How does 4 hour easy help with night wakings?

[finleyfoo]

Can someone brielfy explain why lengthening the intervals of feeding helps with sleep? My son is 4.5 months old and breast fed. He is on EASY and currently eats about every 3 hours. This is an improvement from his newborn days of eating every 1.5 to 2 hours. He has been doing every 3 hours for about a month now. He nurses in the morning, gets 3 bottles at daycare, then nurses before bed. He nurses once at night, but he actually wakes up 2-3 times. I'm not convinced those wakings have to do with eating, so how does lengthening the interval help? And what about the idea of cluster feeding before bedtime? Thanks.

[Katet]

Lengthening the time between feeds, stops 'snacking" & makes sure your lo gets a full feed (enough to store away to have the calories needed overnight) as well as an age appropriate awake & sleep cycle.
At around 4mo, babies have about 2hours awake time & to get good night sleep they need the skill of not only being able to settle to sleep, but the "re-settle" between sleep cycles, thus at least 1.5 hours sleep each time. If they can't do this then they end up needing 'help' to go back to sleep. So by having the 4 hour EASY, you are making sure they don't snack & take full feeds as well as being sufficiently tired/rested for good sleep cycles.
Cluster feeding can just "tank" up.
with my 4mo, before he got sick last week 7 worked great
he had this cycle (exclusive bf) & sleep is to fit around my toddlers routine
7.30am feed - 45min - 1 hour sleep
11.30 feed - 2.5-3 hour sleep
3.30feed - 45 min -1 hour sleep
7pm feed
7.30 top up before bed
then would feed around 4/5am

[finleyfoo]

Thanks for the explanation. At 20 weeks old (today!) what should my son's interval be? He has been doing a 3 hour easy for about a month, although it isn't always perfect. Sometimes he eat in 2.75 hours, sometimes in 4 hours, it just depends on how he naps (very short, inconsistent naps despite all my efforts). Should I start trying to stretch it a bit? This weekend I tried to make the intervals 3.25 hours (except the last one before bed). However, honestly, he has always been a terrible sleeper and I've never noticed that the way he eats during the day has anything to do with it.