4.5 month old wakes 3 times / night

[Mell]

Hi,
This is my first post although I've been reading postings for the last month - since I bought the new book.
Anyhow... thanks in advance for any advice!!!!

My son, now 4.5 months, 19.5 lbs and 29 inches, is a cutie, but he has never been a good sleeper. He's been on the EASY 4-hour "regime" for about one month now and this has greatly improved his daytime naps (1 hour, 1.5 hours and often a 45-min cat-nap - often from which have to wake him) but he's been routinely getting up at ~10:30pm, ~1:30am, and ~4:30am basically since he was born. The 10 and 1 wake-ups are not long - about 30 mins but the 4am one is a killer - at least 1.5 hours! I try putting on music. I try Pat/Sh - which sometimes works and if not then PU/PD until I reach the 4 hours mark and then I feed him. He eats usually ~5 oz at each feeding. I've tried upping his daytime milk. I tried feeding him at 5, 7 and dreamfeed at 10. I tried solids for 3 weeks - rice & oat cereal, pears, peas and carrots but it didn't improved his sleep. Four days ago, I cut out all solids and went back to exclusively formula - no change
One more thing - about 10 days ago his first two teeth broke the surface - I hoped sleep would improve - no luck - I've felt around his mouth and their doesn't feel like any more near the surface.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

FYI  -  here's our EASY schedule
7-7:30 Wake and eat
10 nap for ~1 hour
11 Eat
1:30 nap for ~1.5-2 hours
3-3:30 Eat
5:30 catnap - must be woken up (also tried not waking him up - he'd sleep about 1.5-2 hours - made no difference re:nightime sleep
7:30 bath, bottle, bed
10:30 wake for 30 mins
1:30 wake for 30-45 mins
4:30 wake for 1.5-2hours

[Jo-FrasersMum]

Hi Mell

Firstly I think it's a great idea that you have suspended giving solids to your DS at this stage - babies digestive systems aren't really ready for solid foods until about the 6 month mark and so giving solids at this early stage can often be a big cause of night wakings due to belly aches or other discomforts related to solids before the baby is ready.  Giving solids DOES NOT fix night wakings problems (regardless of what many many people will tell you).  So good on you for being in tune with and respecting your baby and realising that the early introduction of solids was not helping.

SO....

Can you tell me about how your DS falls asleep at the beginning of the night?  Is he swaddled?  Does he have a paci?  Does he fall asleep feeding?  Are you dreamfeeding or are you waiting for him to wake up for that first feed of the night?

Also, what happens when your DS does wake up - are you feeding each time?

If you could let me know and we'll try and come up with some suggestions for you.

BTW, your DS is very cute and looks like such a happy boy!!

OK, I'll check back in
Cheers
Jo

[Mell]

Thanks Jo for your post!

I agree my DS is a happy boy - just wondering if we could make his parents even more happy by giving them more sleep!

My DS is placed in his crib fully awake @ around 7-7:30. Most of the time he usually falls asleep on his own - with music playing.

He doesn't use a paci - would never take one - we tried 8 different styles.

I did dreamfeeding for awhile ~ 2 weeks but it didn't seem to help so I stopped - he still wakes around 10:30 and he does feed.

I wait 4 hours between feeds - even at night so if he wakes 3.5 hours after his last feed, I make him wait 30 mins - I've also tried feeding him right away - neither seems to make a difference. He still consumes ~5 oz each feed @ ~ 10:00, 2:00 and 5:00.

Thanks again!
Mell