Sleep (lack of)

[Rose1999]

Hello, my four month old only sleeps 1-2 hourly stretches, which is made worse by the fact that she gets very distressed when I return her to her Moses basket after a feed. She’d probably sleep for 12 hours straight in my arms but that’s of course not possible. I’ve tried heating her basket but even that doesn’t work. I just don’t know what to do 😕

Are you aware of the 4 month sleep regression? This is pretty typical behaviour, they are waking between every sleep cycle and need your help to start a new one.

The good news is that grow out of it. The bad news is, it can take a while. The average age to link sleep cycles independently is 9 months. One of mine so it after.only a week or two - by 4 months and 3 weeks she was regularly only waking for one feed and occasionally sleeping through. But one I my boys.... took over 2 years to get through it.

I've never been a fan of sleep training. For now, survive the worst by catching up on sleep where you can. Make it a priority - other things can wait. Then see where you are two or three months down the road and consider if you need a change of strategy.

Good luck.

Definitely skins like the 4 month sleep regression. Have you considered cosleeping? It’s the only way I stayed sane.
Lullaby trust have a list of things to do to make it safer

Thank you. I have heard of it but I didn't realise it affected them going back to sleep also. X

To be very honest I'm pretty terrified about co-sleeping

I hadn't planned to cosleep with DD1. I ended up doing it for survival, but didn't do it as safely as I could have. With DTwins I planned it better. It's very normal andpractised all over the world, so it's not something to be nervous of as long as you have read the guidelines.

If your concern is more about how to get out of it and encourage independent sleep, then my 3 eldest all sleep happily without me and have been in their own rooms since 2 (DD) or 3 (DSs). I'm not a fan of sleep training as I can't abide crying at bedtime so always opt for a no-tears solution. This does take longer but it suits me and there's certainly no need to train of you don't fancy it. I worried first time that I would be creating "bad habits" but 4DC later I'm convinced that's bollocls that websites tell you to make you more likely to buy their programs.