Getting so frustrated with 4 month sleep regression

[Boymumtobe09]

My 16 week old baby has gone from being a pretty good sleeper to waking up 4+ times a night - it started to get worse around Xmas but has completely deteriorated in the last week. Every night this week he has done
less sleep then the night before.

I know it’s not his fault at all, but I can’t help but feel so frustrated by it because I know he can do much longer stretches of sleep. The only way I can calm him down is by feeding so I’m starting to feel really sore - it feels worse than newborn days!

He’s also incredibly grouchy and has started doing the most blood curdling screeching - I had to leave a baby group this week because it was just so awful and embarassing.

All I keep reading online is that it can get even worse and some babies never get back to being good sleepers so I’m feeling like there is no end in sight. I’ve got a consistent bedtime routine for him & he goes into his crib awake so I don’t know what more I can do to get him through this. The only tips I’ve seen is either to co-sleep or split the nights with a Partner, neither of which are an option for me.

I know IABU as he can’t help it but it’s just so tough. I’m dreading going to bed every night.

I didn’t say they weren’t but they become less typical after 6 months, not 4.

@Didimum so wake up is 7am & he seems to be religiously sticking to a 90 min wake window but there is no consistency around length atm - it could be 30 mins or could be 2 hours ! I’m feeding him every 3 hours.

He doesn’t nap past 1700, and we start our bedtime routine at 1800 & he’s in his Moses basket by 1900. To be fair so far he is fine at going into the basket it’s just waking up numerous times in the night. Prior to this he was feeding once in the night but atm is at least 4 times. Im breastfeeding if that makes a difference

Does he go back to sleep easily at his nighttime wake ups or does it take a while?

7-7 sleep looks good on paper, but not if he’s waking up all night. He might feasibly only be getting 7-8 hours.

Sleep begets sleep, and the most restorative part of sleep for children is evening til midnight. For this reason, and because of the wake ups, I’d be aiming for a 6pm sleep time at the latest. You can also try a dream feed at 10pm – this worked well with my twins.

Saying all this, he is super little, breastfed and now 4 months, so you may not see a return of the one-time wake ups for quite some time.