Am at desperation stage with four month old :-(

[NeatFreak]

Dd is four months and just doesn't sleep well. She's never slept well but over the last couple of weeks she's got worse and worse to the extent that she won't settle at all in the cot and even when sleeping with me (which I don't want) she wakes around every hour or so and the easiest/ quickest way to resettle her is by bfing her.

Dd is a big baby (nearly 9 kilos at 18 weeks) but feeds well during the day so I don't think she should need much through the night. She is exclusively breastfed, no solids at all.

There are a couple of issues that I know are not helping- I haven't yet moved her into the cot as we lost the fixings so she is still in t he crib, which is too small. However, new fixings are arriving this week so sun an move her.

Secondly, she gets terrible gas and what seems like constipation. Wh suspect she has a dairy intolerance so aim am experimenting with my diet. I also go to baby massage/ yoga classes to help shift any build up but she still wakes up with tummy pain.

What I need is a miracle but failing that any tips would be great. Not brave enough for cc or cio and have been trying patting and rocking with limited success. Even if she will fall asleep in the crib she will wake after less than an hour and won't resettle.

Apologies for the epic post but I am really at the end of my tether as dd is number three and I'm struggling to keep up. Dh is no help at all and doesn't even sleep in the same room as us (long story but I am genuinely ok with this!)

My dh moved into the spare room for the first 3 months of DS's life, and I was genuinely OK with it too!

Probably won't be a popular suggestion, but Gina Ford saved my sanity and enabled me to get my son sleeping through. I didn't follow to the letter ('cos some of the advice is a bit mental), but it helped me a lot.

4 month sleep regression. It's bad for everyone but if you have a bad sleeper, it feels like your life might end. You have my sympathies.m

It will pass, and it's likely that she might be slightly better overall after. In the meantime, do whatever you have to to get through.

At this age, I think a feeding at night is completely normal even for a big baby. Ds was also big and was still feeding regularly at night until after he was a year I think.

Good luck!

Thanks. We had a pretty rough night again and a packed day today so no chance to catch up. Hopefully its a temporary relapse, maybe I should keep trying the.cot etc until she does it. I'm not brave enough to go cold turkey yet! It's just so hard when you wake up feeling no less tired than the night before and mums with younger babies that sleep through bragging.doesnt.help!

I'm in the same boat. Google 4 month sleep regression there is lots of info out there's. I just keep telling myself we WILL come out the other side of this! It is really hard isn't it. My dd has also had 2 teeth come through so we've had very little sleep day/night. Is there anyone who can help by giving you a break to sleep? From what I've read it is a case of getting through this as there doesn't seem to be anything you can do.

On the plus side I can see that dd is developing noticeably every day so it is worth it.... I suppose!