Help please ds 4 months won't sleep and I am knackered!

[whizzylala]

my ds is 4 months and his overnight sleeping is just killing me. He sleeps really well between 7pm and 1030ish but from there on he doesn't go into a deep sleep again and is waking constantly, not managing kore than about 45 mins at a stretch. He is not hungry, I feed him every 2-3 hours, just unsettled, needs a cuddle or turning over perhaps.
He is able to get himself off to sleep in the evenings and sometimes during the day. He is EBF at the moment.
I have two older ones on school hols and I am dead on my feet. ANY ideas to how to get him to go into a deeper sleep? I don't want to use a dummy or use formula.
Thanks in advance.
Whizz

[xxyummymummyxxx]

however much you dont want to use a dummy, i personally think that the only way to help your son have a deeper sleep is to use a dummy. Try and feed him more reguarly aswell, that way he will sleep the whole time hes down.

[HarperSeven]

Sounds like the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. We had the same unsettled nights, but we used a dummy - we found it was actually part of the problem & got rid of it when the nights became unbearable with the dummy falling out and him waking up.

[milkyjo]

How often do you feed him in the day? My DS was sleeping through from 8 weeks but he would want feeding every hour from about 4pm! My milk seems to dwindle late afternoon and he liked to cluster feed to get him through the night. I was reluctant to give him a dummy, but I did because his daytime sleep was horrendous. However, he would take the dummy at bedtime, it would drop out and remain there until morning. If you did use a dummy, he may become reliant on it and you would have to keep getting up to put it back in. You are EBFing so there would be no reason to use formula so stick with your decisions and don't feel pressurised into giving a bottle last thing at night or starting solids. Could he be teething? My DS got his first two at 4.5 months as did my nephew. Also I've read that 4 months can be a tricky age and some babies regress and wake in the night more. Have a read (if you have time!) about baby sleep cycles it may give you some answers and maybe ways of helping. Sorry I'm not much help but I remember my DS being rather complicated and difficult at 4 months!

[whizzylala]

I worry that I will just have to get up to put dummy back in hence not using, also he seems close to sucking his fingers which I am a dan of as both my others slept through once that had had discovered thumbs / fingers. I don't want to stop him working that out for himself!
He feeds 3 hourly from 6 am, day sleeps are variable in length depending if we are out or not.
I had heard of regression, he was never going for more than three hours anyway though so hadn't thought there was anything to regress from! How long might it last?
Yawn and thanks.
Whizz