Sleeping Problem at 14 weeks

[sresree]

Hello All,

I am new here and looking for some advice/help. My baby is 14 weeks and 6 days today and we are facing issues with his sleep.

After a couple of weeks after his birth, he started cluster feeding in the evenings from about 8-9 pm up until 2 am in the night. He is completely breast fed. I used to have him on my lap until he was awake and cluster feeding. He goes to sleep while feeding, He used to sleep while nursing or I used to rock him to sleep if he wakes up while burping after feeds. Then I used to move him to his crib. He used to sleep 3-4 hours without any issues after that. I could have him cosleep, but I did not do it due to couple of reasons.

1. he used to wake up with stuffed nose and spit up more if he sleeps in a flat surface. he had mild reflux and we kept crib at an angle.

1. since it was winter month we used to have duveys in bed and I used to feel it unsafe for the baby.

First half of the day he used to nap fine 2-3 hours nap. In the afternoons he used to wake up soon with stuffed nose and we used to hold him sometimes so that he gets a good sleep.

This is how he was until 10 weeks. Cluster feeding was tough but I knew this is going to end by 3 months and it kept me going. It did as well end by 10 weeks.

All of sudden he stopped cluster feeding. He started sleeping around 10:30 - 11 pm to 6 - 7 am in the morning with 1 or 2 wakes to burp closer to 11 pm and I used to get a happy 5-6 hours continous sleep :) . His day time naps also improved woth one 2-3 hours nap in the morning and another in the afternoon and couple of 45 mins nap as well. I thought my life is getting normal.

But this changed after 13 weeks. His day time naps got shorter to 45 mins. He started waking number of times in the night. From last 3 days (14 weeks) things have gone worse. He is waking up every 30 mins to 45 mins crying. He needs to be rocked or breast fed to sleep. When he is put back to crib, he either wakes up instantly or wakes up after 30 mins to repeat all again :(. Last night I was holding him throughout. He slept without waking.

He is making efforts to roll over during playtime and his putting his fingers in the mouth all the time. He is clingy and irritated during daytime.

I am completely lost. I read about sleep regression of 4 months, sleep associations etc in forums. Is my baby facing a sleep regression of 4 months which is supposed to last for 2-6 weeks? Or is this a negative sleep association that he wakes up after each sleep cycle and cries out for help. This needs sleep training as I understand. I cannot do CIO and would prefer not doing any training for my baby this young. I am ok if he wakes up couple of times in the night time but waking every 30 mins - 45 mins is making me insane :(. No sleep day and night.

Sorry for such a long post. Please help me with your suggestions.

Thanks & Regards

Sresree

You must be totally exhausted. Waking every 30-45 mins is a total nightmare!

I must say my dd never woke this often. However, her sleep took a nosedive at 14 weeks (the dreaded 4 month sleep regression!). My dd started sleeping for 10 hours straight at 12 weeks, this didn't last long, at 14 weeks she started to wake up again, first once a night and then twice ....then I just gave up and coslept (also ebf)... Fast forward to 24 weeks.....she's up every hour and a half as soon as I go to bed!! I decided to put he in her own room at 25 weeks, she now only wakes once at 3.30 for a feed. Basically I was disturbing her. She loves her own room and goes to bed awake and self settles with no issue at all.

Although this seems great, getting to where we are now was a long exhausting couple of months. it was a sleep deprived nightmare.

At 14 weeks your dd could be going through a wonder week or growth spurt or is teething.

My opinion is dd is to young for sleep training, CIO is not really an option until 6 months. And only then if you are comfortable doing it. For me cosleeping through this period was the only option until I moved her into her own room last week. Just to add, I don't drink or smoke and my dh was relegated to the sofa, so I felt cosleeping was quite safe (please don't shoot me down people!)

I decided that she was so young and maybe she just needed comfort. This stage doesn't last forever, although at the time it feels like it will. I'm not sure I have the answer but I just wanted you to know it does get easier.

hello there,

thank you for the reply. I am also thinking of cosleeping. but never did it since my ds was born. I had a question though, did your dd undergo any sleep training or were you putting here to bed awake from beginning? I have always nursed/rocked my ds to sleep as he was cluster feeding. so i wonder will he learn to settle himself without sleep training

Have you tried him sleeping on his front during the day when you can watch him? You might find he goes through two sleep cycles (45 mins each)

Sleeping more during day leads to more sleeping at night.

I suspect with the clingyness that he's going through a wonder week

Do you have up feed him to get him back to sleep at night?

I didn't do any sleep training. I used to feed her to sleep at bedtime/nap time and during the night up until a week ago. I was really anxious about putting her down awake in the night as I have a 3 year old so I started putting her down awake for naps during the day and was very surprised at how quickly she started to self settle so I did the same during the night. I think she is easier generally because she is a 2nd child.

I also tie up a vest that I wear in the day (tied so she can't get tangled up) and pop that in with her so she can smell me during the night, this really helps her sleeping improve. It's often wet where she has chewed it!

Also it helps if they're not over tired so it's worth putting them into their cot as soon as they start to show sleepy signs. If she started crying I would take her out and feed her to help her go to sleep, 14 weeks is still very young. I've only had to do this once on the second day. She usually blows rasperries and shouts. I think sometimes the key is knowing the difference between protesting and proper crying. So for rambling! Keep us updated on how you get on (and if you get some sleep!).

Thank you all for the replies. You have given me hope and encouragement :)

I have started co-sleeping with him and nursing him whenever he wants. After a few days (nights) of shock, I have figured it out :)...He wakes lesser when he is sleeping with me on bed than he was in crib, but still wakes 3-4 times, but I do not feel so tired as I used to when rushing to pick him up from crib crying. I know this will pass and my baby too will learn to sleep by himself and be independent :)...till then I am there for him :)

Have to figure out for day naps though as he still takes only 45 mins naps. Would try making him sleep on his tummy, but right now I am holding him throughout his one nap so that he gets a one 2-3 hours sleep in daytime.

Four month sleep regression, yuck. Please see these links for shush pat and a guide to awake time lengths to avoid overtiredness

A good way for a baby to learn how to fall asleep on their own is the shh-pat method, it's perfect for 15 weeks old. It does take up to two weeks for them to get the idea of it but it is gentle and not a crying technique. See this link for how to do it www.mybabysleepguide.com/2009/01/shhpat.html

Another thing it so avoid overtiredness as at this age, sleep = more sleep. I like this link for awake time length by age. It is just a guide but it really helped me www.mybabysleepguide.com/2009/02/wake-time.html.

As your baby is likely to still need 1-2 night feeds at this age, try and set a time limit so if bedtime is 10pm there can be milk then and maybe 2am and 6am?

I hope this helps.