4 month old waking 3 times but isn't hungry-what to do?

[CravingSunshine]

I know there's a lot on this topic but please hear me out and offer your wisdom as I'm so exhausted...
DD2 (4m + bottle fed) goes down at 7pm, perfectly, and doesn't wake up till 1030 / 1130 when we give her a final feed. She goes back to sleep easily. But for some reason she is waking from 0200 onwards every hour or so and I can't work out why. I've offered her feeds but she's not hugely interested and, when I have fed her, she has not fed well the next morning at 7 which would suggest she didn't need the night feed.
She usually settles well when picked up and cuddled / dummy back in but I'm yo-yoing out of bed every hour and think it can't be right. Why is she waking up? She seems to be unable to settle herself back to sleep which is a problem.
I'm in two minds : I've read that CC shouldn't be attempted before 6 months but we are exhausted. We have an 18month old sleeping next door who is high energy so really need the rest. I am getting no more than 2 hours unbroken sleep a night with this.
What would you do? Carry on and see if it gets better or nip it in the bud with a few nights of letting her cry for however long it takes? I guess my concern there is why she's waking up.
I'd really appreciate your help, thanks

She probably starts to stir then realises she is alone so wakes up properly.

Are you sure she's not hungry?

4 month sleep regression, google it there is tons of info on it. Its not fun but TTSP

There's a big sleep regression at 4 months. I'd move her cot flush with the bed, then when she stirs give her a pat so you don't have to get up. Ds did this and he didn't naturally self settle until 5.5 months.

I think cc doesn't work well for younger babies and even less so for those going through sleep regressions.

I'd look at ways of maximising sleep for you both - as she's FF you can split the night with your other half while one of you sleeps on the sofa, the other resettles until it passes.

Thanks - I've read about the sleep regression but this has been the way for months. It's neither improved nor gotten worse; she just keeps waking up every hour and a half.
I put her down awake, she's calm and she doesn't have wind. She was on Gaviscon for reflux but no longer screams whilst being fed and doesn't appear to need it anymore. Her mattress is tilted downwards to help a little (towels underneath)
I am sure she's not hungry ItsAllgoingToBeFine as she isn't even interested in the 1oz I offer her and also refuses any more than about 2oz at 7am if she's fed more in the night. She should be taking at least 5oz in the morning.
I do bring her in our bed Iggly but it's giving me backache as I'm squashed in the middle!
I guess I just want her to be able to re-settle herself and sleep at least 5 hours from 11pm. She's over 6kg so should be able to, physically.
Forgot to mention, though, she DOES fall asleep with her dummy so whether she comes into a light sleep, realises it's fallen out and needs it again, I don't know. But even if I feed her a bit at 3am and put the dummy back in, she'll sleep for another hour before waking again.

I have the same problem. Have you tried bringing the baby into the bed with you around the time that she starts waking? This helped us for a while (though more recently DS simply won't settle after 5/5.30am)

I managed to eliminate a recurrent 2am wake-up by pushing back the night feed from 10.30/11.30 to more like 12/12.30. It's a pain because you end up getting up an hour or so after you've gone to bed yourself, but hopefully you should be able, once the pattern of waking at 2am is broken, to bring that feed forward again, if that makes sense. Before that happens though, why not have DH take over the (now) 12/12.30 feed?

Overall I don't have any solutions though so will watch this post and hope someone else does! We've managed to improve things slightly but are still going mad ourselves.

moondolphin we have tried moving that night feed and found that she settled less easily back to sleep after it and still woke at 0200! But clearly not out of hunger. In fact, she's not always bang on 2am but it's at some point from then on and then it keeps happening.
I kept a log of DS1 at the time and although he was a poor napper - 45 minute slots only- and always cried himself to sleep for 4 months regardless of how many cuddles he got, by this point he was sleeping from 11pm - 0530 and he was breastfed, where DD2 is on formula. He refused the dummy so when he woke he had to sort himself out eventually but he simply didn't wake up in the night...
I've been doing a lot of reading on sleep associations and think that the dummy might have to go.... I can only think that if it's not hunger they're waking from, then it's the fact that something is different to when they fell asleep, ie, "the dummy was there when I fell asleep but now its gone, help!"

yeah I'm concerned about the dummy too. In fact I hate it. Introduced it a few weeks ago and it seemed to help get DS to sleep initially (at 6.30/7pm). But from 4/5am it is a nightmare - I end up popping it back in every few minutes. I'm trying to phase it out, but can only do so by DS being completely out of it before he goes into the cot. And I'll usually end up giving it to him at some point in the night just so DH doesn't have to keep waking too.
Good luck. Please post if you find a magic solution or have any breakthroughs : )

Yes I was going to suggest dummy next. I'm oticing it with dd who has one (ds didn't have one though and still did this).

Both of mine have reflux and they got bum wind at night. I just think they're rubbish sleepers. Ds didn't improve until he was on his tummy and I can see dd will be the same but I'm too nervous to let her sleep like that until she's 6 months.

My son is very similar - he has reflux which is managed through gaviscon, raising the bed etc which I think is helping but not solving it. I spent ages determined to resettle him in his cot, only to give up after half an hour, pick him up, and have him fall asleep immediately. In his case I think if he comes into a lighter sleep cycle and is in discomfort, he wakes and can't resettle on his own.

I've tried all combinations of swaddling, dummy, feed times, co-sleeping, bedtimes, naps etc in the last few weeks and nothing has made a difference. I hate to say it but I've just accepted he isn't able to settle himself regularly yet and so am just going with the bleary, sleep-deprived flow. My current plan is to try not to compare him to other babies as that's not helping me at all!

Sympathies though. It's rubbish to wake, look at the clock, and realise it has been less than an hour since you went to sleep.

kdiddy that's exactly the predicament we're in and I have heard that reflux babies are wakeful. I think I might just put up with it for now and go down the easy routes: dummy, cuddles and look at deprivation of those when we're onto solids and she can roll over and get more comfy. I think I'd hate to sleep on my back if I had wind and whatever they're going through.
Iggly DD also has bum wind which seems to strike in the early hours for some reason. I can see her writhing about and fidgeting with it. She really doesn't seem to want to be awake and gets cross when she's picked up but thankfully can then be easily soothed.
What I want to know: has anyone invented an anti-ageing cream that can meet the demands of us mums' sleepless nights?!

Hiya, I suspect it's because from around that time of night they start going into a lighter sleep and therefore when she wakes and realises her dummy is gone she needs ypu to put it in again. I know various people who have been tackling this but ultimately go cold turkey on the dummy. Not easy when you have a toddler too though. xx

hi again. Last night I brought DS into the bed the moment he stirred (but before he fully woke) and he settled for another 2 hours (til 7am, whoop whoop). could you try something like that? i.e. pre-empt DD's wake-up somehow? get in there before she wakes fully to break the pattern... Just an idea, and not a very clear one at that!

Hi moondolpin, DD comes into our bed EVERY night! By 0430 I've had it with the yo-yoing to her cot and back and she sleeps so well (until DS wakes her). I think it's kinda cute that she obviously likes the company and feels safe and warm in our bed but I know it's not the long-term solution. Interestingly tonight however, when I settled her to sleep at 6.45pm she spat her dummy out in the cot and cried. I left her to it, knowing she was knackered, and she fell asleep without it for the first time ever within a couple of minutes. So if she could wean herself off it that might help things. Does your DS use one?