At wits end, sleep has gone pear shaped

[salander]

Hoping someone can help. Ds is 15 1/2 weeks and ebf. Until week or so ago was going down at ten ish, up around half 3 then 7 . I now realise this was bliss. Past week has been down at nine then up at midnight and then every hour after that. I am demented.

Try not to feed straight off, try rocking and soothing etc but usually end up with him on the boob. He then settles for maybe an hour. I could cry pretty much all day. No idea if there's anything I can do but please help!

Had exactly the same situation too. I feel your pain.DD is now 20 weeks and it has been getting better over the last week or so. I think its the 4 month sleep regression/developmental spurt thing and sadly I don't think there is much you can do. Sorry to be of no help. I got 'The wonder weeks' when DD started. Very helpful book, explains what they go through in their development and it made me feel like at least I was not alone.
Does he sleep in the day? If he does, try to nap when ever he does, every little helps! Hope it gets better for you soon.

Google 4 month sleep regression, you will find you are not alone and it does get better.

Thou saying that my DD is 7 months and here I am...(but she has a bad cold)

Thanks. Here we are again. Have googled - bloody hell. Yet another thing I didn't know existed. Sadly he only really naps when mobile during the day so a bit buggered really. Hey ho. Thanks for the replies.

"
Try not to feed straight off, try rocking and soothing"

Why? Honestly, just feed him. Whatever gets the most sleep for the most people. Feed - and as quickly as possible. He's still very little and is probably having a growth spurt.

It will pass, I promise.

Agree with Seeker. I know it's hard on you but he is tiny. It's perfectly normal at that age - whether growth spurt, onset of teething or developmental thing, who knows.

It sounds as if he is waking each sleep cycle after deep sleep which is common, especially if he's suffering from teething pain or otherwise uncomfortable (feeding is a painkiller, so teething babies will often want to feed regularly at night)

Don't believe the 'rod for your own back' stuff. They all learn to self-settle and sleep through in their own time (although it may be a while yet - plenty of babies still wake age 1 plus, as do many adults - some just aren't great sleepers). In the meantime, do whatever you need to get him back to sleep so that you get more sleep too.

We are going through this at the moment, and when DS (20 weeks) woke for the umpteenth time, only an hour since the last feed, DH took him and rocked him back to sleep so I got a bit of a break. It only took a couple of minutes and no crying, so it was quicker than a feed. I see what the other posters mean about just feeding him, but you might need a bit of a break once in a while - lately I've been waking up with my boobs feeling like an old slipper chewed by an over-enthusiastic puppy.

Can't wait for this to be overv- I'm knackered! Good luck. My tip is get to bed as early as possible for a few weeks ...

That's a good point CountBapula (great name!). If your DS can settle with your DH, definitely good to get a break. It didn't happen with my DS til he was older but they are all different.

Thanks all. I did end up just feeding as it meant he settled quicker. Might try your suggestion with dh, eventually but dh seems to have some kind of viral plague just now so wasn't up for getting up! Was worried about 'rod for own back' thing but thanks for the reassurance.