My 4 month old only wants to sleep for 45mins at a time, yet still tired ? Any advice

[jackie21]

My 4month old DD for the past couple of weeks only sleeps for 45minutes EXACTLY every sleep! she has always been really bad with wind since she was born and when she wakes up i wind her and she gives me and massive burp, i try and put her down and she just lies there and smiles at me or crys when i put her back in her cot.

So i get her up and she stays up for around 30mins - 1 hour then starts getting crabby to be put back down, i try and put her back down and she goes to sleep. When she does get up for her next feed she is still tired and yawns constantly like she is not getting enough sleep during the day.

Shes not waking up because she is hungry because i have tried feeding her a bottle and she is not interested. Nothing in her nappy etc. I am not putting her down too early as i am sure i know her signs for when she is tired, and when i put her down she falls straight asleep, she doesnt need rocked or anything like that.

I know every baby is differnt and this may possibly be normal but my perseption of a baby is they should get up when they want fed.

Am i just over reacting or is this normal ?

My friends little girl did exactly this...for 18 months!!!

She went to a sleep clinic in the end and was told that 45 minutes is an average sleep cycle for a baby - apparently we all have them, periods of deep sleep then periods of lighter sleep when it's easier to be roused. Her little girl (and yours too possibly) was just waking up in these lighter periods and then needing to be cuddled back to sleep again.

The resolution was to teach her ways to self-settle. It's hard but maybe leave her to cry for a little while and see if she drops back off again?

It may not be the same thing but it does sound very similar

Maybe try swaddling or a grow bag as a way to help her self sooth back to sleep. Also if she suffers from wind have you tried Dr Browns bottles, they are amazing.

i didnt know that 45minutes is the average sleep cycle, thats reassuring. I shouldnt really complain however because she does sleep from 9pm to 8am every night !!

My friends little girl never had more than 45 minutes - EVER.

24 hours a day for 18 months!!

My DS did exactly the same. He never slept for longer than 45 minutes (and it used to take equivalent to get him to sleep in the first place!). Then, one day, I think he was about 9 months old, he slept for 2 hours (god it seemed like an age!). The following day he went back to sleeping 45 minutes again. He then started sleeping for decent naps intermittently (e.g. one and a half hours or more) and then consistently from about a year old.

I used to get myself so het up, worried he wasn't getting enough sleep (he wasn't, but I tried everything - swaddling, which worked for a while, ignoring for a bit, again i think this helped a bit, cuddling back to sleep etc etc). I used to get so upset about it and worried, but then at about 8 months, I just thought sod it, I'm providing the right environment for sleep, it's up to him to take it or not. There are some things that you just can't change. I think me stopping taking responsibility and chilling about it may have even contributed to him then taking longer naps (albeit intermittently).

Not sure if I've helped or not. But sleep cycles are about 40 minutes long. It takes some babies longer to get used to going back to sleep again than others. But your dd will get there. Funnily enough, my ds has always slept through the night, from 3 months. I used to think that was karma, for his appalling daytime naps!

another thing - does your dd sleep better in the car or out and about in the pram?

another thing i read was to be there at the 45 minute time. start shushing or patting or whatever you normally do, to try to ease them back into their next sleep cycle as soon as they start stirring. that sometimes worked for me.

may be worth posting in sleep section. as it's very normal for some babies and you may get some other ideas there.

good luck

My DS was.is the same - except his sleep cycle is bang on half an hour. He's now 7months and since 6 months he started sleeping through and taking one nap each day of 1.5hours, then one sometimes two more of half an hour each, god I get so much done now!

I used to stress about it too, then decided that's just the way he was and get used to it, and it seems he's just growing into sleeping better on his own...sorry if this isn't what you to hear, but honestly I feel the second I stopped stressing about his sleep, he started to sort it out on his own