4 month sleep regression and feeding on demand?

[catwhiskers10]

My DD is 4.5 months old and up till the age of 12 weeks slept for 12 hours a night only wakening once to feed, since 12 weeks old, she has got progressivley worse at sleeping (although she goes down at night easily) and is wakening every 2-3 hours.
I was told at 12 weeks it could be a growth spurt but surely a growth spurt wouldnt last as long as this??
IN the past 2 weeks she has cut 2 bottom teeth and learned to roll so I am wondering if this may be something to do with it?
At the moment, when she wakes I usually feed her back to sleep (she is BF) and we have been co-sleeping from about 3am where she latches herself on and off feeding and sucking almost continuously until we get up around 7am.
DH and the HV have said that I should try getting her back to sleep without feeding her because it will get her used to it but I feel that feeding on demand means just that, whether it be day or night. I am able to settle her to sleep without feeding but she wakes again soon after where if she is fed she sleeps again for a couple of hours.
I am just wondering how long this might continue as she used to be such a good sleeper and I am wondering where i have gone wrong!

no advice just sympathy as my dd was sleeping 8 hours, and the last week has started waking every 2 hours and she is 14 weeks...... really hoping it passes soon as mum is feeling as rough as she did when she was 1 wk old!!! i feed to sleep too, and co-sleep from 3-4 same as you. Theres no way i would change this, theres enough going on to suddenly stop bf-ing to sleep so i choose the path of least resistance.............

i don't think we have done anything 'wrong' just a developmental spurt they are going through....

hugs x

thanks scarlett, at least i know i am not the only one!

This happened to me (DS is nearly 10 months now). I stopped co-sleeping around then too and it was the biggest mistake as was a lot more tiring trying to resettle in a cot and without a feed. I used to give in and feed to sleep as much quicker!!!

It's a combo of growth spurt, developmental leaps, more growth spurts etc etc. It did improve gradually after 5 months with a marked improvement at 6 months then downhill at 8 months, rock bottom at 9, better for a bit then worse again. Basically it's up and down

My 17 week old is doing the same! He used to only wake once in the night around 4am, have a feed and go back down in his cot, but now he wakes every hour and a half on a bad night. He starts the night in his cot and comes in with us when he wakes around 2am, and feeds as and when he needs/wants.

I don't have any practical advice to offer I'm afraid, but am clinging onto the thought that it just a phase, and he will grow out of it.

Same here.....can we have a 'knackered and fed up' smiley face

Ditto. 17 week old slept well til about 3 weeks ago, now up every 2 hrs. Light at end of tunnel girls - last few nights only up once for feed at 3-4am (breastfed) done nothing different think it's just growth spurt, developmental milestones (rolling) and a bit of teething thrown in for good measure. hopefully settling...

Thanks for all your replies, its good to know its not just me having done something wrong. Saw the health visitor on Wed and she advised me to start weaning as DD had not been putting on any weight the last couple of weeks, hopefully that will make a bit of difference!

I'm not sure the weaning will help as you can only really give low calorie stuff like fruit and veg at this age?

I remember my DS didn't gain any weight around 5 months - he was ill plus teething and I kept resettling him at night without a feed. I upped the night feeds again and he was back on track. He fed a lot better at night than in the day (unfortunately!!!)

Update: been feeding DD purees (fruit,veg, baby rice) for the past week now and it hasnt helped her sleep any better at all.
She has taken to the food great as well as upping her milk intake day and night, however, the food seems to have given her more energy than ever!