Can growth spurts affect naps?

[Mymers]

Hi,

I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out my DS. He turned 7 weeks last Saturday and has been on EASY for about 4 weeks now. His sleeping has improved over the weeks, but his naps went downhill as of yesterday.

Here's what he has done for the past 2 days:

Yesterday
Early morning nap: ~20min, went in and gave him his paci, slept another ~35min, then woke and hung out for ~35min until next feed
Late morning nap: ~35min, picked him up and did pat/shh on my shoulder for about 35min until he calmed down, laid down in his crib and woke up 5 min later, gave up and sat up for ~20min before the next feed
Early afternoon nap: ~30min. This time he was rooting, so I thought maybe he was going through a growth spurt. We got up about an hour early from the nap and I went ahead and fed him. I was only feeding from 1-side before, but decided maybe he wasn't getting enough to eat, so I started offering both sides beginning at this afternoon feed.
Cat nap: Woke up on his own after ~35min. This time we decided to offer him EBM. He took about 6oz which made me think that maybe it is a growth spurt and 1 side wasn't satisfying him earlier in the day.

We did our night time routine and he woke up at 1:15am after the 11pm DF. I tried bouncing him until 1:45am, then decided to go ahead and feed him from both sides. He woke again 3 hours later and fed. So the evening wasn't a terrible disaster. At least he was getting a few hours of sleep in a row. Then we started today...

Today
Early morning nap: ~15min, went in and gave him his paci, slept another ~35min
Late morning nap: Didn't really make it to his deep sleep at all 
Early afternoon nap: ~25min, gave him his paci, slept another ~20min
Cat nap: He's sleeping right now so I'm able to post this

So my question is... is he going through a growth spurt or something? He was napping okay until yesterday. Somewhere around 1hr - 1.5hrs for a couple naps... offset with a 30-45min nap that same day. He never seems to get 3 good naps in a single day. I'm fine with that... it's just hard when all the naps seem to be short!

HELP!! Thanks in advance...

[Mymers]

Well, I guess I was right. We ended up having an awful night last night. I think our worse one yet. He ended up waking from the cat nap yesterday after ~20min. Then I fed him at 7:50pm, did our night time routine, and down by 9:00pm. I snuck in a DF at 10:50pm, but that's when everything went downhill. He woke up at 12:10am (I fed him), 2:10am (I fed him, but he wouldn't go back down with shh/pat until I fed him again at 3:30am out of desperation), woke again at 5:15am (I fed him), and again at 6:15am (my DH rocked him until we started our day at 7:10am with a feed).

He's been taking short cat naps (~30min) all day again today because he's waking to feed every 2 hours for the most part. I've been trying to follow his cues and have fed him almost everytime he's woken up early from a nap. I first try giving him his paci, but he usually goes crazy with a high pitched cry. Then I try shh'ing him in his crib. Then I pick him up and shh/pat him on my shoulder. I end up feeding him when he starts trying to eat my shoulder and my face (he hasn't done this in the past). Does it sound like he's hungry or should I try harder to extend his naps? He always seems to have an appetite even only after 2 hours between feeds.

[Samuel's mum]

Could well be a growth spurt. They last around 3-5 days (some report them going on a week but I think that's rare.) I think if your instincts are saying he's showing hungry signs then feed him and this will help to develop your supply (which is why he's doing this in the first place). There is some info about growth spurts here:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=66001.0

As Stacy says give it a couple of days and then assess. HUG.