Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

Original poster

So is THIS the 4 month sleep regression then? <sob>

23 replies

gaelicsheep · 27/10/2010 21:01

DD (18.5 weeks) is currently singing and cooing away on DH's knee - wide awake. Same last night from 2 til 4 o'clock. She only really found her voice a couple of days ago and seems to be making up for lost time. And here's me thinking her sleep was settling back into some kind of pattern after apparent growth spurt. Oh help!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 27/10/2010 22:15

She's still here. I thought we were done with all this!

OP posts:

sunndydays · 28/10/2010 09:02

Will she self settle if you just pop her in her cot?

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 28/10/2010 20:33

Erm.... no. She was up singing and blowing raspberries all sodding night!! And here we go again this evening. Already tried in her cot twice. I guess we're back to newborn style evening cluster feeding/comfort sucking and totally (as opposed to largely) sleepless nights.

Someone tell me how long I can expect this to last?

OP posts:

TheSugarPlumFairy · 28/10/2010 21:29

with DD it lasted about 2 weeks. If she was happy in her cot though, singing and blowing raspberries i left her in there. I also took out anything which might be vaguely interesting in her cot and she did eventually go back to sleep.

if she got upset i would go in there, but keep the lights off and just cuddle her in the nursing chair.

We found that bringing her out into the bright rest of the house just made her even more wired and harder to settle.

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 28/10/2010 21:46

Ah, she was in her own room? DD's in with us and kept us awake all night. If her own room was even vaguely ready for her I think she'd be going in there, but it's a workshop at the moment.

Tonight it's been feeding and crying - it's just like the early days again - but DH has finally managed to get her to sleep and she's in her chair at the moment. We daren't try and put her in her cot just yet, but we'll have to soon so we can get to bed.

I think I must have blanked this whole stage out from the first time around!

OP posts:

FranknCock · 28/10/2010 21:49

It was about 2 weeks here as well. Went from sleeping through to up 2-3 times in the night. Horrible, but it did end!

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 28/10/2010 21:57

Mine's been up at least once a night since birth. Been up two or three times a night for weeks now, and I thought that was the sleep regression. I might have been wrong. Two more weeks of up all night?! I'm not sure we can cope. She doesn't sleep in the day either.

OP posts:

HeadFairy · 28/10/2010 22:01

I'm afraid my dd's four month sleep regression lasted a whole month, and to be honest she wasn't that great for aaages, it's only now at 10 months that she regularly goes down at 7pm and stays asleep (but still wakes for a feed at 3am).

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 28/10/2010 22:09

OK, enough! I don't want to hear any more!

OP posts:

HeadFairy · 28/10/2010 22:11

Sorry :o Co sleeping is what saved me, I got very good at feeding dd back to sleep while I slept too.

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 28/10/2010 22:16

We are co-sleeping!! Kind of. Bedside cot, but she usually ends up with me in proper bed before the night is out. But when she's like this not even that works. Last night she was shrieking like a banshee singing as I attempted to cuddle her to sleep. Screaming like she's been doing this evening makes it equally impossible to settle her, co-sleeping or not. If I let her suckle for as long as she likes she throws it all back up again.

OP posts:

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 28/10/2010 22:17

Anyhow, as she's still asleep in her chair I am going to make myself get some rest on the sofa before she wakes again. If you see me posting after about 10 minutes, kick me will you?

OP posts:

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 29/10/2010 01:37

She's still asleep!! But now I can't.

OP posts:

WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 29/10/2010 01:50

Oh dear! It's really hard, this bit; trying to make your sleep needs match a random and daily-changing baby's is hard.

I would kick you off, but IME it is better to be occupied when you can't sleep. Nothing worse than laying there in the dark wide awake and ruminating on things!

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 29/10/2010 01:54

It's the thought of being woken up just after I've fallen asleep. I can't stand it. And the longer she's been down the more likely it is!

This is about the third thread like this that I've started.

OP posts:

WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 29/10/2010 02:20

Has anyone else mentioned post natal insomnia to you? It was awful for me after 1st baby. I used to get so wound up about the pointlessness of only grabbing an hour's sleep that I ended up getting none at all and being quite poorly.

So be kind to your sleep deprivation and try not to get into the vicious circle of getting angry cos you can't sleep, then can't sleep cos you're angry, etc.

Try the "Ah well, I'm not asleep at the moment" approach and resist at all costs the "oh my God I am never ever ever ever going to get any sleep ever again help meeee" wailing banshee!

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 29/10/2010 02:30

I didn't realise it was a thing as such. I don't remember having this problem with DS though, but it was a few years back. I think the difference was that I wasn't b/f him by this stage, and he always had bottles at night so the pressure wasn't all on me. I don't always feel like this - it usually strikes after we've had a bad few nights with DD. I lose confidence in her sleeping so I just can't settle.

I do occasionally grab the odd daytime nap (had one today thankfully) and I can often sleep in of a morning, so it's not desperate. DH is in bed, so when she does wake for a feed I won't feel too guilty dragging him up to settle her if I can't.

Is it possible to have insomnia sometimes and at others (most of the time) feel like you could sleep for England? I guess that figures actually.

OP posts:

WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 29/10/2010 02:42

Glad it's not too desperate! Yes, insomnia can strike at random, it's not always chronic. Doing all feeds yourself definitely piles the pressure on, but then oxytocin can make you very sleepy right after a feed so if little one nods off on the breast, grab that sleep-for-England feeling!

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 29/10/2010 03:04

I say that, but I seriously doubt I've had more than around 4 hours sleep in every 24 for the past 6 months (had terrible problems sleeping in last part of pregnancy). I dunno, is that about average or worse? It must take its toll mustn't it. Sleep when your baby sleeps is a joke because she doesn't in the daytime and I have a 4 year old.

OP posts:

wonderstuff · 29/10/2010 03:12

Sympathies gaelic - never knew I could exist on so little sleep before children.

WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 29/10/2010 09:21

Yep it was about the same for me with DC2. I just pared everything right back in daily life - that helped me to cope. A lot less visiting, errand-running, etc. It did piss a couple of people off that they saw less of me, but the good'uns in my life understood.

After DC1 I was getting about 90 mins sleep, more than once a week, for about 8 months. It definitely took its toll.

Original poster

gaelicsheep · 29/10/2010 10:28

Guess what? The little minx slept through until 6 am. I gave up waiting and got DH up at 4 so I could try to get some sleep. I guess the night before was down to a growth spurt!

OP posts:

HeadFairy · 29/10/2010 11:13

Sorry to hear you had a crummy night gaelic, me too, my little darling woke up at 11pm for her dream feed (she misunderstood the dream bit) and then didn't go back to sleep until half past midnight, and then woke up again at 4.30am and was awake until 6.30am. I was getting really grumpy with her, say oh just go to sleep you silly girl, and she was just laughing at me. She has so much respect for her mother (not). Anyway, she dropped off in my bed just as ds woke up, so now I've got a 12 hour shift at work on 4 hours sleep. Lovely.

I haven't had more than 6 hours sleep in a row for nearly a year now... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

No such insomnia worries for me, I'm desperate for a kip :o

Flip