What is the sleep issue here, advice please!!

[user1492964816]

My little one used to sleep 7.30/8-4am have a feed (bottle at night) then tended to drift through till about 7.30.

However the last 4-5 weeks he has been all over the place- not one night is the same. He always wakes about 9pm-10pm sometimes he self soothes, sometimes we need to go in and put a hand on his chest or put him on his side (he loves sleeping on his side) then after that, he could go through till 3-4am and have his normal feed (have To say that's rare now) or he will wake sporadically, sometimes crying, sometimes just waking. It can be as much as every 45 mins or every 2 hours. Also sometimes after his feed he just wants to stay awake so if he's managed a longer stretch to 3/4am sometimes he's then wide awake till 5/6am. His day naps are ok...they vary, I try to get him to have 3 but they vary in length. I know there's probably no reason for it, but it's just frustrating as I want to be able to help him if he's having an issue.

He's always been quite windy, he has a mild intolerance to something in milk but as we are close to weaning (he's 5 months) the HV think powering through until then is best so we can try and determine if it's a dairy intolerance at that stage.

Any thoughts/advice welcome :)

[UnaOfStormhold]

Sounds like the four month sleep regression to me. It will pass!

[user1492964816]

I really hope it does!!

[FATEdestiny]

It is not unusual that sleep changes at 4 months old. This is a perminant change.

Sleep in the "fourth trimester" (first 3-4 months) is relatively easy. Sleep in this newborn phase is passive - as long as all needs are met baby will sleep. Then wake for a need (usually hunger or comfort) and as soon as that need is met go back to the passive state of being asleep. This is as it was in the womb.

Around 4 months all that changes. Sleep matures and develops into more adult-like sleep with sleep cycles, periods of deep sleep and periods of light sleep. Sleep also becomes an active endeavour - you need to be active to help baby get to sleep and you also have to help baby stay asleep through the light sleep phase of sleep cycles.

My advice would be to give every bit of extra help you can to get baby sleeping. So I would be giving a dummy, having daytime naps in something that moves (bouncy chair) and night time naps in a cot that I can cuddle into to give extra comfort.

My thoughts are to make sleep as easy as possible so that baby gets plenty of sleep and learns to go to sleep quickly, easily and with no fuss. Once getting to sleep is made easy, I'd then start reducing the amount of help needed - so bouncing the bouncy chair less, less cuddling into the sidecar cot at night. Ultimately working towards just a dummy and my reassuring hand on baby's chest needed to go to sleep.

Also important is plenty of daytime sleep and calories. Make sure baby has all the calories they might need in the daytime so it isn't needed at night. Also limit awake time to 60-90m so baby gets regular naps. 3 naps doesn't sound many, unless these are 90 minutes plus.

[user1492964816]

Ok thank you, i try to get him to nap regularly in the day but he's a little all over the place with length. Just wish he would sleep better at night too as he can get moany In the day and I know some of it is linked to tiredness! Obvs a babe that needs his sleep

[beccii161016]

The general advice for dealing with the 4 month sleeping regression is to throw everything at the issue to get LO to sleep and then begin to slowly take them away one by one (if need be) so that LO learns to sleep and soothe without them. Some things that can help are: white noise (magical, Ewan the Dream Sheep is fab, it has womb sounds), a dummy (what a terrible parent I am) sucking is a huge comfort to babies, a comforter, a projector with a lullaby.

Some of these things you may not necessarily need to take away such as the Dream Sheep. My son now just takes comfort from the fact that he teddy is there regardless of whether it's on or not.

Also, whatever your bedtime routine is, stick to it to the letter no matter what. That is going to be instrumental in your LO associating the routine with sleep.

Making sure he gets enough sleep in the day is really important too as sleep breeds sleep for babies. The better he sleeps in he day, the better he will sleep at night.