4 month old wakes up 4-6 times a night, not hungry

[i97csm]

Hi,

Please help me sleep . My 4 month old boy (he was 6 weeks preterm) wakes up during the night 4 to 6 times. He is not hungry, and a little sh/pat plus the pacifier puts him back to sleep. He eats EBM (I gave up breastfeeding him some time ago), I pump and give him the bottle. This way my husband helps with the feedings.
Our daily routine is:
7:00 up for the day
7.15 E
7:30 A
8:00 S
9:30 wakes up, A
10:15 E
10:30 A
11:15 S
12:00 wakes up, A
13:45 E
14:00 S
16:00 wakes up, A
17:00 E
17:15 A
18:00 S
18:45 A
19:15 Bath
19:25 E
19:45 S
22:15 DF

After this, he usually wakes up at 00:30, I give him the pacifier and he goes back to sleep. I tried "wake to sleep" around 00:10 but it did not work, he still woke up after that.
Again, he wakes up at 1:30, same thing. At 2:30 I feed him (he does not take much, we are planning to drop this feed soon). He sleeps until 4:30, wakes up, same pacifier + sh/pat. Again he wakes up at 5:30, 6:00 and 6:30.

This has been going on for at least two month. He slept through the night only a few times. Lately, he seems to want to suck his fingers and because he is swaddled he gets frustrated. I find him sometimes sucking his thumb through the blanket.

Please give me an advice... I need my sleep too....

Monica

[mmom]

Welcome Monica. 

Your first A is a bit short.  I would really push that out. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652

After a 45 minute nap, I would shorten the next A.  Also, the last A before bed it quite long as well.

Here are some sample routines for 4 months. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164029.0

When he is waking in those early hours, are you just leaving him?  Is he crying?

[i97csm]

I will try to extend his first A, but usually he is really tired, it is not easy to keep him awake in the morning. I'm also working at extending the 11:15 am 45 minutes catnap, but he does not want to sleep any more at that hour. In the evening, maybe we can try to move the bed time closer to 7. Thank you for the Easy samples, I will take a look.

When he wakes up in the night he does not cry, he is just making some noise to let us know he is awake. If we do not respond, then he will start crying. I usually get to him before he starts crying, I do a little sh/pat, re-swaddle if needed and give him the pacifier.

He also has reflux, it is under control with medication and elevated mattress.

[mmom]

I wouldn't go to him unless he is crying.  You want him to learn to settle on his own.  Even with the crying, you only go with a real cry and not a mantra cry. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64160.0

[i97csm]

I left him to settle himself last night. I did not went in his room at all. He did not cry, only made some noise for a few minutes and probably went back to sleep. This hapened 3 times.
Still, what can I do so he will not wake up at night? Could this be habitual waking? Should I try wake to sleep?

Thank you for your help.

[mmom]

That is great!  Babies are going to stir from time to time and as long as they get back to sleep, then no worries.  Do you ever wake in the night to go to the bathroom or stir?  Well, babies wake too.

A habitual waking is when a baby wakes at exactly the same time every night, as if you can set a clock to it.