5 month olds night waking PU/PD time increasing!

[Lincolns_Mommy]

I am blessed that my 5 mth old only wakes on his own once during the night. We just started the PU/PD plan and are on day 7 (including observation). Everything is well except that he wakes between 2 and 3:30am every night and it takes so long to get him back to sleep.
I am concerned that I am doing something wrong because every night his PU/PD time takes longer (is increasing by about 10 minutes a night) and his temperament is getting more and more distraught. He went from simply crying the first night and now he has tantrums and I see rage in my little man. It's a bit scary for me as a first time mom. 
Like I said before, everything else is great...he has 2, 1.5 hour naps, a catnap and his PU/PD routine during the day is getting shorter. It's just at night that we are struggling.
Any advice?

[Lincolns_Mommy]

I also wanted to mention that I do a dream fee at 10:30pm every night.

Also, tonight I tried doing a "wake to sleep" because I want to break him of his habit of waking the same time every night. It didn't work. Should I keep trying this or is there something else i should be doing?

[bug_blues70]

I have lots of NW with my DS so I don't know that I'll be any help, but it sounds like maybe if it's getting longer with pu/pd that it could be either 1. you are waking him up more by picking him up in the night - what if you just left him to fall back asleep on his own or do you wait until he's crying full blast before picking him up? or 2. could he be genuinely hungry? If he's BF, maybe he really does need the extra feed or maybe more solids during the day? Or if he's bottle fed, how many ounces is he taking for his DF? Also, I wonder if it's considered habit if there is a 1.5 hr window of time so it's not really truly at the same time every night? I hope that helps, I'm off to make my own post actually

[Lincolns_Mommy]

I havent really let him try to fall back to sleep on his own. I thought that with PU/PD that you were supposed to go in right away when you heard him wake. no?
He might be hungry...I don't know. He is Breastfed and I have been trying to tank him up during the day more, but he is used to eating ALOT during the night. The book says not to feed him during the 8 hour span...at least for the first week of transition. I don't know what to do. If I feed him, will he just start waking every couple of hours again?
I don't know what to do...

[bug_blues70]

I think with pu/pd (or any kind of intervention) you are supposed to wait until they actually start crying. If you go to them at the first noise, you are possibly just waking him up whereas he might not actually be waking, just making noise. You could also be reinforcing the waking habit if you go to him when he would otherwise put himself back to sleep. I would suggest just leaving him tonight until he actually cries like he really needs you. Do you have the BWSAYP book? It describes the difference between a mantra cry and an actual cry and says not to go in for a mantra cry.