Don't understand how you know it's a growth spurt

[MGardner]

MY DS is 18 weeks old and has very ERRATIC nights. Some nights I put him down at 7p and he sleeps soundly until 3am then feeds and sleeps again until 7a. Other nights I put him down at 7p and he gets up at 9p, or 11p, or 12a, and then off and on all night long. Every night is completely different. But every day is VERY stable. He is on 4 hour easy and does great with it. Although his morning wake up time varies about 45 minutes each day he can always stay up for activity 2 hours and then naps for 1.5-2hours (sometimes we battle 30 minute naps but if we leave him there he can settle himself and if he doesn't, he makes up for it next nap). His night time routine is good, bath, feed, book, bed. We can put him in crib wide awake and leave the room after a kiss and he goes to sleep on his own within 5-10minutes. This is a recent accomplishment of like 2-3 weeks ago. He has reflux however he just got a dosage fix about a month ago so i am confident that he is on the right dosage. Last night he was up every 2 hours and would not settle until I fed him. Every time he had what I would consider a full feed - 4 times during the night! I only feed him 4 times during the day! He is not the type to eat when he is not hungry, rarely comfort nurses. So i was afraid that if I didn't feed him he would be in a growth spurt and I wouldn't be filling his needs. But I find myself thinking that a lot - like once a week! How do I know if it is a growth spurt, if he is waking becuase of something else and just nurses to settle himself, or what? I know I must fix the days to fix the nights but the days are great already! Here is what I try to do before nursing:
1. Pacifier
2. Burp
3. Wrap better with blankets (we weaned the swaddle 3 weeks ago has had good nights since then)
4. Gas drops (mylicon or little tummys)
5. Orajel (he is drooling a lot and always has hands in mouth during the day, no sign of teeth yet)
He usually just screams through all this until I nurse.

[LyndaManus]

Does DS have a very distinct hungry cry???  Mine does and this helps me distinguish.

I am not a huge expert because I have such a maternal instinct to just feed him any time he cries at night (DH has to hold me back )

I have been told that growth spurts last approximately 3 nights (they normally take place at night).  My LO wakes every 1.5 hours during a growth spurt.  I try to rule out gas first because he has a lot of problems with that.  I think that you are right to take all the precautions you are (paci, burp, blankets, gas drops, etc).  If he doesn't settle, then feed him.  After the first time, if he wakes up again in 1.5 to 2 hours, I wouldn't necessarily go through all the steps again - at this point through the next couple of nights assume it is a growth spurt.

Also, as a side note.  On the baby orajel.  I asked my pediatritian and she told me to be very careful with it.  She said that if you get too much on lo's toungue it can make it numb and there have been instances of lo's choking on their toungue from it.  I don't mean to freak you out or anything b/c my sister swore by the stuff, but she recommended that I never use a full dose and that I be really careful to only get it on the gum.

[MGardner]

oh my - thanks for the tip about the orajel! I might not even use it if that's the case!!! I'll see what happens tonight but my sister who watches him during the day said he wouldn't eat a thing today, I'm betting because he ate so much last night. I feel like i'm getting him in a vicious cycle of eating during the night and not during the day and that has to stop...

[LyndaManus]

Yeah, after I talked to the dr I threw mine out, but, after talking to my sister I bought it again "just in case".  I will use Tylonal if I think he is in pain, but my sister said that her DS cried for two hours once and that she put the orajel on it and everything was better.  Another plus with Tylonal is that the dr said that it gets rid of the pain whereas orajel just covers it up (fyi - I am not big on giving medicine but she also said that infant Tylonal is not habit forming and that if I were to give it to him every 6 hours until his first b-day it wouldn't even cause him problems - this made me feel better about using it for the occasional teething spell)

That stinks about the feedings - I am so sorry.  I work full time while I don't have that problem I can definitely sympathize with the problem {{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}

I know you have put up some other posts in regard to this and I don't remember the entire threads, but have you looked in to advise for reverse cycling?

Also, ds has an issue of trying to over-eat when I get home (at 4 months and 17lbs though you can tell he doesn't have a problem eating anything in front of him).  For him it is a suckling issue and he over-eats because of the suckling.  Once I know he has had enough to eat, I take him off the breast, give him a paci and just hold him really tight.  After a few minutes he spits out the paci and I know he has had enough.  Maybe this would work after your lo has enough to eat at night.  Might be worth a try.