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4 month old ds sleep feeds all over the place, completely chaotic please help!

4 replies

minxofmancunia · 29/01/2010 11:07

Ds is 18 weeks tomorrow he's GORGEOUS !

Up until new years eve he has been great at night, up once or twice max (ocassionally not at all) for a bf then back to sleep no probs big long gaps between night feeds, all good.

Since then multiple wake ups (know it may be growth spurt time but it's been crap for a month) and the worst bit, getting more and more difficlut to settle between feedss. For health reasons (on advice/orders of gp) I've had to stop ebf so dh can do some night shifts and I can get some rest. On the nights I'm with him i still bf, the nights dh is wth him ff and try to give a limited amount as he doesn't take much milk in the day. seems to want it all at night! Arghhh! Goes to bed 8ish and we're lucky if we get more than a 2 hour gap between wanting milk. As opposed to 6/7 hours AT LEAST before xmas.But then messes about in the day, have to practically force milk on him, he's perfectly happy though! just I'm knackered.

Am trying mixed feeds bf am and last thing and ff the rest of the time. Could this be confusing him? If one or the other will have to go to ff as cannot re-establish supply and go to ebf as it was (literally) sending me mad.

He has great naps in the day too. usually 1 hour then maybe 2 hours then another quick half hour, is this too much? he woke up at 5am today not interested in feeding ready to sstart the day! Shoul I limit his daytime naps. not a routine person but everything so all over the place at the mo, would more of a routine help?

So many questions, advice needed please. I know he's v little to be "sleeping through" but just to get back to one or 2 wake ups would be great, at least until I wean him.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
minxofmancunia · 29/01/2010 11:27

bump

OP posts:
jaggythistle · 29/01/2010 12:50

www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html

I was given this link for a similar reason.

I have an 18 week old too and am currently very sleepy....

Hope this passes soon, we were the same, he was only up once or twice between 10 and 7 for a couple of weeks.

neolara · 29/01/2010 13:08

My dd went through a pretty similar thing.

I think the reason my dd sarted waking every 1 1\2 at night (having previously been sleeping for 5/6/7 hours in a row) was because she suddenly became incredibly distracted by everything going on around her. As a result she was not getting enough food in the day and was making up her calories in the night. I began to feed in a quiet room - no telly, no other people, no background noise. Sometimes I can't even read a book as she will try to grab it. Occasionally, I have even had to shut curtains and turn off the light. This has resulted in her feeds lasting 30 to 60 mins or so, instead of the 5 minute slurping she was doing before. A day or so after I started doing this, she started to sleep loads better. Still not back to how it was, but we're now getting 3 or 4 hours between feeds which is copable with.

I was talking to a friend who is a La Leche League breastfeeding counsellor about my dd and she said that is is INCREDIBLY common for babies to start waking a lot at around 4 months and a lot of the time it is because of the "too distracted to eat during the day" issue.

Good luck!

Murtette · 30/01/2010 23:24

Hi Minx

I posted something similar on the bf board earlier in the week. My DD is only 14 weeks so a bit younger than your DS but is causing me similar problems so I'm posting out of support rather than to give any help. DD was sleeping from 11.30 til 6ish regularly for three weeks or so, then started waking at 3am again for a feed which was OK but now seems to have totally swapped her day and night feeds. In the last 24 hours her feeds have been 7.30pm, 10.30pm, 1am, 3.45am, 6am, 8.30am, 10.30am...and then nothing really until 6pm! She then fed again at 8pm and I'm currently feeding her now. I tried feeding her at 3pm & again around 4.30pm this afternoon only for her to have a half hearted suck and then be sick a bit later. If only she could go back to having her 7 hour gap between feeds at night!

This has gone on for a week now and I'm beginning to despair as I don't know how to sort it out. I've tried feeding her in a dim, quiet room during the day but she just unlatches herself and smiles at me which is sweet but does nothing to help! I've tried leaving her to cry at night but she just gets more and more upset and clearly wants food. I've tried forcing food on her but she just brings it back up.

Sorry that this has turned into a bit of a whinge from me! Fingers crossed that our little ones go back to their previous sleep patterns!

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