My 13.5 week old has been on EASY since 1 week old. Around 12 weeks, he started stretching out his day feedings to 3.5-4 hours instead of 3 hours and taking 5.5-6.5 oz instead of 3-4. What this means is that he basically moved to a 4 hour EASY on his own (I know the normal time for this is 4 months, but there is no feeding this guy unless he is really hungry + this helped rather than hindered night waking). When he started taking bigger bottles, he also started sleeping between 9 and 11 hours at night without waking vs. the 3 or 4 hour stretches that he had slept before. So I would often see him sleep from 7 pm - 6:00 am or something like that. Since then, if he wakes in the middle of the night (midnight, 2 or 3 etc.) I give him a paci and shh pat and if he goes down easily I don't feed.
However, sometimes he wakes up around 4 or 4:30, which to me is still a long stretch of sleep if he has gone to bed between 7 and 8. I usually feed him during this time, and it does usually throw off our EASY a little bit the next day. I noticed that sometimes I hear him stir around 4 or 4:30 but he will go back to sleep. So I am wondering if maybe the times he wakes up that early are times where he stirs but wakes completely and can't put himself back down. Should I not feed him? I'm pretty sure he's hungry (smacking his lips plus I know it's been 8 or 9 hours since he ate!) but doesn't take quite a full bottle (usually only 4.5 oz or so vs. 6 or 6.5), so that makes me think that he could hold out until 6 or 7 am but just needs help getting off to sleep.
I don't want to create a bad early waking habit, but I also don't want to not feed if he needs it.
So to summarize: Since I know he can sometimes sleep all the way until 6 or 7, should I give paci and shh pat and even pick up to get him back to sleep if he wakes up in the early hours before 6, or should I assume hunger because of his signs and his age and go ahead and feed?
Thank you!
