Unsettled baby

[happydays1983]

4 month old baby difficult to settle going to bed. Doing all the right stuff with routine bath, bottle, read a book but once in bed she looks like she is almost asleep but then starts wakening and screaming. Burp her, cuddle till she settles then put her back down. Shush and pat her. Sometimes works then the next night doesn't.
Sometimes think she's over tired and have tried putting her to bed earlier.
Any tips would be much appreciated.
Once she is asleep that's her basically down for the night and no issues re-settling her later.

Funny - I’ve basically read my life right now! My girls 15 weeks and exactly the same...shes definately tierd so it’s not that we’re trying to get her to bed. And we also have a routine too. Sometimes she won’t go down at all (last night - three hours!!!) and sometimes she goes down for 10 mins, resettle, down for 30 mins, resettle...after a few times like you say she will stay down and will go back to sleep fine after feeds etc...maybe it’s the age? What time do you do bed time? We try to get ours into bed for 7 x

*its not like we’re tryong to get her to bed too early.

Glad to hear we're not alone. It's like a weight off my shoulders once she's down ha ha. Maybe is the age.
It's tough going. But got to be grateful as she is a very happy baby and sleeps really well when down.
Hopefully you get some help from this feed too 😀

Oh and we've been putting her down before 7. And now we're trying Bath 5:30 and ready for bed before 6. Maybe this is their 4 month sleep regression???

If she's sleeping through at 4 months then you are all doing so well!

Lots of babies still sleep quite lightly at this age, it's a good defence mechanism really (like a stone age baby checking it's not been left alone in a cave!). Mine likes me to sit with my hand on hiw chest, then after about 10 mins I life it off very gradually. Over time I'll start lifting earlier each night until he sleeps without it, but he's my last baby so I'm sort of enjoying these times with such a small baby, they go so fast (sniff).

I also wouldn't get too hung up on specific bed times - they depend so much on the family, what time the baby wakes, how many naps etc. My first went to sleep at 6.30 as he was our only child at the time and we wanted dinner at 7. My fourth now goes to sleep nearer 8 after his big brothers are asleep so I have time to give him some one on one ans put him down properly.

That's a good way to think about it as she will go down when she's ready. Some nights will be better than others

This sounds like it might be the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. We are going through it and it's so awful!

Think I'm pressuring myself as my mum is babysitting on sat and want her to go down with no problems. My mums had 4 kids so I'm sure she will cope.

Almost sounds over tired. Try looking for signs she wants to sleep in the late afternoon. My boy started asking for bed around 5pm at that age. It's more like 4pm at 6 months. We swaddle him and he gets a bottle when we go to bed. Does 5-11 then 11 till 5.30/6 most nights. He only does a couple of short naps in the day though.

I’m wondering if it’s the regression. She’s waking a lot more at night to. But trying not to think to much about it as I guess it could be regression / teething / growth spurt / general just being a baby!