4 month sleep regression- light at the end of the tunnel

[nearlymumofone]

I posted here a while back about the hell i was goig through with the 4 month sleep regression. And it really was hell. However I've been meaning to post here to let anyone going through it know there is light at the end of the tunnel. DS hit it at 16 weeks, and it lasted till 6 months, with the worst weeks being form 16-20 weeks. I was EBF at the time and I think this actually didn't help the sleep sitruation, at 5 months i introduced solids and a bottle, he was established on solids by 6 months and ff and slept through the night without waking. I can't tell whether the formula or solids helped, whether it was either or both, but his sleeping well coincided with him being well satisfied and full (he was very poor at bf and not gaining weight so it wasn't going well at hence i gave in at 5 months). We also introduced a blankie which was a godsend and put him in his own room. All of which seemed to positively contribute to him sleeping well. Maybe the regression would have passed without us doing these things, however they seemed to work well for us. Now DS is 9 months and unless he's ill/teething sleeps through the night (from 6.30-6.30 ish).

I just wanted to give hope to anyone going through it at the minute that it will get better.

Pukey we meet again ;-) our small ones are causing trouble in tandem!

Hello everyone I too am joining for the moral support, ironic that the thread was started to provide hope that things will improve!

My LO also was going 7-1ish then 4-ish then waking 6.15. Last night was the third night of mayhem and went sleep at 7, awake 10.10 for feed, awake 12.30, point blank refused to feed (when does that happen), gave up and she fell asleep in my arms, woke on cot transfer spent 30 mins shushing in cot. I then couldn't sleep, she woke next sometime after 2, initially refused a feed, then screamed for 1/2 hour, then DH said I think she's hungry, fed her. Slept til 4.50, fed, woke when I put her down, I ignored her til 6, don't know if she slept again. 6 was up for the day.

She's 15.5 weeks and is rolling onto her tummy and gets stuck as she can't go the other way yet. First night of mayhem we had the playing with legs thing (in sleeping bag so can't get at feet) but now she's just rolling.

Bet I have the exact same thing with feeds, 75th centile, only feeds 7 mins a go, at night seems to just chew me at the moment, I'm really sore!

When will it end??? (rhetorical question)

Off to bed now, hope I get a couple of hours.,.

Muser, just bought the app and see what you mean! DS learned to roll over today so either it'll help him sleep as he's been trying for ages, or he'll be up all night practicing!
Fifi, welcome. Yes, sadly things aren't brilliant on this thread. We have had one success story, Applecharlotte hasn't been seen in these parts for a couple of weeks now, which gives us all hope! Other than that it seems to be up and down for all of us. I think the only positive is knowing you're not alone, when everyone else's baby is sleeping 8 hours a night and people give you pitying looks when you tell them yours isn't!

Congratulations on the rolling over! I hope it helps.

Well, I have managed to express 50ml of milk. I do not expect this will satisfy the hungry baby when she wakes at 11ish. But it's something. Got to be worth a try.

Fifi - Ah, hello again! I'm sorry we're both here :(
Good to know we're not alone though!

Bet - I do think mine and DP's seperation some time around a week ago (have lost all concept of time) has affected her sleeping, (it's been going on since then anyway) but I am relatively calm and normal now, and still she's up and down like a yo-yo!
Also think she's having a growth spurt as she is eating like there's no tomorrow!

Anyway, off to bed with a (finally) settled DD, my thoughts will be with you all at 4am!

Welcome Pukey and Fifi.

Tonight is off to a brilliant start. She point blank refused to take a bottle so my planned sleep is not happening. I'm going to have to try her with the bottle in the morning and check she hasn't completely rejected them. Fun.

Finally some good news to report! It's a very small glimmer of hope, but I will take it!

Night went as normal for most of it. 8.30pm-11.30pm. Midnight-3am. The last stretch is where the improvement was. This is where she can start going hourly or 2 hourly. But first she did another 3 hour stretch until 6.30am. And then when I looked at her at 6.30 she was laying on her tummy sucking her hand and looking pretty content. So I snuck back out and went back to bed.

Next thing it was 7.30am! I hope this isn't a one off. The constant wakings from 4am were the real killer.

Hope everyone else has reasons to celebrate too.

Morning all. Muser that's great news. Really pleased some of the gaps are filling in.
Our night wasn't great. First bit was good: 9.45-1.15am very quiet sleep, although sadly in our bed as DS still won't go in his cot. Then after 1.15am he was really restless, nibbling on and off, tossing and turning. He's still a bit snuffly to be fair. I don't know how many times we were awake as it all sort of blended together. He's had a few weird nights like that and I've no idea why. Maybe his nose is blocked and annoying him.
I do think if he'd go in his cot it would really help, because we all disturb each other when we move. Will try again with the cot tonight I think.

Hi all and welcome (and commiserations) to pukey and fifi.
muser brilliant! It may be a one off but I think that's how the improvement starts, if the next few nights seem back to square one try not to despair (easier said than done) as few bad nights/good nights seem to be the way it goes.

Interesting re app, DS is 21 weeks now, but was a week early and does seem to be improving when I look at his overall pattern - much much better. He also has started to roll both ways recently (but panicked so much he has stopped trying again!), has worked out he can shuffle along the floor quite a way on his back etc. so I wonder if this means he's coming through?

Last night was good, 8-2, quick feed, 5, seemed wide awake but managed to coax back to sleep till 640. This is actually better than pre-regression!

Wow Borg that's fantastic. Was about to suggest we re-christen this thread 'no light at the end of the tunnel. Just more tunnel'. But sounds like things are happening. Your DS is a couple of weeks older than mine, so who knows, maybe we haven't got long to go either? I'm sort of getting used to it to be honest, which is rather depressing!

You guys sound to have had decent nights... Ours was okish after knocking her out with formula she slept til 1.30 but then woke again 3.10 and couldn't settle her til nearly 4 when she got hungry again. Then woke 6am, which is pretty normal for her.

We'll see what happens tonight without formula and having napped ok which she didn't yesterday. Not that I'd advocate nap skipping for a good night's sleep because yssterday she was grumpy as, which was no fun!

Good luck all :)

Congrats to all that are seeing improvement, I do hope it carries on for you :)

The last two nights haven't been too bad for me, DD only woke up 3 or 4 times, (better than the million ga-zillion it felt like before) although she didn't go to sleep until 10 and was up at 6:30
Definitely does better the first half, I recall her waking up quite early on but I didn't check the time. The second time she woke it was 4:00, and she had a big feed, then she woke up at 5:30, then 6:30. Again feeding every time.

Big yawns, although I do feel that she's getting better as i've been making sure she naps more in the day!

I have just seen the wizard smileys [hshock]
Clearly for the amusement of the sleep deprived.

Good move, MN. [hgrin]

Pukey and Fifi, those nights sound pretty good to me. Ours was the same really. DS had one of his restless nights again, so from 10pm-1am he was at least asleep and didn't need a feed but I had to pat him twice or he would've woken up. Then from 1-5 he was tossing his head, rubbing his face, I just wish I knew why. 5-7am we had another good stint, and after a feed he slept like an angel until 8.30. If only he could fill in some of these gaps in the early hours and get up at 7am, that would be great.
Still, just had a 2 hour nap together which helps!

Not a great night here. 9-12.30 was good. But then she woke at 2.30, 3.30 and 6. Then back to sleep until 8ish.

They all sound pretty good to me.
Bet is he sort of asleep for the 1-5 bit, do you have to do anything? DS does that when he's trying to get back to sleep or looks as though is in a really light sleep. I don't know if he still does it as in his own room now but it used to keep me awake. Any luck getting him out of your bed? DS came in with me this morning in a vain attempt to get him back to sleep but no, 5am is official wake up time! [hgrin] at we need more tunnel
We are okay otherwise, 7-1, 430 then 5. Really can't complain with that but sort of thought if he's going to wake at 5, then at least miss out the 430 feed and do it all at 5! Going to go to bed at 9 tonight so that pretty much ensures he'll wake up at 1030.
Is chop out the other side now?

Hi Borg, great news on the sleep, that's really brilliant. Not sure about Chop, hopefully it's got better.
TBH I'm not sure how much of it is DS being near me (still in our bed-gah!) and how much of it is real hunger or wakefulness. You're right though it does keep me awake and I'm sort of ready and waiting to stick my boob in his mouth so he doesn't cry! If I pop to the loo while he's restless I normally come back to find him and DP fast asleep. I might give his cot a proper try tonight, and if that doesn't work get DP to sleep between us so I can't hear him so much and he can't smell milk. I think it's definitely the issue. I'll report back tomorrow!

2100 first roll-over wake up and for some reason after these tummy wakes I can neither settle her in the cot nor cuddle quickly and pop back in. I've tried 3 times, going for 10 min cuddle now, fingers crossed.

Last night was ace, 12.50, 4.30 then awake at 6. Only fed and put back in cot, none if this reawakening nonsense. I expect she'll wake loads tonight just to spite me coz I feel human after 2 decent nights.

Bet I thought putting DD into own room would be much harder than it was, did 2 nights of running in as soon as she squeaked, cuddling to sleep and holding 20 mins before putting down and after that she only woke for feeding til this rolling business began.

Not sure there's anything to be done except wait it out...and do lots of tummy time. She has to learn to roll back at some point, right?

First wake up here as well. She went to bed at 7.40pm (new record!) and did stir about 45 mins later - I could hear her pulling at her cot book. But as she wasn't crying I ignored her and when I peeked again 10 mins later she was asleep. I think that's a good sign of self-settling!

Feeding her back to sleep now in the hope it'll give me a decent stretch after this. I feel that things are going to get better.

Good luck to everyone else.

The most vicious of all ironies, I can't sleep. Everyone else in the house is asleep. Not me. And I predict another waking for the baby at 3am based on her last 12.30pm waking. Going to try and fall asleep for a bit now. I don't understand how I can be so exhausted all day and then find it impossible to sleep at night.

Fifi - I know what you mean re rolling over, DD hasn't learnt to roll back yet but as I said on my thread, a normal sleeping bag prevents her from rolling.

Well, I feel like a bit of an imposter. DD only woke up once last night, down at 10pm, feed around 4, up at 7am. Admittedly this is a rare thing, but I feel that now I have her day time naps sorted, she sleeps a lot better at night.

Anyway, I will be lurking, just in case things go wrong!!

Muser, did you get some sleep in the end? That's happened a few times to me, it's so annoying isn't it? Pukey, congratulations! That's brilliant news, let's hope it lasts.
Our night was better. DS in cot at 9.30 (yay!) but eyes pinged open after one 45 min sleep cycle. Couldn't be patted back to sleep, left him to see what would happen and he started grumbling after 10 mins so back in with us. But then he slept 10.30-2.15 very quietly, and so did I. After that things were a bit restless but not as bad as the night before, and I can't remember how many times he woke up but it didn't seem as many.
I think I'll just keep trying with the cot and hopefully after a while he'll get more used to it.
I can only hope...

Pukey meant to say, it's interesting you've found daytime naps being sorted has helped. I'm really trying this with DS but so far I'm not sure it's making much difference. At least it gives me some more sleep in the day, and makes DS very happy and well-rested, so I suppose that counts for alot.

Hey all, not quite out the other side but a massive improvement. We had 3 nights of him waking at 11.30 and then 4.30ish (and then one night of 5.45!) and then two nights of him not going down til half 9 and waking at 1. You know when you know they're going to wake and your body just won't go to sleep? That's what happened Monday night and still feel dog tired now.

Last night he went down at 7.30 and woke at 12.30, 4.30 and up at 7.15. So quite good really but the earlier feed seems to have been reinstated. Still nowhere near as good as pre regression. He was 20 weeks yesterday, so heading for 6 weeks of regression.

We seem to be in a bit of a routine of his own doing which includes a 3 hour morning nap and now I'm scared to go anywhere in case it buggers it all up

Welcome pukey and fifi. Although it's a shame we have more members under these circumstances! I found getting the day naps sorted half the battle pukey and he is a nightmare at night if he's overtired.

Bet that's brilliant progress on the cot front! And a nice decent stretch of sleep.

Muser did you manage to sleep? Such a pain when that happens.

Borg great progress, things are on the up? So annoying when they feed and then sleep for 30 minutes. Pests!

3.30 even. Nice last stretch but woke at 6.30 by DH crashing around like a baby elephant.

Gah, no! He woke at 3.45, settled himself then woke at 4.30. My brain is mush.