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Original poster

From sleeping through the night to waking every 2 hours

38 replies

Melrose86 · 26/02/2022 23:14

Posting this through tears of frustration! My nearly 5 month old was sleeping brilliantly from about 10 weeks. He would sleep from around 9 til 6 with only occasional waking which the dummy or white noise would put him back to sleep. But now he can't even make it til midnight without at least 2 wake ups and nothing will settle him apart from feeding. He is waking at least every 2 hours, sometimes more and it's really hitting me hard since he previously slept so well. This has been going on for about 3 weeks. Ive heard of the 4 month sleep regression and this is some major regressing! I'm wondering if anyone else's baby did this and went back to sleeping through or what might help? The dummy and white noise don't work anymore. He is mostly breastfed but does occasionally have bottles of formula. We have tried formula before bed but it made no difference.

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tiredmummy198 · 27/02/2022 00:03

This definitely sounds like the 4 month regression! How does he fall asleep? Apparently if they fall asleep feeding or rocking they can then expect this every time they wake (which increases at 4 months)

Original poster

Melrose86 · 27/02/2022 08:07

He usually falls asleep after his last feed then I put him to bed. Maybe feeding to sleep is the problem.

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ShleepyMumma · 27/02/2022 08:22

Yep! My baby went though this….hard! Was sleeping well then bam, awake every 2 hours at night. I was feeding her every 2 hours or rocking to get her back to sleep. She didn’t need the feed, would just take a little bit then fall back to sleep so it wasn’t hunger, just comfort and how she associated falling asleep. I waited it out for a bit but decided she wasn’t going to figure it out herself so had to do some sleep training. We did it gently, supporting her to sleep without feeds/rocking etc. There was crying, always is, babies can only communicate in this way. But by night 3 the crying was just 5 mins when we put her down, and I would stay next to shhhing and patting her intermittently so I didn’t leave her to cry alone. It’s not for everyone, but that’s how we had to crack it. Couldn’t tell what would have happened had we just stuck it out, maybe she would have started sleeping longer. But night sleep cycles are 2 hours, so if your baby wakes every 2 hours and can’t get himself back to sleep, he may always need help. Maybe give yourself a time limit, as in I’ll keep doing this for another month. If no improvement- then maybe think about changing tactics and not feeding to sleep, trying to resettle him without the milk.

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Original poster

Melrose86 · 27/02/2022 14:02

Thank you @ShleepyMumma. This is good advice. I think I am in the bad habit of just feeding him to sleep as its the quickest way to get him to sleep but then he never sleeps long. I do need to find other ways to settle him but I'm also always trying to stop the crying quickly so he doesn't wake my 2 year old. He used to settle with the dummy and white noise but sadly not anymore x

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Fawn68 · 04/03/2022 20:15

@Melrose86 I'm in the exact same situation. Have you found anything that works yet? X

Original poster

Melrose86 · 04/03/2022 20:39

@Fawn68 sadly not! It's tough isn't it x

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Fawn68 · 04/03/2022 20:50

@Melrose86 it's awful! I don't remember my now 3 year old being as bad. This one won't take a dummy whatsoever though, no matter how many I try. I feel ill I'm so exhausted!

Original poster

Melrose86 · 04/03/2022 20:59

@Fawn68 same. The constant broken sleep is awful. My first has been a brilliant sleeper from early on and never went through the 4 month regression. He was formula fed whereas my 2nd baby is breastfed but not sure if that makes any difference.

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Fawn68 · 04/03/2022 21:08

@Melrose86 my first was breastfed and so is this one! First boy was never affected 😩 I just physically don't know how long I can keep doing this. It's been every single night for 2 weeks today.

Geranium1984 · 04/03/2022 21:18

Aaaaahahhhh this sounds horrendous and was me from 3.5mo to about 7mo FML I can't believe I'm through it.

Things improved once he was self settling. I used to BF to sleep then started gently transitioning by introducing a comforter and patting his bum and shushing whilst feeding. Then I'd unlach him when he was almost asleep and finish him off patting and shushing. Eventually I'd finish feed then put him in the cot with comforter and shush pat to sleep there. Then you take the step to leave them on their own with the comforter, shush pat till almost asleep and leave. First time I did it he was ok then next day I think I let him cry for a couple of mins then went back in and calmed him down a couple of times.
The whole process probably took about a month with one week at each stage of the transition.

From then on he has been happy to self settle and sleeps much better, still had some crap naps and bad nights but on the whole mostly good.
Finally slept through the night at 12mo.

Good luck, it's bloody tough!!

OnceuponaRainbow18 · 04/03/2022 21:26

I think it’s pretty normal and Maybe you were super lucky before.

It will get better but sometimes it’s a case of changing your own routine so maybe you going to bed earlier or your husband getting up if baby wakes super early and you slepe in

Lemongrass9 · 04/03/2022 21:28

My little boy was sleeping through most nights, similar to you @Melrose86 but we started the 2 hourly wake ups just after 3months. It started getting a bit better at around 5 months. He will be six months this weekend and we are having mostly good nights, still not back to sleeping through, but doing some 4hour stretches which feels amazing after nearly 3 months of barely any sleep.

He is breastfed and feeds to sleep at every wake up, just offering solidarity rather than advice really.

Only advice is that feeding to sleep is not a bad habit at all, it is a biologically normal way for babies to fall asleep. Obviously change it if you want to but don’t feel like you have made a bad habit.

The only thing about stopping feeding to sleep is that it might not stop the wake ups and then you’ve taken away the thing that gets them back to sleep the quickest. Might not be the case for you but worth thinking about.

Fawn68 · 11/03/2022 09:31

@Melrose86 how are things now?

Original poster

Melrose86 · 11/03/2022 10:10

@Fawn68 better now thankfully. I know it's controversial but I have been giving him some baby porridge at tea time and since then he has been sleeping 8 til 5.30. Also we have been getting loads of fresh air now the weather is better so think that has helped too. He naps well in the pram. He is 5 months and huge for his age. How are you getting on?

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Fawn68 · 11/03/2022 11:58

@Melrose86 amazing I'm so glad to hear that! Absolutely awful, still wakening every 2 hours or less. I have actually cried so much because of this 😞 my little one will be 5 months next week. I also wonder should I add some baby rice in over these next few weeks? I'm honestly ready to be pushed over the edge

Original poster

Melrose86 · 11/03/2022 12:19

@Fawn68 it's torture isn't it. I just thought the porridge was worth a try as I do have a very hungry boy who is about the size of a 7 month old. He has taken to it really well but obviously its not what is recommended now and lots of people will disagree with my choice but it has saved my sanity and I have a happy baby. The packet says from 4 months so I'm thinking surely it can't be that bad if they are allowed to put that on the packet. Really hope you find something that works for you soon x

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Fawn68 · 11/03/2022 13:09

@Melrose86 exactly and if it means you are both happy and his weight is ok too. My wee boy is very small and we had a lot of weight issues from the start. He will be 5 months next week so not too long left before he starts solids. Thank you. It feels like it's never going to end x

Mrsmch123 · 11/03/2022 23:02

I used to have a great sleeper. Would sleep 7-7. Then all of a sudden around 5 months it went haywire. Here were are and almost 9 months and it's getting worse🙈 7 times my watch registered disruptions last night between 11pm and 6am! Hoping we get over it soon.😅

Original poster

Melrose86 · 01/04/2022 23:50

@Fawn68 how are things going now? We had a week or so of great sleep and now we are back to waking up every 2 hours! It's absolute torture! We have tried everything. I feel ill from sleep deprivation. He is sleeping worse than my friends newborn!

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Roseandgeranium · 02/04/2022 00:10

In my experience this is normal and the stuff about self settling being the key to sleeping through is nonsense. My son self settled from about 8 weeks old (I had no idea how lucky that was!). I’d just pop him in his cot after his last feed and he’d nod off all my himself. He slept through from about 9 weeks till about 12 weeks and then he started waking 3-4 times a night. He didn’t sleep through again for many, many months. I know that won’t be what you want to hear, OP, but it might go differently for you. I really just wanted to say that it’s not necessarily anything to do with feeding him to sleep! So if that’s working for you there may not be any good reason to stop it. (My second baby — 6 months old now — has to be fed to sleep but will often do a 7 hour stretch of sleep, so much, much better than my self-settling son at the same age!)

Fawn68 · 02/04/2022 02:19

@Melrose86 exactly the same! I am so fed up now to be quite honest. I too feel ill. I have nothing left to give and my poor 3 year old is suffering because of this.

Fawn68 · 05/04/2022 10:00

@Melrose86 how is everything now?

Original poster

Melrose86 · 05/04/2022 10:08

@Fawn68 the past 2 nights he has started sleeping through again without us doing anything different. Last night he slept 8 til 6.30 with only 1 wake up for his dummy. He will sleep through for few nights then go back to waking every couple of hours. I just can't work him out 😂

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Fawn68 · 05/04/2022 10:21

@Melrose86 that's fantastic!! We are still having it crap here 😞 though the other night he slept 4 hours and settled himself to sleep but then woke and fed but then woke again 2 hours later and wouldn't settle. If only I could master the 2 hour one I think all his sleep would link, I don't understand how he can self settle at bedtime but not the wakes throughout the night.

Original poster

Melrose86 · 05/04/2022 10:41

That's what I was finding. I put him in bed awake and he falls asleep fine but then through the night only feeding settled him but the past 2 nights the dummy has worked. Sometimes he will take the dummy sometimes he won't. I was thinking maybe my boy was going through a growth spurt so needed the extra feeds through the night. It's just so hard to work out what is affecting their sleep isn't it

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