Should I treat EW as NW?

[melloyello]

My DS is 24 weeks and is on a 4 hour EASY (EBF), just started solids (rice cereal and some veggies) last week.

He was a great nighttime sleeper until about 3 months and then we went through about 2 months of frequent NW and he finally (knock on wood!) has settled into his previous pattern of 1 NW + DF in the last couple of weeks. He usually wakes sometime between 3-4am and I feed and he goes right back to sleep until 7-7:30.

The last week though he was been extending this and sleeping until 5-5:30 or so. This is great and I'm hoping he will continue to extend until he is sleeping straight through, but for the time being, I'm not sure how to handle it! I'm not sure if it's an EW or a NW??! Should I be treating this as a NW and feed him and put him back to bed like I normally would? This morning it took me about 20 min after feeding to get him back to sleep making it 6am and then he slept until 7:15. He just isn't that interested in going back to bed at this time, but since he's usually not asleep until 8pm at night, I don't want him waking at 5 and getting only 9 hours!

I guess I'm not sure if I should be trying to settle without feeding and get him through until 6 or so? I'm not sure he would be likely go back to sleep without the feed. He does have a DF at 10:30 but he seems hungry when he wakes at this time.

Any thoughts?

 

[*Kara*]

It sounds like he is leaning towards an EW   My DD did the same thing for 3 months!  It was brutal. 

What are his naps like during the day?  Still taking a CN?  He could be entering that tricky time when they still need the CN to make it through the day, but it messes with night sleep. 

[melloyello]

I think you're exactly right about the CN! He takes two good naps of 1.5-2 hours and a 30 min CN which is getting harder and harder to get him to settle for, but like you say, if he doesn't take it, he can't make it to BT. Sometimes he wakes from his afternoon nap at 2:30 so even with an early BT, he needs the CN! I really can't get him past 2.5 hours A time right now either.

Not sure what to do! Do you think I should just feed him and get him back to sleep at 5:30?

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi there,
I experienced what you are talking about and some days still do.
Is he waking up hungry? I think you need to determine this before you choose how to act about it.
If he is hungry for sure I would treat it as a NW and hope that he'll go back to sleep. Make sure the room is dark enough though or he'll "know" it's morning.
If you think he is not hungry I would go for settling back to sleep.

To determine if he is hungry you can try and put him on your breast for a few minutes and then put a paci, if you are using one. If he fusses then he is hungry, if not, he just need some comforting.
If you are not using a paci, you can look at his body language - is he trying to suck on something? If you put a hand on his cheek will he try to suck on it like a mad man?

[melloyello]

Thank you for the advice. He does seem hungry but this morning I only fed him on one side (usually two) and then gave him his paci and he did settle with that and did not seem to need more. Perhaps I will just try the paci if he wakes at this time again tonight!

[Ima shel Alon]

I think that's a good idea, and slowly slowly reduce the time you are BF, till he won't wake up for it anymore (hopefully). Because you are taking away these calories from the night time, you need to give him some more time feeding during the day.

[melloyello]

So he woke again at 5:30 this morning and I gave him the paci. He went back to sleep for 10 min and then was up again so I fed him on one side and he went back to sleep until I woke him at 7:30. So I guess he's hungry??

I've seen on other posts some comments about how the first nap of the day being to soon can lead to EWs. He only does 2 hours for his first A. I'm wondering if this could be an issue? Also the catnap?

Any thoughts?

[Ima shel Alon]

So he slept after the DF till 5:30? That's not bad at all!
Did he take a full feed at 5:30?
You can try and give your breast for a couple of minutes and then quickly put the paci in and see is he sleeps or not. If he is really hungry, you can always feed him.

Sorry, can't help about the A time and the catnap, don't have enough info to give a proper answer.

[*Kara*]

The first nap isn't too early if he can do an A time in line with his age.