sleep regression

[chloesbaby]

DS is 18 weeks and up until about a week ago I could boast of having an incredible sleeping baby - woke once in the night for a 5 min breast feed then went straight back to sleep till morning.

Over the past week it's been gradually increasing from 2-3 wakings to 6 wakings last night between 12 and 6. I am assuming this is the classic 4 month sleep regression thing. He's doing so many new things. Grabbing his feet is his new favourite activity and when he's on his back he lifts his head off the ground and desperately tries to sit up, but is not strong enough yet. He sleeps in a cot in our room and usually comes in bed with us when he wakes then I try and transfer him back when asleep.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm writing this really - I know it's a phase, it will pass, etc, but I'm shattered! Please tell me there are others out there going through the same thing?

I'm also wondering about introducing food. Any thoughts? He currently has around 8 to 10 bfs per 24 hours and when he wakes in the night I feed him back to sleep.

Haven't got any advice I'm afraid, just wanted to let you know we're going through exactly the same thing. DS is 17 weeks & used to sleep 10pm til 7am only waking once for a feed, now it's every 1 or 2 hours.

I also feed him to sleep & then put him back in his crib but this is getting difficult as he now seems more prone to waking if i move him which means feeding him again. On the plus side his weight gain has been brilliant but I feel like a zombie most days.

I've had lots of helpful advice about giving him a bottle of formula or baby rice for his last feed but I'm not convinced he's waking because of hunger as he usually only feeds for 15 mins when he wakes up.

Thought I'd let you know you're not alone anyway & there's someone else out there crossing their fingers that it's a phase that passes quickly. Good luck!

Thank you! I almost don't want to talk about it any more in RL because I get so much advice about things I should be doing, should have done earlier like put him in his own room, have a strict routine, etc, whereas I'm pretty relaxed about napping, feeding.

Good luck for tonight. I'm considering just having him in our bed for the next few weeks to save my sanity, but not sure how well we'd all sleep in between the wakings

Hi, another one over here! DS is 16 weeks, for the last 10 days or so has been waking throughout the night and really difficult to settle. Used to be he would go down around 7 and sleep untill around 6am, with perhaps one waking for feed.

My DS sounds almost exactly like yours chloesbaby, learning so many new things, and to top it off he's teething! We've resorted to bringing him into bed with us on the really bad nights so DH can get some sleep, but I don't sleep as well.

Here's hoping this phase'll pass sooner rather than later.....

PS, Smilingandwaving, my DS is definitely no hungrier than usual as he still only has the one feed most nights, just needs settling back to sleep.

Yes, it's the 4 month sleep regression - their brains are really busy working on a huge developmental spurt which happens at around 19 weeks (calculated from due date, so adjust if they were born early/late).

There is a great book explaining it called The Wonder Weeks by two scientists who researched all the developmental spurts up to 20 months.

They say "Your baby may not settle down well at night now. It may be more difficult to get her to bed in the evenings, or she may lie awake at night. She may want a night feeding again, or she may even demand to be fed several times a night. She may also wake up much earlier in the morning."

The good news is that it does pass ? and isn?t a sign of babies needing to start solids either.

There?s useful information on the sleep regression here, here, here and here.

Thanks for those AngelDog, looks interesting, will give it a more thorough read once DS is in bed tonight (hopefully!!).

Thanks for those links. Makes perfect sense. God, I'm shattered...

I'll join the tired fold too! For the last week, he's been waking every couple of hours. I'm delighted that this has coincided with DH doing nights and me returning to work in a week. Yay.

Mine too, she is 5 mo now and from sleeping 9/10 hours a night she started waking every few hours about a month ago. Was definitely hungry as launched herself like a gremlin at my boob as soon as it got within grabbing distance and wouldn;t left go til it was drained and her little sleepy face was covered in milk.

The developmental spurt was really noticeable, all of a sudden within a few days started rolling and talking more and looking more interested, among other things! The rolling was a pain as she could only go onto her tummy which she did as soon as she woke, then couldn;t get back onto her back or side so would get upset and wake herself up properly.

Have now started weaning as she started getting hungrier during the day and wanting to feed more, as well as trying to grab anything I was eating or drinking, and although she is not sleeping through again it's gradually getting slightly better. Still knackered though... :-)

Going through exactly the same here with DS who is 19 weeks (born 2 weeks overdue)...and this has been going on for 3 weeks now - when oh when will this be over??? We have started co-sleeping ca a week ago when our main mission was to enable him to get some sleep and that has helped him to settle a bit easier after his hourly wake, ... downside is though that I find it basically impossible to sleep with him next to me...Beautiful that our little ones learn so many new things but OMG I am exhausted!!! Good luck everyone tonight!

Me too- just started a thread on chat about it! DS had never been the best sleeper but was at two feeds plus one or two other wakings a night. Now wakes every hour! We're having to cosleep which I find painful on my knees and hips.

Gaaaah! Bloody awful, isn't it. And my friends with the seven- seven sleepers just don't understand ...

Oh forgot to say he's nearly 17 weeks, 19 adjusted. Does anyone know if it continues after the spurt or should it stop soon???

Anecdotal evidence is that previously 'good' sleepers go back to being 'good' afterwards on their own, but 'bad' sleepers may continue the frequent waking unless helped to learn better habits. (I don't mean 'habits' - I hate the word, but you know what I mean).

It does get easier once the spurt is over at least.

DS used only to feed to sleep during regressions, but once the leap was past he could be rocked to sleep again, and would sleep in the car/pushchair again.

DS was usually up for 1.5 hours in the night most nights during later regressions and that always stopped on its own. He went from 3/4 wakings back to 1/2 on his own at 4 months, but it all went pear-shaped again at the 6 month developmental spurt. I used No-Cry Sleep Solution ideas to improve his sleep. It went mental again in the 8/9 month sleep regression and I never found the right opportunity to work on sleep (he was teething, ill & changing napping patterns) and things improved on their own after the 13 month regression.

Sam1975, what helped me was semi-co-sleeping: DS was on a single mattress of his own on the floor next to mine. It meant I could feed him to sleep without him waking when I put him down, but I could roll back to my own bed to have a bit more space. I gave it up for 'proper' co-sleeping at 11 months which suits us much better now, but I sleep really well with DS there.

hey there,

same here. DS is 19 weeks and woke me several times last night. Everyone is telling me he should be on solids and he will sleep more if I feed him solids. However most people in my NCT group seem to be having sleep problems and some are weaning, some aren't. I really do think it's developmental. I am holding out for 6 months so I can do baby led weaning and just hoping that this is a regression and he will be back to 'normal' (2-3 times a night) soon.

ps, I am also co-sleeping. It helps.

Many thanks Angeldog - Ill try the mattress trick tonight, sounds like a really good idea.

chloesbaby-how was your night? Our started awful with DS waking every 45 minutes from 7pm on until 1am despite being with us in bed...out of sheer despair we then put him into the car seat where he slept beautifully for 5 hours straight!!! what is it with car seats? we noticed before that he sleeps best in it but have been very reluctant to let him use it at night due to impact on his back and apparent correlation with SID but it is very tempting after so many sleepless nights :( OR...could it be that he has infact (silent) reflux and therefore prefers to sleep on his side or in his seat??? I think Ive reached the stage of total confusion.....

morning all,

well last night was ok-ish. he slept from 9-12 then had a big feed. mine sounds like your dd runningrach - i lie him down on the bed, then lie down too and before i know it he has suctioned on with enormous force and guzzles away!
then he woke about every hour to 1.5 hours after that. i did another two feeds in the night, but gave him his dummy on the other wakings. we co-slept too, which actually gave us a lot more sleep than i thought it would.

i know food probably won't make a difference - logically milk has far more calories than mushed carrot - but in my weaker moments i do wonder...

he is really not a happy bunny today - lots of crying poor thing. i am sure it is his teeth because he seems to be in pain. just given him calpol and a boob and he's asleep on me now.

your night doesn't sound good Sam, but if the carseat works for you i would do it. no idea about the reflux thing, but if he's been ok on his back until now it probably isn't the case. maybe the carseat is just more supportive so he feels like he is being held? wouldn't work for us though, ds hates his carseat.

hey Chloe... waves back, I have those weaker moments too. If Bob starts sitting unaided then I may start weaning a bit early. I didn't go to bed until midnight (stupid me) and was woken about 5 times between 1 and 7! aarrgh.

I'm weaning at five months following the recent advice about milk alone for six months needing supplementing (but I think there's no point following guidelines slavishly as they change every few years)! He's 91st centile and starving, sits on his own (with one hand on the floor)! And grabs my food if he can.

BUT I don't think it will make the slightest difference to DS's sleep as he doesn't wake from hunger. He has a dream feed at 10-11 then normally one other small feed, one breast only, between then and six. But he still wakes every hour just to hold my hand