4 month growth spurt - how long does it last ??

[sazlocks]

My lovely 19 week old DS has been a great sleeper since he was born. Up until a few weeks ago he was sleeping 8 or 9 hours a night. He is excl BF. He normally goes down for the night at about 8 pm. In the last 10 -14 days he has been waking for a feed at 11 pm ish, 2 am ish, 4 am ish and 6 am ish. I have a 2.4 year old as well so I am getting a little fatigued !
I think its a growth spurt as well as a developmental spurt as in the same time period he does seem bigger and has started rolling over (and over and over).
Does this sound like a growth spurt that will end and he will go back to a longer spell of sleep at night or does this sound like a new pattern of behaviour that I need to get used to ?

Hi. Yes this is very normal. Around 4 mths ebf babies start to get a bit hungrier,especially when they start doing new things like rolling. Until recently solids were generally introduced at 4 mths because it was thought babies were "ready" but the World Health Organisation now recommends introducing solids at 6 months because that's when the digestive system is sufficiently mature. But that often means having to bf more frequently between 4 and 6 mths.

If your ds is still putting on weight and is generally happy then it would be recommendable to wait til 6mths to introduce solids. It could be that this is just a spurt and he starts sleeping again soon. Certainly when he does start on solids at 6 mths he should start sleeping through the night again.

Btw have you heard of dream feeding? It's where you put the baby down to sleep as normal around 7-8pm, then pick them up around 11pm and without waking them put your nipple in their mouth to encourage one last feed. For some babies this helps them to sleep for a longer period through the night.

Hope you manage to get some sleep :-)

thanks for your response.
I hadn't bothered with a dream feed because he was going down from 8 pm til 5 or 6 am ish until recently. He is waking to feed at around a dream feed time but I could try him a bit earlier with a dream feed while he is asleep and see if that helps him go a bit longer.
thanks

my 18week old dd is same- feeding constantly in the night at mo and has been for last 4 nights. am on my knees! As you are further along than me let me know when it ends! 10-14nights more at least? Yikes!

Waking in the night is NOT an indication that a baby is ready for solids. It's an old myth. What's more, starting solids is not guaranteed to make them sleep through again.

Read this if you've not done so already:
www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html
it made so much sense to me at 4mo

Urg!!!!!! It's 3:50am and it's the 3rd time my DS has woken up tonight.

I thought the 4 month growth spurt was a myth, but it seems I was wrong DS has been unsettled the past 2 nights, but tonight he's wide awake smiling and chatting and wanting fed.

He's only 15 weeks, so he's younger than the other babies mentioned so far, but I'm guessing he's still in the 4 month 'zone'.

I am so tired! Bfing him as I type this, hope the feed will make him sleep.

That link was helpful - thank you.
No intentions re early weaning - I doubt it would make any difference to sleeping patterns.
To the others with babies of a similar age - no change here I'm afraid so I am thinking this is his new pattern. Glad I got quite a bit of sleep stored up in the last couple of months !

Oh thank goodness for that (and hello Sazlocks and Thandeka )!

My 4 and a half month old has gone from sleeping through after guzzling feeding all evening to.... er... waking me up at least twice a night. Two nights ago she woke me up 5 times! She's my third LO so you'd think I'd know. Infact to be perfectly honest it is ringing bells of 'oh yes, I've been through this before'. The difference is that now, thanks to Google and the above article, I know it's normal.

I have absolutely noticed that during the day she is FAR too interested in life in general to drink enough. I'm lucky if I can get her interested in a 5 minute feed before she pulls herself up to a sitting position to scan everything around her. Infact sometimes (I think when she's over tired) she almost refused to lie down and feed.

I am determined to not start weaning until 6 months but it makes perfect sense to me that I was led to believe that I should start my older children (now 14 and 6) on solids at 4 to 5 months which is exactly what I did.

Thank you all for making me feel a little less lonely at 2am waking up for the first of ? feeds

well I am making the same rod yangymac as I do the same - always did with DS1 too. Have to admit is harder with a toddler in tow and I am pretty knackered, happy but knackered !

Pish posh, rod for your own back my arse! You do what you gotta do.

I really really hope it doesn't last long!!!!!

DS is 15 weeks and for the past week is feeing 2 hourly then every hour from 2-7am - im wrecked. Only a week ago he was sleeping through the night! Definitely feeds and not just for comfort too....