to wonder if the 4 month sleep regression is due to the advice to delay weaning till 6 months?

[Fairylea]

Genuine question.

For the record I am not planning to wean ds until 6months.

When I had dd 9 years ago there was no mention of a sleep regression at 4 months. Or if there was it wasnt widely acknowledged or talked of.

Standard advice was to wean at 4months and if a baby who had previously been sleeping through started waking during the night then this was a sign to wean.

Now all the advice says 6 months (I understand and have read the advice) but everyone seems to talk of this 4 month sleep regression which just wasn't mentioned much when the guidelines were wean at 4 months.... coincidence??

Just curious really. My ds has gone from sleeping 6 to 5 most nights to now waking at 1, 3 and 4 for feeding (formula). Ten years ago the advice would be to wean. I'm not going to but I find the ever changing advice difficult.

I looked into this a lot because I felt my dd was ready before 6mo. From everything I read, there is no evidence that weaning after 17 weeks is harmful. It's just that 17 week milestone that is important. We started solids at about 22 weeks,mainly because I wanted to wait a little bit to be absolutely sure, and her sleep improved massively. Only one baby, but still.

And of course baby rice/puree has more calories than bm - if mixed with bm, which is what everyone does, isn't it? I don't know anyone who made up their baby's food with water.

i think lots of people will make up veg puree with water - squirting enough BM to mix in to a puree is quite a wasteful process - generates huge supply if you do it though..... formula would be easier for that, but i still think most people would use just the water the veg were cooked in.

baby rice is easy enough though.

My baby also wakes up because he's a light-sleeper and the sound proofing in this house is poor. It's all too easy to say it's habit. He is getting better though as he improves his self-settling ability over time.

Again: He is not a baby. He is a toddler.

Mine sleep through crackling thunder, booming fireworks, our action movies in until midnight. I would bet money that they would sleep through a brass band marching through our apartment.

DD was 4 when she started sharing her room with baby DS. She would sleep through DS' screams through the night, snoring when he wailed all night because he was sick and his nose was blocked.

She learned to sleep through the night at 4 months and has slept through every single night since then, except for illness. We live in an apartment building, and the family above us has five kids. Trust me, thin walls have nothing to do with kids sleeping through the night.

Of course it's habit. What else is it going to be? Do you think he still needs to feed through the night?

Do you give him milk when he wakes in the night?

They're individuals. My little individual (and until he learns to toddle, I'll hold off on calling him a toddler) doesn't sleep through those things. Neither do I. My partner, on the other hand, sleeps very heavily. It's just luck.

Who is not a baby?

G1nger's child is over the age of 1. Therefore he is not a baby. He is a toddler.

She keeps saying "my baby". If she stops seeing him as a baby (for whom waking up in the night would be perfectly normal) she would perhaps understand what I am saying.

Cote - we always send my partner in first. If the crying escalates and he refuses to be settled, I'll go in and give milk. We're only talking about once a night on average. And he has slept through several times. Whereas during the last growth spurt he awoke for milk every two hours for three weeks. I'm sure we could work harder to break any habit that might exist, but I just don't buy the argument in a more general sense. Plus, it's not a problem for me. As I say, he is getting a lot better at independent sleep.

G1nger - Once your DS learns to sleep through the night, he will also sleep through stuff that happens in other people's homes.

Cote - you're coming across as a little condescending and aggressive now. Is that your intention?

I'm referring there to your previous post.

So you are feeding a toddler milk in the night and you think he is waking up every night because he is a light sleeper and the walls are thin

Are you a bit insecure, G1nger? Why would you think I'm being aggressive or condescending?

Shall we put it to a vote? Christ on a bike...

I am on my 6th baby, all raised the same way, with the same genes. some sleep better than others. dc6, now 4.5 months doesn't sleep through, and it has recently got worst - so I am interested in the sleep regression thing.

my first 2 were weaned at 4 months as that was the advice then. my last 2 I waited until 6 months. I don't remember food making any difference.

some of mine are lighter sleepers than others -and we live in a loud house, and I've never done the tiptoe around thing

the biggest difference ime, is whether you teach your baby how to settle itself at the right time. I fear I've missed the window of opportunity with my latest baby as she'll only go to sleep feeding or being rocked.