4 month old routine

[cvchap]

Hi my 4 month old's sleep routine goes roughly as follows: 8am up, then through the day he naps for about 30 mins every 2 hours. I breastfeed him roughly 5/6 times a day, but with no real order, eg always upon waking, but rather just when he wants it. He then has his bath at about 7.30-8ish has a feed, sleeps for about 2 hrs, then I give him a 10pmish feed. He goes straight back off for about 2-3 hours but he's started to wake every 2 hours. He doesn't cry, but moans & wants attention. I initially thought he was hungry and fed him, during which he would nod off. He isn't hungry but is using the boob to comfort & go back to sleep. This is killing me! Last night I let him moan it out which half killed me at 4am! I did comfort him and let him know that I was there, but didn't pick him up and feed him. I need some advice/reassurance. How can I improve his routine? Any ideas why he's waking so much during the night? He was previously going 5-6 hours! Any tips much much appreciated.

There is a 4 month sleep regression linked to developement. this is worth a read (theres an app too!) and is fascinating.

My DD's sleep went to hell at 4 months and I though I was going crazy for a couple of weeks, then all of a sudden it settled down again. TBH I just fed back to sleep and co-slept when it all got too much and went back to usual when her sleep patterns seemed to too.

This may or may not help you, if it doesn't there is plenty of support and advice on sleep training and routines on the 'sleep' forums.

Hope you get some rest soon

Thanks for your reply. The sleep regression thing was unknown to me, but it makes perfect sense. I'm still shattered but at least there appears to be some sort of reason. Makes me feel slightly better. Nothing like this motherhood business to make you doubt yourself! x

that sounds exactly like what ds was like at 4 months, it's totally normal, hopefully you'll be lucky and it won't last too long :)

Hi cvchap. I am no expert but IMO your sons daytime naps are probably too short and too frequent so he is not learning how to get himself to sleep or back to sleep when he awakes. I know how grinding the tiredness can feel, so I would definitely work on getting him to stay asleep longer in the day first (when you are feeling half human) and then when he has that sorted you could very well find the night sleep just falls into place.

I also think at 4 months he should probably only need feeds every 4 hours (so 4 a day plus the 10pm one which I assume you are doing as a dream feed kind of thing) so if you can get him out of feeding so frequently that might help too.

I know routines aren't for everyone, and it sounds like so far you have been kind of going with the flow with regards feeds and sleeps, but I would have lost my marbles if I hadn't put one in place with my DD from quite a young age.

Good luck getting the little man to stay asleep and given you a well earned rest.

My DS is 5 months, so just to compare: (may not help you but just incase you wanted someone else to share there rountine!)

7am: wakes up and plays for an hour
8am: half hour sleep
8:30am: Porridge and fruit
10am: Bottle
10:30am: half hour - 45 mins nap
12pm: Lunch (mushed veg)
2pm: Bottle and afternoon nap in cot (anything from 45mins - 2 hours)
4:30pm Bottle
5:30pm: Dinner (mushed veg with a yoghurt for pudding)
6:30pm: bath and dress for bed
7pm: Bottle and bed.

He can then sleep through til 7am if he wants to but has recently been waking anywhere between 2am and 5am for a bottle.

Sometimes this can vary due to outings/visitors but I always try and make sure that solids are at the same time each day and have done since we started weaning at about 17 weeks. Works for us.

I agree with ThePippy in that maybe trying to extend naps would help LO learn how to self settle. But not with the feeding side (sorry!) - you should let LO feed when he is asking for it at this age IMO, if he's hungry he's hungry - although I can see how this is frustrating when he is sucking for comfort - perhaps a dummy?

HTH. Good luck.