4 month sleep regression? Help, please!

[mimolette]

We have been extremely lucky because DD has been a pretty good sleeper at night. Alas, it seems that this too was "just a phase".
For the past two weeks, as she approaches 4 months, she has been waking up lots in the night and I would be very grateful for any advice from those who have been through the 4-month sleep regression (assuming that's what this is!).

• She wakes around every 3 hours to feed, and sometimes will also wake in between those times when she refuses to feed but also won't resettle easily. I appreciate that some babies wake much more frequently, but she had been sleeping more and I am finding it very hard to adjust.
• She moves around lots in her cot and I suspect this may be waking her up as she sometimes turns herself over and also presumably hits herself against the cot walls; she also puts her hands through the cot bars. We've tried to make it harder for her to move by putting some towels under the mattress at one end to make it slightly tilted uphill, but this hasn't helped much. How can we stop her moving around so much?
• She is a lot more awake and curious in the daytime, and seems to feed less as she gets distracted. So I am wondering if she is no longer getting enough food during the day to last the night. However, she doesn't seem to want to eat more as I have tried offering more frequent feeds.

Thanks a million in advance for any tips!

Hey there

Note that I've actually posted for advice on this board myself with my 11 month old this evening so am no expert but wanted to say we went though the 4 month thing and it did pass.
I think you are doing all the right things, checking she is getting enough during the day, is worn out when she goes to bed etc.
With the moving around we Decided to tuck the bottom of DD's sleeping bag under the end of the mattress if that makes sense? She was a wiggly little thing & still is but now she can roll backwards and forwards around the cot and doesn't seem to mind as much when she bashes her head hmm
Hope that's a good thing.

I know what you mean about it being harder now that she is waking as she had been sleeping- that always makes it harder I think that if they hadn't. Make sure you can try to get some rest yourself during the day too. hope that helps.

Hi - it's awful isn't it? You get lulled into a false sense of security and then it all goes a bit haywire!

DD was just the same - slept a good 10/11 hours until 19 weeks and then it went exactly as you have described.

All I can say is just keep doing what you are doing. DD is 6 mo now and it is much better.

Bear in mind that 4 mo is also a time of big developmental changes, eg, rolling over. DD went through a phase of rolling onto her tummy, getting stuck and waking up. Once she had more control and could roll back it didn't bother her.

Also could be a bit of a growth spurt so you are doing the right thing feeding in the night. I tried feeding in the day in a quiet room with no one else around so she wouldn't get distracted. Or covering her head if I couldn't do that.

We brought back the dreamfeed - well she did as she kept waking up for it - that had been dropped and that helped too.

It's really hard, it will settle down but just get as much rest as you can and a break where possible

4 month sleep regression was hell for us, you have my sympathies! The night feeding could be part of the growth spurt they go through so I would keep feeding her at night (as tiring as it is). But I second the suggestion of doing a couple of day feeds in a quiet room if you can so that she has a good feed without looking at some fluff on the floor!

I don't know that you can stop her moving around. You can buy an Air Wrap bumper that is safe as it is breathable which would stop her bashing herself on the sides. DS can roll both ways but conveniently forgets this at night, he rolls onto his stomach and then shouts for me to come rescue him! We find him in all sorts of positions in his cot!

It does pass but it does seem to last longer than other spurts, so don't be disheartened if it goes on a while. It's nothing you are/aren't doing, it's normal. It is so hard at times though and things do get worse before they get better.