4 month old - nighttime sleep gone OUT the window!

Vaquita

Hi !

I have a lovely little 4 month old who is all smiles and giggles and just wonderful. She is breastfed when I am home and bottles of BM when I am not, maybe 3 max during the day. She used to be a great sleeper - 6-9hr chunk then a feed then another 3-4hr stint (which was amazing!). In the last 3 weeks she waking to feed every 1.5 to 2.5 hrs during the night. I am exhausted!

I have gone back to work so she gets fed at around 7.30am before I go, then a bottle of 150ml at around 10, 12.30, 2.30 then I feed her again once I am home.

She wakes up fussing and whining which soon turns into crying until I pick her up and she is straight looking for the boob. She drinks a lot so she does seem to be hungry then falls asleep on me. I put her back into her next to me crib and it starts again.


I have googled everything and many reasons are coming up,
- reverse cycling
- 4 month regression
- 4 month growth spurt
- bad habits (not going to be drowsy etc)
- bad habits (being fed back to sleep)

During the day, she is bright eyed and bushy tailed. Can nap fine without being fed to sleep, happy to rest in her moses basket if she wakes, is playful and good humoured.

Her bedtime routine is flexible but always includes a walk, bath, story time or music and then I feed her and put her to bed. This has been the same since she was tiny.

Is this normal? Does it get better? Am I doing it all wrong? ANy words of wisdom?

I don't have family nearby and no mum friends so trying to figure it out as we go.

Thanks!

zanador

Their night-time sleep patterns go through so many changes, I wouldn't worry at all, just keep her in the routine that suits you and she will go in and out of it as she grows and learns. And teeths! But she will learn your ways at her own pace and be grand in the end.

Oh, also, small tip for the hour change coming next weekend. Change her meal times slowly over the next week to what they will be and there will be no bother.

Good luck, and whatever you're doing they all survive us!

lollsangel

Firstly well done in continuing to breastfeed, its really not easy. Unfortunately its normally for them as babies from time to time to regress sleepwise. At that age their tummies are getting bigger and theyre getting hungier, therefore feeding more.

I know a lot of parent will start weaning around this age, but I kept mine on the bottle ( i gave up on breastfeeding after the 1st week, twins, but regretted it later) until they were over 5 months.

Try to express more so that your OH can do more of the nightfeeds. If you do decide to wean earlier, start with purees, I never gave mine baby rice or the jarred stuff bcos I thought it looked and smelt awful.

Youre doing a great job, and it does get easier. These sleepless nights dont last forever xx

shesty

There is a 4 month sleep regression.It is the mother of all sleep regressions and can be extremely hard.Just keep doing what you are doing.She is developing, and unfortunately you are along for the ride.Stick with your bedtime routine.I have heard for breastfed babies that trying a "shush and pat" method can help to extend the time between feeds a bit at night, but honestly, she is going through a develomental leap at the moment, so I would wait and see for a bit.It is such a hard time, and I remember that tiredness so well -you are doing fine.

Vaquita

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words and encouragement!

Just yesterday when I came home from work she is coordinating picking her legs up to hold things and has learned to bang them back down again! She has never used her legs so much before! On her walk she was waving her little feet around in the air. it must have looked so funny to others! And she has new little sounds.

So much going on for her developmentally, I need to be more sympathetic.

Last night was the first time i was able to "shush" her with a little foot hold and and rub on her tummy. It was also the first time that she had a midnight poo explosion and a surprise wee when I was changing her! :D:eek: Haha one step forward!

Thanks so much everyone, its so reassuring to hear.

fits

Dont worry too much about bouts of feeding more frequently. If it helps them and you are happy to, just do it.

No such thing as bad habits in young infants.

jlm29

lollsangel wrote: »

Try to express more so that your OH can do more of the nightfeeds. x

I would not advise this at all really. Expressing is just more work all round. I’d advise just going to bed early with baby when you can and feed when she wakes. I brought all mine into the bed when I needed to, we all got more sleep that way. The 4 month sleep regression can be hard going. Lasts different lengths for all babies it seems, but it does end eventually!

Redser87

The 4 month sleep regression is a big one and it does pass. Fair play to you for keeping up the breastfeeding. Just hang in there and this will soon be a memory!

shesty

Sorry I re-read a post there....just do say do not wean the baby before a minimum of 16 weeks, I think it is, and for breastfed babies, the advice is 24 weeks I believe.Their stomachs cannot cope with food before about 16/17 weeks though, and I would have severe doubts that weaning would do anything for sleep - weaned all mine round the 22 week mark and it tended to produce more wind and discomfort for several weeks as their insides got used to food, so I suspect that is a myth.It used to be recommended as a solution for babies who were very unsettled at night, not so much these days though.

bee06

shesty wrote: »

Sorry I re-read a post there....just do say do not wean the baby before a minimum of 16 weeks, I think it is, and for breastfed babies, the advice is 24 weeks I believe.Their stomachs cannot cope with food before about 16/17 weeks though, and I would have severe doubts that weaning would do anything for sleep - weaned all mine round the 22 week mark and it tended to produce more wind and discomfort for several weeks as their insides got used to food, so I suspect that is a myth.It used to be recommended as a solution for babies who were very unsettled at night, not so much these days though.

Total myth. My son was on 3 meals a day and 2 snacks at 12/13 months and was a terrible sleeper. He started sleeping through at 15.5 months overnight. Nothing changed so I fully believe it was developmental.

farmchoice

Brest milk, formula, cows milk, no food, some food, steak and chips, none of it matters a damn. walks, no walks, baths, stories, tummy time, being hung from the rafters by their thumbs, all utterly irrelevant, do them if you like but it doesn't matter.

some babies are great sleepers some of the time, most none of the time and a rare few all of the time.


one of the problems with babies its that the little b********s dont sleep when we want them to, or they do for a while and then they stop,they are great for a month or 6 months and then they wake up 10 times a night for the next 3 months.

my last one was the best of all but then at the age of 3 took to getting up at 5.00am every morning.

now at the age of 5 he has to be dragged out of the bed monday to friday to get up for school but at the weekends likes to revert to getting up at the crack of dawn.

do what ever you can at the time, something might work for a while, or for ever who knows?
but do not think you are doing anything wrong you're not.

the only think i will say that is anywhere close to constructive advice is this.
do not make life hard for yourself.
if you find something that works go with it, if thats having the baby in the bed then do it if it means spinning around in the car at midnight so what.
under no circumstance heed ANYTHING you read on the internet.

kandr10

farmchoice wrote: »

Brest milk, formula, cows milk, no food, some food, steak and chips, none of it matters a damn. walks, no walks, baths, stories, tummy time, being hung from the rafters by their thumbs, all utterly irrelevant, do them if you like but it doesn't matter.

some babies are great sleepers some of the time, most none of the time and a rare few all of the time.


one of the problems with babies its that the little b********s dont sleep when we want them to, or they do for a while and then they stop,they are great for a month or 6 months and then they wake up 10 times a night for the next 3 months.

my last one was the best of all but then at the age of 3 took to getting up at 5.00am every morning.

now at the age of 5 he has to be dragged out of the bed monday to friday to get up for school but at the weekends likes to revert to getting up at the crack of dawn.

do what ever you can at the time, something might work for a while, or for ever who knows?
but do not think you are doing anything wrong you're not.

the only think i will say that is anywhere close to constructive advice is this.
do not make life hard for yourself.
if you find something that works go with it, if thats having the baby in the bed then do it if it means spinning around in the car at midnight so what.
under no circumstance heed ANYTHING you read on the internet.

This post should be made a sticky! So true

Vaquita

Just wanted to pop back in and say thank you to everyone. Like everything, it was a fleeting phase. We had about 3 to 4 weeks of this pattern and now she has settled a lot.

Thanks for all your words of wisdom!