Advice needed on 4 month old sleep/eating

[MummyVicky18]

Hi all I'm after some advice to see if I can get more sleep.

My baby is 17 weeks old tomorrow, combination fed (mainly bf with only 1 or 2 bottles in the day, bf at night)

We have a bedtime routine in place - between 6 & 7 he has a bath, massage, story & feed.

( currently we have his modes basket downstairs with us until we go to bed)

Now here is where the fun starts. He won't fall asleep on his own. I bf him and he falls to sleep on me. I transfer him into the basket but if he is not 100% asleep he cries his eyes out.
Once he is asleep in his basket (by about 9pm) he is usually fine and when he wakes he feeds and falls asleep on me then goes back in the basket no problems usually. He only sleeps for 2.5/3 hrs though.

Now is this just something that is normal or can I do something about it? I don't want to have to cuddle him to sleep when he is 1 and I'm also wondering if I ought to go fully onto formula as I'm not sure he's getting enough from me. Will formula help him sleep longer?

I don't think I want to let him CIO and he doesn't keep a dummy in without me holding it.

Sorry for the long post I think that's got all the info in. I just don't know what approach to take if any?

All completely normal, especially for four months which is a notoriously difficult age sleep-wise. You'll find million threads on here (including one from me!) about babies who need to be held to sleep, fed to sleep, rocked to sleep, bounced to sleep and then will only sleep on a parent (usually mum), meaning that she can't get catch up sleep during the day, and is up several times a night! There are sleep training methods, but you'll get a million points of view as to what, when and where (or if at all) is the most appropriate for a baby your age.

There is definitely no guarantee that formula will make him sleep better. Why do you think your milk might not be enough? If he's pooing and weeing enough, is alert and has been gaining weight appropriately, then there's no problem. His sleeping behaviours are not an indication that your milk is not enough if that's what's concerning you.

Don't worry about feeding to sleep, it's the most natural thing in the world and the babies love it. I have always fed to sleep but now my 1 year old will feed then with fall asleep abs I pop her in cot, or if she is still awake I can pop her in, she turns over and falls asleep. I have never sleep trained her, it just happened when she was ready (though wasn't till about 10 months that I could put her down awake)

Don't rush them, let them be babies, it will come.

Sounds all very normal and similar to my 4 month old, although my dd does often go for a longer stretch in the first part of the night. The only thing I would suggest is could he be overtired at the end of the day and therefore finds it harder to settle and stay asleep? The main difference with what I do is I do her bath/bed routine at 5pm. Like you, we then have a long feeding session and she feeds to sleep on me and is asleep in her crib by 7. She will then nearly always sleep til 10:30, when she wakes and has a short and quite sleepy feed and (usually!) goes back in her crib quite easily and will then sleep til 2:30/3. After that feed she's more unsettled and will often wake again after 2 hours, but I do feel we're at least getting some good stretches at the beginning of the night. I read somewhere that babies (and in fact adults too) have the best part of their sleep in the first half of the night, so if you can optimise that by getting them down early they are better rested and hopefully develop the ability to settle back to sleep more quickly. I also find that having her asleep by 7pm means I feel like I have a bit of time to myself, which is wonderful because her day time napping is shocking so I certainly don't get any time during the day! HTH