4 month old still wakes at 4:30 am to party, Wake to Sleep not working

[adamsfour]

Hi Girls,

My 4 month old has been on EASY since day one. He used to be a catnapper during the day (and I used that to justify the 4:30am wake up) but now he naps much better but still wakes up at 4:30 am, here is his schedule

E: 7, 11, 3, 7, 11- dreamfeed,  6 oz bottles at every feed
Solid foods 3x daily
Naps- 2 - 1.5 hr naps and a 45 min cat nap

He is a big baby -19 lbs and has/had refulx so our ped said to start him on solids at 4 months. He has been waking up at 4:30 every night and hasnt needed a nighttime feed for over a month now. He wakes up cooing, talking and playing. When we walk into the room he squeals as if we are there to party. We set our alarm to do wake to sleep at 3:30 and he still wakes at 4:30 the first nite, then the second nite he wakes at 3 - before the alarm can go off, the third nite he wakes at 3:20 .. etc.. he will gradually keep waking up later and later until he is back to the 4:30 wake up. 
The biggest problem is that even though we can get him to go back to sleep for a little while (with the paci), he doesnt entirely settle and will wake up ever 15-30 mins and finally we give up and get him up at 6:30, by this point he is fussing and crying. When he wakes back up at the 15-20 min mark, his paci is still in his mouth, so I am not convinced it is a prop in this case.
He is closest to a spirited baby and would definately let us know if he were hungry at these wake ups.

Please, any advice, I am up at 4:15 am typing this so I can be as prepared as possible again for tonite. (I bet my husband that I could cure this by Sunday night and I have a day at the spa riding on it!)

Thanks!
Summer
Mom to Matthew- 1/20/05 - Textbook baby  & Seth 2/6/07 - Spirited baby

[Layla]

Hi there, could you tell me when those naps are taken & when is bedtime?

What type of solids is he on? 4 months is awfully young to be having solids 3 times a day When do you give solids (how close to bedtime? COuld you give me your full schedule please...

So from 4:30 onwards, is he going back to sleep at all? For 15/20mins and then up again???

[adamsfour]

Thanks for your help!

7 am - bottle
8:15 - solids - by this point, he is crying and chewing on his hands.
9 - 1 1/2 hr nap.
11 - bottle
12:15 - solids
1 - nap
3- bottle
4:15 solids
5- catnap
7- quick bath
7:15- bottle and bed by 7:30 at the latest.

He gets a bottle every four hours and solids about an hour after the bottle. I give him rice cereal, oatmeal, fruits and veggies. Anything Stage 1 except the meat stuff. He watches us eat breakfast and lunch and screams if I don't feed him while I am eating. At first I thought the hand chewing and excessive drool was because of teeth, but I tried tylenol & teething tablets, nothing helped. I even felt his gums and no teeth seem to be anywhere near the surface.

He is huge though. He was 9 lbs at birth and had doubled his birth weight by 4 months. At our 4 month check up the Ped said that we were at the max amount of liquid we can give him daily and we need to start him on solids. He was a 45 min catnapper but now that he is on solids, he takes 1 1/2 hour naps and is MUCH happier throughout the day.

Summer

[Layla]

Summer, his naps are good & if your ped told you to feed solids, there's not much I can say about that either.

If he is just waking though and cooing, etc... I would let him be. I wouldn't go in and it could just be that he is enjoying the sounds he is making. I know thats not ideal in the middle of the night but both my girls did it & unless they were crying, I wouldn't go in. Switch the monitor off & if he really needs you, go to him. If you show up, he might think its time to be up so I wouldn't do that either.

He is a little young to be teething (although some can start as early as 4months) & chewing on things is common at this age. There would be other signs of teething like red cheeks or maybe a more runnier Bm (well that was the case with us anyways).

If you say he is not hungry, let him be but he could also be going through a growth spurt. Have you tried feeding him to see if he'll settle quicker???

W2s is for habitual waking but if its ranging from 3-4.30, it might be that he's just hungry (i know you say he is a big baby but I persoanally don't think weight has much to do with sleeping through the night).