How long has it been going on? It sounds to me like the 12 week growth spurt.

[PDXmom]

for the past week it has been particularly bad.  He has started to wake from naps now after 2 hours - which he has done in the past but gone back to sleep - and being particulary fussy.  I'm hoping you are right, I've decided just to feed him all the time for now.  I'm just hoping that I am not totally messing up our routine!

[Colin Macs Mom]

You actually want him to wake after 2 hours, you really don't want any one nap to last longer than 2 hours or it robs from night sleep. Or did you mean 1 hour?

[PDXmom]

In the last post I meant 2 hours between feedings.
Since my original post I went and purchased the second baby whisperer book (solves all your problems) and read about how my problems probably have to do with the fact that he isn't on a four hour schedule - we never made the transition - and I started feeding him more frequently when he went through his last growth spurt.  So, we're making the transition to a four hour schedule and new problems seem to be popping up.  Not sure if this is part of the change period or what, but I have some questions -

(1) he doesn't want to stay awake for much longer than an hour from when he last woke.  I've been able to stretch him to 1.5 hours and then put him down.  Is it okay then if I push him to sleep for 2.5 hours so that he wakes just before he next feeding? 

(2) the late afternoon cat nap is only supposed to be 45 mins - 1.25 hours.  How does this work out with the feeding schedule.  We do a feeding at 3pm, and then he'll be down for a nap by 5pm (at the latest).  If he wakes and I get him up at 6pm, should we just have activity time? or should I push him to sleep until 7pm and take a full, 2 hour nap?

(3) he wakes up crying from every nap and even in the morning.  Is this just because he is extra hungry b/c we're stretching him to 4 hours?  I miss my happy baby!

(4) we're having more frequent night wakings - like keeping us up from 12am - 5am, awake every 30 minutes or so.  Last night I caved in and fed him, based on what I've read in her book these frequent wakings are probably because he is hungry.  I'm going to try to get him to eat a lot more today at each feeding... but other than that, any suggestions?  we just started pu/pd and the pat/shush, so could he just be getting used to the new sleep method?  he has slept fine in his crib in the past without this much assistance. 

thanks in advance for any insight!  we've been making the transition from 3 hour to 4 hour schedule now for 4 days (3 nights), so I know this is all new, but I'm exhausted and getting frustrated

[Colin Macs Mom]

Yes, it's time for the 4 hour routine   And it's normal to have some issues during transition. How exactly are you doing the transition? Most people find that it's best to add 10 min or so to A time every few days until you are where you need to be.

1)  You do not want any one nap to be longer than 2 hours or it robs from night sleep, so I definitely would not recommend that.

2) Actually the catnap should be 30 - 45 min but definitely not longer than 45 min. On the 4 hour routine you really need to stick to that rule or you will find that nights get even worse.

3) There could be a lot of reasons - he's just getting used to the change, he might be hungry, any teething yet? Don't worry though, the happy baby will return!

4) I can't really offer much unless you post your daily routine that you are on now, it's been quite a while since you last posted.

[PDXmom]

so, if his final feeding is at 7pm, but he goes down for a cat nap at 5pm, do we just have activity time from 6 until 7?  I tried this yesterday and he was very unhappy (crying nonstop until he ate).  we'll see what happens again today. 

at this point we're on a 7, 11, 3, 7 + 9:45DF feeding schedule.  He is taking two hour naps from 9 to 11 and 1 to 3.

on a similar note to the cat nap question - if he doesn't nap until 11am or 3pm (for example, wakes up at 10:30 or 2:30), is it fine to just get him up then and have activity for a half an hour before feeding?

thanks again!

[Colin Macs Mom]

do we just have activity time from 6 until 7?

Yes that's the idea. But if you think he's hungry you could always consider cluster feeding, like one feed at 6 and another at 7.

if he doesn't nap until 11am or 3pm (for example, wakes up at 10:30 or 2:30), is it fine to just get him up then and have activity for a half an hour before feeding?

Sure. No two days are ever going to be exactly the same, so the key is to just go with the flow and follow LO's cues.