4mth was sleeping through-now awake from dreamfeed until 3am!!

[TheosMummy]

Hi, I am new to this site but have been following EASY for about 6 weeks now. I AM SORRY THIS IS A LONG THREAD BUT I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE SOME ADVICE!!!! When I started it Theo was on a 3hour routine for about 4 weeks and and I was dreamfeeding at 10.30/11.00pm and he was sleeping through until between 6am and 7am - heaven!! We then went on holiday (he was also a little angel on holiday) it was when we got back things started to change and for the last 2-3 weeks my little man just hasnt seemed happy during the night. He goes to bed really well, pretty much guaranteed every night, I put him down awake between 7 - 7.30pm and he falls asleep on his own without crying at all. He will then wake between 10 and 10.30pm, sometimes takes his bottle, but lately has not wanted it at all. Change nappy if needed. When I put him down he will cry, when I pick him up he is asleep again instantly but crys again as soon as I put him down, this continues until about 3am I try bottle again around 2am and sometimes will take it(during this time there are short intervals of sleep of say 45mins) which is when he decides its time to stop messing around and sleeps until 7.30am (sleep time-hooray!!) This awake time between 10.30 - 3am I'm sure isnt hunger as he isnt fussed with the bottle, sometimes he has it sometimes not and generally plays with the teat!!!
I have been reading lots of different threads for ideas and have changed him on to 4 hour EASY during day which he manages fine in terms of feeding, he just doesnt want to nap longer than 45mins so the 4hours are a long stretch to get through!! When we were on 3hour EASY and it worked perfectly times of feeding were 6,9,12,3,6 then DF. Now our day goes something like this:

E 8.00
A 8.30
S 9.15-10.00

E 12.00
A 12.30
S 2.00 - 2.45              (If we go out during the day all his nap times increase by say a couple of hours, but this still doesnt have any change on the nighttime)

E 4.00
A 4.30
S 5.15 - 6.00

Bath 6.45
Bottle and Bed Between 7 - 7.30 pm
Then Awake at 10ish until about 3am (small napping during this time)

HELP! He is such a happy adorable little chap during the day and he knows how to go to sleep, I would love some advice on this awake period during the night so that he will be happy during the night too!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S He is drooling ALOT during the day and always hand in mouth if his pacifier is not in, Could teething be the cause? It doesnt seem to bother him too much during the day though?

[Colin Macs Mom]

Have you tried a 3.5 hour routine rather than a 4? He might need more of a transition.

[TheosMummy]

Thanks for replying.  Funnily enough the last two nights have not been so bad.  I decided to drop the dreamfeed (dont know if this was a good idea in the long run or not??) Theo slept from 7pm - 2.30am.  I then fed him at 2.30am, he took a full 6oz and went straight back to sleep until 6.30am - a big improvement on what was happening.  He has done this for two nights running now.  Was it a good idea to drop dreamfeed?? I thought I would try it as it was after the dreamfeed every night that he became unsettled???!!
So not sure if I need to change to 3.5hour EASY or not, what do you think??? Shall I continue to do what I have been doing last 2 nights, I was wondering if I might be creating another problem by him wanting a feed every night at 2.30am in the long term.  In the short term I am getting more sleep now!!???

Perhaps changing to 3.5 hour routine and bringing dreamfeed back will work.  I think I will give it a go.

[Colin Macs Mom]

A DF is not for everyone - sometimes it can make things worse actually. But if dropping it and feeding at 2:30am worked, then that's great! It can't hurt to try a 3.5 routine and bring back the DF though. If it doesn't work, then you can go back to the 4 hour and 2:30am feeding.

[TheosMummy]

Well, I did dreamfeed last night at 11pm and put him back down - little babes slept through until 6.30am!!! The dreamfeed is working again!!! He generally seems more settled at night the last few nights, dont know what to put it down to though??? ll I can think is that I have started using his colic drops in his milk again ( I had stopped using whilst on holiday a few weeks ago as was told that they shouldnt need colic drops at this age???) Well perhaps he was suffering with trapped wind during the night and very uncomfortable?? I am going to continue using the colic drops and see how I go.
Thank you so much on your advice on this I am also going to change to 3.5 hour routine.  Do you have any advice on how to help them nap for longer than 45 minutes a time?? Or is it ok for them to have short naps?

Anyway I have soooooooooooooooo happy to have had a good nights sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Wow, that's great to hear! LOs sure are funny things.

As for the naps.... the rare lo does fine with short naps and doesn't need much daytime sleep. But, I wouldn't assume that's the case. If he wakes at the same time you can try wake to sleep, or you can go with pat/sshh or PU/PD if he's over 4months.

[TheosMummy]

Thanks for all your advice on my thread, this is such a great site, to have mums with experience to help us new mums out!!!

P.S - LO slept through again last night 7pm-11pm DF then 11pm - 6.30am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Fantastic!! Keep up the good work!