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Original poster

When does the 4 month sleep regression improve?!

20 replies

FloweryBoots · 31/01/2011 11:46

My DS had got him self into quite a reasonable pattern of cluster feeding and napping from about 7 - 10pm then sleeping until 5.30am, quick feed and back to sleep until about 8am. At about 4 months he started waking in the night every 3 hours like clock work, on the dot, then it got even shorter intervals and less systematic/predictable. Now we're lucky if we get one 3 hour stretch at some point in the night and he sleeps for anything from 40 minutes to 2 hour stretches before waking. He's 24 weeks now so we'll soon be weaning. Lots of people have said get him on solids, he must be hungry, but he is not going any shorter time between feeds in the day and still seems happy and full after his feeds in the day so I'm keen to hang on a bit (and certainly felt it wasn't that at 4 months). Just wondered how long the 4 month sleep regression lasts adn when I might expect a reasonable amont of sleep again?!

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Cosmosis · 31/01/2011 13:48

I would love to know too! DS is 21 weeks and we are 4 weeks in and I am nearly dead. It must end soon surely?? sympathies to you Flowery.

samalexholly · 31/01/2011 16:33

What is the tempreture like in your sons room? is the room warm enough? the reason why im asking is coz my daughter kept waking up in the night so i bought her a nice warm dressing gown and even though she wakes up 2 times in the night, it helped.
just a thought :)

Bobby99 · 01/02/2011 10:06

Improved for us at 7 months. Probably not what you wanted to hear...

Original poster
FloweryBoots · 01/02/2011 10:12

At least that makes it feel there will be an end in sight, and for us 7 months is 'only' another month and a bit!

SAMALEXHOLLY - temp seems to be OK, I've tried putting an extra blanket on to see if it helps, and when that made no difference having less bedding, but that also didn't change anything! He's just being a rascall!

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Edsmummy · 02/02/2011 12:55

Hi,

The same thing happened with my little boy when he was 4 months old. I think it was a mixture of teething and weaning.

His teeth didn't come through til he was 8 months old but he was teething for 4 months! I started weaning him at 5 months, and if anything this made him even more hungry!

He didn't really sleep through the night again til he was a year old, and even now at 20 months there are bad nights.

I'm afraid I don't have any better news for you other than you do get used to it! I used to be so used to getting up in the night that I felt more tired on the odd occasion that he would sleep through. I guess your body gets used to being woken up at 2am and 4.30am and going straight back to sleep - so when occasionally you do sleep through til 7am it feels odd.

It's really not that bad, honestly, like I say you get used to it, and sleeping improves for many babies much sooner than it did for mine!

Good luck x

AngelDog · 02/02/2011 23:12

The developmental stuff stops once they hit the spurt which is at around 19 weeks (from their due date).

But there's another spurt at arond 26 weeks which can mess up sleep again.

I'd guess he has difficulty settling himself between sleep cycles & needs your help to get back off. How are naps (how many, when, how long etc)? That can have a big effect.

notnowbernard · 02/02/2011 23:13

It doesn't hasn't

Sorry Grin

DS (nearly 6m) still crap at the sleep thing

notnowbernard · 02/02/2011 23:14

I should be sleeping now but he is crashed out on the sofa and I can't be arsed to move him because he'll wake up and the Wide Awake Club will commence...

TheSecondComing · 02/02/2011 23:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

notnowbernard · 02/02/2011 23:17

TSC I remember you from the '4m sleep regression hell' thread

Is your DS still arsing about as well?!

I am shagged

TheSecondComing · 02/02/2011 23:25

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notnowbernard · 02/02/2011 23:31

Oh no - hospital? That's horrible Sad

DS is just gorge but My God he wakes up a lot. 2 hrs is good going atm. If he does 3hrs uninterrupted I'm speechless...

Also can't bear to do the hardcore sleep-training thing (too little, last baby blah blah)

Hope that when he's on all food that might make a difference Hmm Yeah, right..

And yes, likes to bf all night in my bed Grin

TheSecondComing · 02/02/2011 23:41

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notnowbernard · 02/02/2011 23:45

OMG that's awful. Hope he's ok now?

My (21 lb alsoSmile) has realised he hasn't had a feed for, ooh, 1hr 15m so I'm off to bed

TheSecondComing · 02/02/2011 23:48

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
FloweryBoots · 03/02/2011 09:30

Well, thanks for all the positive messages Grin

At least it's not just me who

a) can't bear idea of sleep training (too soft, and just too damn tired)
b) lets DS sleep with us
c) lets him act like a limpit on my boob all night
d) thinks a three hour stretch of uninterupted sleep is a LONG time (I'm often pleased if we fget passed 40 minutes!)

But they are oh so cute when they finally wake for the day all smiley and role of to give you a prod and wake you up hug

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Original poster
FloweryBoots · 03/02/2011 09:32

sorry, crap typing, 'role over' not 'role of'. And obv all the other mistakes. Sorry, longest stretch of sleep was under two hours!

OP posts:
notnowbernard · 03/02/2011 14:17

Glad we 'reassured' you, FloweryBoots Smile

Remember: We're all in this together Grin

Brillbryant · 04/02/2011 14:59

We had an awful night with my DS last night, he's 21 weeks and we've started weening him early. My husband thinks that maybe he's constipated ( too much banana). He was awake from 11.40pm till 5.45am crying/drawing legs up. Just stewed some prunes up and given him a teaspoon full. He's always been a dreadful sleeper before last night. I've had two nights where he's slept at least four hrs straight. The rest of the time has been horrendous. This needs to end! I think perhaps we started the weaning process to early?or is it just a boy thing?

KatyBeau · 05/02/2011 22:51

Oh, this all sounds familiar. One more thing they don't tell you about! I had an awful week last week with my 19 week old. She feed every 1.5 to 2 hours all night (breastfed only baby).. Hardly napped in the day. When she did occasionally nap (for no more than 45 mins) I codn't nap because I was so tired. Like the worst jetlag. After 4 days of this, I was so tired I started hallucinating and feeling faint, and burst into tears with the health visitor.

My plan of action - extra help so that I could lie down more, even if it wasn't napping - still helped. Snacked more. Checked she was latching on properly. Doing everything to keep her awake during feeds so that she only gets drowsy when I've already put her into the cot (so that she's learning to self soothe a bit more). And persevering with it rather than giving in too quickly. Making sure that I keep on putting her back on the same boob rather than offering the other side so that she's definitely getting enough of the rich hindmilk. And half a teaspoon of baby rice on a spoon late afternoon (which she's loving). Also trying to bring bedtime back from 9.30 to mire like 7.30 or 8pm - bringing it 15-30 mins earlier every few nights.

So far so good. Had two reasonable nights with 4 and 5 hour stretches of sleep. Daytime naps still not great, but will work on that later.

It's hard to say what's working, but my guess it's the breastfeeding changes having the best effect. I think she's filling up before bedtime better.

Hope some of these ideas to tweak things might help someone.

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