4 month sleep regression help!

[Noof]

My son is 20 weeks and for the past 5 weeks his sleeping patterns have been: bed at 7, wake at 9.30/10 for feed, then waking every 60-90 minutes for the rest of the night. Around 3/4am he won't settle after and I end up bringing him into my bed just so I can sleep (he'll sleep 2 hrs when in with me). He wants to feed every time he's awake and although I think he can't possibly be hungry he does have what seems to be a decent feed (although he's bf so it's hard to tell!).

I guess my question is- is there anything we can do to help him through this? Does this sound normal? After 5 weeks I'm at my wits end and I'm so tired, as every night is the same. When will it get better?!

[CallMeMousie]

Not much advice but loads of sympathy - DS2 is exactly the same (although it's been 7 weeks here ) and it's no fun at all! Trying to remember what DS1 was like at this stage but he was so awful in the first 12 weeks that I think even sleeping 90 mins at a time seemed like a treat back then! Pretty sure DS1 was only having a dream feed and 1/2 feeds a night by 26 weeks so I'm hoping DS2 will be the same. I'm trying to roll with it - you can try everything you like to 'fix' the issue but I find it just makes you feel worse to make an effort and fail! We're lucky enough to have a spare room so DH sleeps in there then takes over when he's up for the day at 4ish so I can grab a couple of hours - can you do anything like that? Also if you only have one then nap, nap like your life depended on it! God I miss the naps now!

[dinodiva]

I ended up cosleeping quite a lot between 4 and 6 months, it was the only way either of us got much sleep. to you - it's a shitty few months weeks to get through.

[Cathster]

Massive sympathy - DD has just come out the end of this horrendous sleep regression. It will get better but some babies it only lasts a few weeks, other babies a bit longer.

We got through this by taking shifts (DH did better in the morning, I was better at the late evenings) so each of us could have a few blocks of solid sleep.

Basically do whatever it can to make it easier for you, don't worry about forming habits. We thought the issue was not putting her down awake (nope!), too much day sleep (double nope!), not enough day sleep (yeah right!), too late bedtime, too early bedtime, you name it, we tried it and it all failed!

And I know it's trite but it will get better, in the thick of it I could never imagine getting more than 2 hours sleep at a time but it seems to have finally passed (touch wood!)

[CallMeMousie]

How old is she Cathester?

[CallMeMousie]

Cathster - sorry! Blame the sleep deprivation!

[alliemay]

Hi,
We're just coming out of this sleep regression too. My only advice would be to do whatever works at the time - people kept telling me I was making a rod for my own back but after about 6 weeks something just clicked and her sleep improved massively on its own.
Do you have anyone who could take her for a little bit during the day so you can just get away for a bit? Even if you aren't sleeping a bit of time for a hot bath? I can remember feeling like DD was stuck to me night and day and found that really hard.

[Cathster]

She is just over 6 months now but her corrected age is 5 months. The daily hourly wake ups only lasted a few weeks, then it was the occasional hourly wake ups interspersed with some longer sleeps, so we could never predict what she was going to be like!

The last few days she's been sleeping 4-5 hours, waking for a feed then sleeping another 4-5 hours so much, much better than she ever has. Like alliemay says its like something has just clicked in her little brain. She has reached several milestones (rolling, sitting up) which may have made a difference.

[CallMeMousie]

Thanks Cathster OP, DS2 is also 20 weeks and has been like this since 12 weeks, he seems to have got worse the last few nights but I hope that the end is in sight. He's also started rolling and I keep finding him in random corners of his cot, I think his little brain is in overdrive. I'm planning to co-sleep more and try to put down in the cot less for the next few nights and hopefully that will help!

[Noof]

Thanks everyone! It's nice to know others that are going through it, especially to hear that our attitude of "we've just got to get through it" is the right one. Still waking every 90 minutes here, like clockwork - it's actually quite impressive how he knows!

[MilyMoo]

Since 15 weeks my little one has been approximately waking for 1.5-3 hours anytime between 1 and 5am and refusing to sleep in her next to me/ sleepyhead. I end up bringing her downstairs so that my DP can get some sleep before work. She generally used to sleep at 7 and wake every 2 hours for a cuddle/ comfort feed and then goes back to sleep - sometimes in her sleep head in the next to me, more often than not in our bed though waking properly 12 hours later. Do you think this prolonged waking in the night/ refusal to be in own bed is a 4 mths sleep regression? Any advice welcome :)