LO waking every hour...what is going on and what can I do PLEASE?!

[Sam1975]

Hi, would be great if i could hear your views on what might be going on with my 4 months old DS - and any advice what to do is much appreciated. Basically until last week he was sleeping ok, self-settled to sleep without any problems and woke every 3/4 hours for a feed (exclusively BF) but then continued sleeping straight away (boy, tis sounds like HEAVEN now!!!) . He usually had naps during the day, totalling 3-4 hours. Since last week it takes him forever to fall asleep, both during day or nighttime, and then he wakes up crying heavily after 45 minutes. He has refused to sleep on his back and only calmed down either in the car seat or when being fed (he seems to be desperate for comfort sucking so that is how we spent our nights now) . We have tried co-sleeping but that too only calms him down for max 1 hour...I just dont know how I can help him any more and what the problem might be ...is this just what they call a 4 month sleep regression and he will grow out of it after some time? Is there ANYTHING I can do to help him sleep again? many thanks!!

Is he teething? Have you tried to give him Calpol? Is he too hot? Maybe he is sleeping a bit too much during the day, 3 to 4 hours seems like quite a lot but then again mine was not a great napper. If he is keen on comfort sucking, have you tried using a dummy?
Sorry, no solutions just suggestions!

4 month sleep regression eh?

It's the 4 month sleep regression. Oh it sucks. Happened to us -DD went from sleeping 13 hours with one waking!!! (And she was EBF) to being up all the frikkin time. Got better gradually...8 months now and down to 1 or zero night wakings...

Sorry, there' not much you can do really. But they do grow out of it - for us we had 2-3 weeks of hell. Then she was down to 2-3 wakings most nights and after a few months back to 1-0 wakings.

I just wanted to say this is exactly the same as my DS (who is 4mths today) - last few nights is waking every hour. I'm a zombie!! Just wanted to say you're not alone.

xxx

Kno exactly where you're coming from, DS2 is 4mths & hve had a week of screaming every night, he's hoarse & I'm a wreck. Have come close to killing him tonight i am that desperate for some relief (EBF so no handing him to anyone else). Seriously considering sedation. Again no real solutions but you are defo not the only one. Have 2 yr old too so no relief during the day.

Yep me too here with my 15 week old. Every bloody hour. I am a wreck. I hope it doesn't last too much longer :(

Thanks everyone for all your comments-very good to know that we are not the only ones going through this ... its been 5 days now since my original post and am now convinced that this is "just" the classic 4 month sleep regression ... the one that I have heard sooo much about but when it hit us 2 weeks ago I just didnt understand WHAT ON EARTH was going on!!! We have now decided to basically throw all previous sleep discipline over board for the time being (hard as I was so proud that we had so easily established a nice sleep routine...well, its gone now,,,) and to go with the flow as much as possible so that our DS gets as much sleep as possible. Our typical night now looks as follows:
*7pm - now able to self-settle in cot and sleeps for 1 / 1.5 hours
*feed to sleep when he wakes up :(
*11pm - wakes again and we try to settle him after lots of walking around / rocking etc in cot ....which we often dont manage to do...so...
*co-sleeping on his side thereafter ... not great I know...) with waking every 1 or 2 hours but easier to settle next to me
*after 3 / 4 am this doesnt work either and we retreat to putting him into the car seat which I hate doing but where he sleeps like an angel until 7am
*we still have 3 daytime naps in his cot without any problems

Im conscious that introducing feeding him to sleep now and co-sleeping on his side or in a car seat is not great but I decided that most importantly our LO needs to get some sleep and hopefully once this phase is over we can slowly go back to our normal sleeping patterns - in his cot...Im not too confident about this at the moment so will keep my fingers crossed at all times!!!! Good luck to everyone out there who is going through the same at the moment!

I have a similar issue except that my LO is managing to sleep for a chunk of a few hours first - 7pm until 11pm ish but after that wakes every hour.

• we have started weaning
• I feed her twice between 7pm and 7am (she had since managed to go from 10pm to 7am without a feed)
• she is in her own room but this started once she'd been in there for a couple of weeks
• she isn't too hot/cold
• her teeth flare up occassionally (red cheeks, lots of dribbling) but we treat with bonjela and calpol if needed. Her teeth haven't seemed to be bothering every night but she has followed the hourly waking pattern every night now for almost 3 weeks
• I am pulling my hair out, and look like the walking dead!

Please help, or at least reassure me that this will soon end

Thank you xx