Awake at 3am. Every. Bloody. Morning.

[PickledLily]

Having fed at 11.30 and 2.30.

I put it down to 4m sleep regression, but it's been 6 weeks now which, as I tell my DD, is taking the piss. Of course she thinks it's hilarious and grins back (I'm thinking such a sense of humour at 4mth doesn't bode well).

It can take upto 2 hours to get her back to sleep. Then she'll wake again at 6am (which I manage to sleep through ignore) and then 7am.

She's shattered, and to make matters worse, she only naps for 30 mins at a time during the day, so there's no opportunity to catch up on sleep. And we're reaching a point where the only way I can get her to sleep in the first place is if she's in the car.

This can't go on. I thinking of putting her in her own room so I can't hear her, but that's not really a solution, or is it?

Help!

I don't have any wise words as I also have a 4-month old. She goes down somewhere around 8 (I usually have to resettle her about 30 mins later) then feeds at around 10.30 (dream feed), 1 and 4. I have to bring her into bed after the 4am waking usually, otherwise she's awake again an hour later. I can then usually get her to stay asleep until about 7. She woke up at 11.30 last night too but resettled with a dummy. Nap-wise she does three or four 30 minute naps. I can sometimes get her to go for an hour if we're out and about in the buggy or car.

How do you get her to fall asleep (other than the car)? Does she feed to sleep? Will she take a dummy? Do you have a bedtime routine?

My DD usually feeds to sleep but tonight she kept pulling off before she'd fallen asleep but then wouldn't actually go to sleep without cuddles and the dummy.

PS I'm in the US so not 4am for me but I'll be in your position in a few hours time!

Oh dear, our DDs sound very similar!

Yes, we have a routine at bedtime - bath, change, feed - to sleep if she's exceptionally tired, or 40 mins of white noise and rocking if not, normally with a few failed attempts at putting her in the cot

She doesn't like dummies :(

My DS started sleeping through the night at about 3.5 months (from dreamfeed at 10.30pm until 7am ish) then two weeks later also started taking the piss by waking at 4am for at least and hour and a half (wide awake babbling/whinging etc) and feeding made no difference. He would also them be awake from 6.30am at the latest. He did this for quite a few weeks then it stopped and he slept until 6.30-7am. That is until recently when at 8 months he decided that he wants to wake at 4.30am again, however this time it is easier to deal with as feeding him sends him straight back to sleep. I would just ride it out Pickled, and get yourself some good ear plugs for the middle of the night waking ;-)

We too had the 2 weeks of good sleep (ie only wake twice in the night) which cruelly made us think we might get more than 3 hours straight. Just before the 4m regression hit. The first night she burbled, we found it funny. Fools that we were.

Pickled - last night wasn't toooo bad here. DD woke at 11.40 (just after dream feed so clearly not dreamy enough!) but I resettled her with a cuddle & dummy. Then she went all the way to 3am which is the longest stretch for a while! Fed her then but she woke again at 4.30 - settled with dummy. And then I don't know what time she woke again but brought her into bed where she's still asleep at 7.15.

I don't mind night feedings when she resettles quickly as I hardly wake up but we had a bad night last week when my DH had to pace the house with her at 4am as she was screaming.

This to shall pass!

This TOO shall pass. Clearly sleep deprived!!

Is she crying, or just burbling? DS is 2.10yrs now, but he did the same thing, and, to be honest, we put him in his own room, got a good baby monitor and left him to it unless he started crying in a distressed tone. He was quite content to burble on to himself and then eventually get bored and go back to sleep.

We did use a dummy and now wish we hadn't, as he now loses it in the bed and shouts for me to come and find it, usually at about 2am!

"I am thinking of putting her in her own room so I can't hear her, but that's not really a solution, or is it?"

It is a solution, and potentially a very good one - not so you can't hear her (you still would!) but because there's a strong possibility that she's waking because you are disturbing her and then she is struggling to get back to sleep again...

I moved both my DC into their own room at 4m, partly because they'd outgrown the moses basket and we couldn't fit a cot in our room, but also because I felt we were actually waking them up when they came into a lighter sleep during the night. As soon as they were in their own rooms they were fine, and much more settled.

Worth a try?

It seems that a mumsnet posting is enough to work miracles... DD has given up the 3am burbles, hooray! She's still waking lots during the night for feeds which is ok except she has reverted to only going back to sleep if attached to me. :(

Moving her to her own room will need to happen soon, but at the moment its easier to have her in with us for the feeds than havingto march to the other end of the house, plus we need to get her sleeping in a cot.