4.5 month old still wakes 2 times a night

[annar840]

Hi everyone,
Thank you for reading my thread and thank you in advance for your help! My son will be 5 months old next week. He was born a month early and at a small weight of 3lb 6 oz. He's now over 12lb (still small but growing at his own curve). I've been reluctant to drop any night feeds with him only because I want him to get more calories in. But a few things are happening. 1. He's not eating as much in the mornings, and sometimes during the day and 2. He used to give me a good stretch from 7 ish-1/1:30 and now, he wakes up anywhere between 9 and 12 to eat and then again at some point later at night and then at 7am wake up time (this started of course around the 3.5-4 month mark). He's not confused about day/night because as soon as hes done eating he goes right back to sleep. He falls asleep on his own in the evening and can self soothe with his thumb during the night. He clearly wants to eat because he will keep crying or waking up often. He takes about 3 naps a day and maybe a catnap in the evening. His total nap time during the day is about 4-4.5 hours. I have been back at work full time for over a month and I am exhausted. I just need some guidance as to whether I should just let him do his thing and wake up twice a night or if I should somehow wean him from one feeding. Please let me know your thoughts!!

[Kellyjs]

Is he FF or BF hun?

Would you mind posting your routine for me including feedings day and night? That does seem to be quite a lot of sleep for a 5mo, so I'd just like to see how his day is spaced if that ok?

2 feeds at night seems about right to me especially as he is an IS normally and goes back off to sleep well after the feeds xx

[annar840]

Hi! thank you for responding!

At night time he is breastfed but during the day he is given bottles with pumped breast milk. No formula. During the day, He goes back down for a nap 1.5 hours after waking. The issue is that he can sometimes nap for 2 hours and other times for 40 min. We don't typically wake him unless it's over 2.5-3 hours but this doesn't happen often. What stays consistent for us is wake up time, his first nap time, bath time and bed time. everything else in between is up in the air. :-/

7-wake up time
8:30 - first nap - this can last anywhere between 1.5-2.5 hours. (this morning he only gave us 40 min though)
From here on, we lay him down about 1.5 hours after he wakes. He doesn't usually nap for 5 hours, it's more like 4.5
6:30 - bath
7-7:15 - bedtime.

He eats about 4-5 times during the day and twice at night. thanks again!

[Kellyjs]

Hi hun, I would say 2 x feeding is about right then. Many continue this until solids are firmly established until 7-8mo when ebf.

It looks like you've got a good routine going, however it would look at starting to extend the A times around now. As he was born a month early and we look at his adjusted age, we'd still be looking at closer to 2hrs A time rather than 1.5.

I would look at extending it gradually, so maybe extend by 15mins, hold it for a few days and see what happens. If the short naps return or stay, I'd extend again by the same amount.

How often are the feeds spaced? And how much is he taking during the day if I may ask? Ebf bubbas tend to only manage a max of 3hrs between feeds, I wonder if the day sleep is taking away from an extra feed being in there somewhere? There's also a huge GS at around 4-4.5mo that needs an extra feed in there too. Is he draining all his bottles? If so, we recommend adding an extra oz or two so he leaves a little, at least then you know he's stopping because he's full and not because the milk has come to an end iykwim? Xx