4 months old and still feeding every two hours, sometimes more, 24/7

[SSandCC]

my 4 month old is still feeding every 2 hours 24 hours a day and over the last few mights has been waking up every hour or so, sometimes to feed but sometimes just for comfort. he is sleeping with me and has done since birth, this was our choice as i had read a lot about the benefits of 'co sleeping' 'sharing sleep' whatever one should call it.

i am wondering now if it is me waking him so frequently and if i managed to get him into his cot next to our bed, if he would sleep for longer? or if it is due to the cold temperatures which mean the heating is on all night and he is simply thirsty? i have been a bit thirsty. or if this is just one of those things!

any tips, words of advise or encouragement would be gratefully received.

also...how long will the feeding every 2 hours go on for??

help. x

My DS2 is 5 months and the same. I co sleep too and often wonder if I disturb his sleep. I'm so sleepy that I often don't know who was awake first! My DS does go in the cot in his room at bedtime and then comes in with me when he wakes after I've gone to bed. There's no space in our room for his cot and he's outgrown the crib. If I was you I would try him in the cot if it's next to your bed, at least for part of the night. Sorry I don't have much advice for you, but at least you know you're not the only one!

My ds is 15 months and we have been co-sleeping since birth. At four months he was feeding every two hours, if not more frequently.

We are now down to a couple of times a night, despite me having done absolutely nothing.

There are very few shoulds and shouldn'ts at this age. I think if it is working, carry on, and ignore what everyone else is doing.

If it isn't working anymore, have a look at something like the No Cry Sleep Solution for gentle ideas. Give it a few weeks before trying anything major, though - four months is a classic sleep regression. In fact, search on here for '4 month sleep regression' and you will find gabillions of posts on the subject.

Always remember the MN mantra - this too shall pass :)

Oh and rhino, your ds2 wasn't overdue by any chance, was he?

Mine fed every two hours until 7 months.

First time DS went 4 hours I was really shocked and rather sore! He was well over 6 months. Dd went for 3 hours quite quickly. No idea why :)

Yes he was Gin. Why?

I've read the No Cry Sleep Solution. It's very reassuring even if you decide not to use the techniques.

I'm not sure you want to hear this but mine fed 2 hourly for a year.. I think it's on the extreme end though and continued due to a lot of illness in the last few months. No wise words except to say I found around 4 months definitely the hardest so you are doing very well! To reassure you, I found It did get easier, even though feeding frequency was the same, partly because I think co-sleeping got progressively easier as DD was able to wake up, practically help herself and go back to sleep, disturbing me very little. She cut down slowly on her day feeds too in the last couple of months (although I did force the issue a couple of days before I went back to work at a year!)

I think you should do whatever feels right for you - if you're not bothered, carry on, if it's starting to get you down, maybe experiment with trying the cot or other techniques. Chronic sleep deprivation is such a killer though. I actually had a cold sweat reading your post (I'm still getting up a few times a night at 14mo but that feels amazing to me!) Good luck!

Well, The Wonder Weeks (check out the book on amazon or the app for the iPhone) suggests that all babies go through a series of predictable mental 'leaps' in development. These are dated from conception rather than birth, so a premature baby will hit them 'late' and an overdue baby 'early'. The research suggests that you can tell a baby is in the middle of a leap because they become more clingy, cranky, cry more and their sleep goes completely to pot.

There is one at about 15-19 weeks (four months) and another about 23-26 weeks (which it sounds like your ds has got a head start on rhino).

There's nothing to do but ride them out, really...but at least you know what's going on!

Mine went from one extreme to the other.

He fed every 2hrs for 14months, then one night, just slept 12/13hrs straight.

He still wakes for a feed or two every so often but sleeps through more often than not.

He was 23 weeks this weekend plus he was 9 days late so that sounds spot on.

Spooky, no? Whenever I've found myself thinking, 'well, he's not teething, he isn't ill and he hasn't just learned to sit/crawl/walk...' I look at the app and lo and behold it's spot on!

ds1 was the same until he was 10mos and i stopped bf. we didn't co-sleep.

if you'd told me that at 4mos i may have put him out with the bins...