Extending overnight sleep of 4 month old

[CheshireDing]

My 4 month old DD is going to bed around 8-8.30pm (depending on how long she bf for which starts at about 7.30pm).

She then wakes probably twice for either another quick feed or just for someone to pop in the nursery (the she goes back to sleep).

This first half of the night she can sleep for up to 6 hours but once she wakes she then wakes every 1-2 hours until morning. She will have a 10 minute feed then fall asleep or be "shushed" asleep - so I presume she is therefore not really hungry as such.

Is this usual or does anyone have any thoughts on extending the time between waking in the second half of the night?

This is the same as my 6mo ds, although I don't have the luxury of a 6 hour stint!
He sleeps between 2 and 3 hours if he has a bottle of formula before bed (bf and food rest of the day). After he wakes up at about 11, it is then feeding or rocking back to sleep every hour on the hour until 7 or 8. I'm sure it's a comfort thing but have tried everything from mobiles, to water in a bottle, routines, co-sleeping, different bedrooms, controlled crying. nothing works!!!

How long do you usually leave it before you go in? Are you getting grumbles, a tantrum, real heartbreaking upset? I'm not a fan of cc unless babies are older. I have a 3mo DD and we have a 5 minute rule unless she's really upset. Last night she woke up at 2am I think and had a grumble but stopped and went back to sleep after 3 mins, that's only because we consistantly do that though. It's a tough one because all babies are different and unfortunately we have no idea what it is that they want!!

Oh God NoFood and I thought I was getting little sleep! I feel for you.

We have a 3 minute rule Lizzy because yes sometimes it just seems to be whittering, hence going in and shushing her works sometimes. The problem is it does not seem that long before she starts whittering again (maybe 30 minutes-1 hour later) :(

I'm in same situation as nofood with my 5 month old dd,would KILL for a 6 hour stint! Would also love to know other ways of settling young ones so will watch with interest.

My 4 month is the same. Between 7-11, great. Sometimes he can make it till midnight. Then a half hour feed and he is down again until an out 3 or so. After that he makes it till about 5 and then I have to hold him and rock him till 6 or so. It's hard and I am not sure what to do as he won't take a dummy and he is such a sensitive sleeper. His reflexes always go so he us swaddled. Sometimes I unswaddle to get him used to it but that only lasts an hour or so. Will it get better?

DS used to do a 5 - 6 hours stint then wake every hour or so. Now at 5 months he's just waking every hour from the moment we put him down to sleep

Dh cracked last night and went off to sleep on the sofa. I had DS in bed with me and he woke up every two hours, then 1.5hours then 30 mins....

Haven't yet found a solution unfortunately.

Oh dear this is not looking promising so far :(

Shay have you tried a GroBag?

I do wonder whether it's partly because she never feeds for as long after the first stretch. I am thinking tonight I might change her nappy when she wakes around 1 or 2am so it wakes her up more and she feeds for longer. Is that mean though?

I'd say don't keep getting her out of her cot and feeding her. Keep lights as dim as possible, stroke her head and shush her. Eventually she'll get the message. We had a horrible week or so doing this every hour - sometimes it took 20 mins to get DS back to sleep only for him to wake half an hour later - but then he sorted himself out - would wake up and shout for a minute or so then just go back to sleep - now, a month later, we don't hear anything from him between 11pm and 6am.

Arrhh last night was doubly bad as I tried to not pick her up every time she cried - of which there seemed to be a lot of times!

I don't know why she wakes up and cries very loud (but then it probably last for a minute if that). If I only fed her 30-45 minutes before surely she can't be hungry :( Normally I would have picked her up and fed her but really don't know if I am supposed to if she sounds furious, but then keeps going quiet.

Feel a bit of a horrid Mummy this morning.