So, I think we're coming out of the 4 month sleep regression, albeit slowly. The hourly wake ups through the night have turned to 2, 3 or 4 hourly wake ups. The thing which has sticked around and we rarely go a night without are the false starts at the beginning of the night. We will normally have at least one false start but sometimes 2 or 3 before she has a "long" stretch of sleep. Just for context, she is still rocked to sleep and put down sleeping. We've tried drowsy but awake and putting down awake but both result in crying which just escalates.
When she wakes, we leave her while she's fussing/whinging, and she will very occasionally put herself back to sleep, but will intervene when she starts to cry. I've tried settling her in her crib by placing my hand on her chest, patting, shhing and stroking nose/eyebrows but all of these just intensify the crying until she's picked up - at which point she's asleep within a minute.
We aren't ready to sleep train and I know I couldn't do CIO. Any advice on how to stop the false starts or help with settling her in the crib rather than picking up? Or is it just a case of waiting for the regression to be fully over and she'll outgrow it? Would love to hear people's experiences!