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Sleep

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Original poster

So, this 4 month sleep regression.....

37 replies

badfurday · 04/08/2014 07:56

Well this has well and truly kicked in with my daughter over the last couple of nights. Going from 8-6 sleeping to waking every hour
My question is about feeding, do I feed her when she wakes? Last night she woke at 12 and I fed her naively thinking she would be fine through the night. Then every hour after she woke up and started mumbling away to herself. I offered her her dummy and she eventually managed to go to sleep for about 40 minutes and then the same thing happened again. I did this until 4 and decided to do her some more milk, again she took this like a starving goat.
So she has gone through the night with no feeds, do I now revert back to feeding her? Am I creating bad habits? Please help!

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Cric · 04/08/2014 11:09

I am there with you!! I spoke to the HV about it and she said they are trying to gain weight ready for weaning at 6 months and then they normally lose a bit of weight as so much food ends up on their face:) If I fed her not long before she wakes I try the dummy but if she needs it then I just feed her.we seem to have a few days of waking for lots of feeds and then a couple of ok sleeps and then back to lots of feeds. I do think she actually is hungry.... Also in this hot weather I am getting thirsty at night so they must need a drink too! At least I am not the only one going through it :)

Original poster

badfurday · 04/08/2014 11:15

Ah thanks cric! Glad I'm not the only one going through this!
Ok, I'll stick to instinct then and give her a bottle every few hours and a dummy if she has just been fed.
I also (in the middle of the night googling on my phone) vaguely read that you should drop their last nap and do the bath bottle bed routine earlier? She normally naps around 5 and has her bath at 7, bottle 7.30 and bed by 8. Should I look at getting her bathed at about 6.30 and cutting out her last nap? She is a proper stroppy little madam at 5pm so keeping her awake may be difficult!

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Cric · 04/08/2014 11:19

We are trying to figure this out too! It is so hard to find her perfect time! Last week if we put her down between 8 and 10 she would sleep well bit if we put her down at 7/7:30 she would be up and down until 11. Two nights ago she didn't want her 5/6 nap but put her down and 7 and after 30 mins was wide awake. Last night we went for 7:30 and that seemed to work well.... But whether the same thing will happen today I have no idea!! What about if you delayed the nap before that a bit later so she isn't as tired at 5?

Original poster

badfurday · 04/08/2014 11:32

Hmm. It's so difficult! I think I'm just going to stick to what she has always done. I've just been reading up on it and people say it generally only last 2-3 weeks.
The routine we have works well so I'm reluctant to change it.
Also, I've been reading that you should give them lots of extra cuddles when waking to erasure them your there and will get them off to sleep again. Is this a good idea? I'm worried she'll get used to it and wake for cuddles. Bless her little cottons. Hate the thought of her wanting a cuddle and me being all ruthless and denying her one!

OP posts:

Cric · 04/08/2014 11:50

I think do what you feel
Comfortable with..... If you feel guilty about not giving a cuddle then give one :) I sometimes put my hand in her chest so she knows I am there (if she is half asleep and about to wake up).

Popalina · 04/08/2014 12:18

On week 3 of it here. Please end soon! She keeps waking my toddler.

blueberrypudding · 04/08/2014 13:17

I'm going through the same thing! I posted on a separate thread but no luck with advice, so maybe you ladies can help! :(

She's never been a good sleeper and is nowhere near sleeping through the night, but now not only does she wake every couple of hours in the middle of the night and struggle to go back to sleep, she has trouble settling down during bedtime as well.

When DH tries to put her to bed I can hear her cooing and chatting to him over the monitor while I make tea. Question is... do we give in and just hang out with her downstairs until she's ready to go to bed (so we don't lose the whole evening trying in vain to put her to bed) or should we persevere with the routine so she knows it's bedtime?

I've been told the four month regression isn't a temporary one (i.e. new habits that are formed during this regression persist) - is this true?

Original poster

badfurday · 04/08/2014 13:28

Blue- what we do, and this by no means works for everyone! Is after her feed we either put her on her playmat, as weird as this seems. She likes to look up at the toys and coo. She likes to spread out and eventually falls asleep. If she is cranky we put her in her mosses basket and play white noise or lullabies until she drops off. We are in and out of the living room making dinner etc. She eventually nods off after about 20 minutes.
I usually go to bed about 10pm and take her with me and transfer her to her cot while she is comalike!

What methods do you use to soothe her to sleep?
From what I can gather with sleep regression is they find it hard to drop off to sleep as they have a million things going round in their heads as they are learning lots. Would she settle on her own? I think mine would as long as wears within earshot so she doesn't feel completely alone.

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Dontforgetyourbrolly · 04/08/2014 13:36

Blueberry, my ds' bad habits during his sleep regression did not last, so don't worry.

He went from self settling to me having to rock him and sing to him for half an hour at bedtime - not much fun when it was 28 degrees ! Then, one evening he started squirming as if to get out of my arms - so I put him in his cot - no we're back to self settling. It was just like that.
ditto him only napping in the pram while I pushed him up and down for ages - now back in cot.

We co- slept for that short period for the sake of sanity, he wanted cuddles all night. I was worried he'd still be there when he was 5! But no, just all of a sudden one day he protested at being in bed with me, he prefers his cot.

In the mean time he has become attached to a 'blankie' which In this case is a little duck. Have you something similar you can give to your dd?

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 04/08/2014 13:43

Ps I would like to add there is a new phase now where he's up for the day at 5 am ha ha

Rachel153 · 04/08/2014 15:23

I'm having an awful time with my 5 month old (this has been going on since the week before she was 4 months). I'm really feeling quite depressed :(
Dd will not settle herself or be settled-in cot or on me. I can tell ages tired but she just cries and cries whatever you try to do. Bedtime and nap times. She'll either conk out with exhaustion or go the other way and conpletely wake up and start babbling.
Any ideas? When will it stop?!

museumum · 04/08/2014 15:29

I remember this well. My ds was awful at four months. I am bfing so fed when he woke unless it was less than two hours. He took tons of milk.
We also moved to a 7:30 bedtime and moved last nap forward to 4ish.
I'm afraid it was tough for nearly six weeks :( but he's slept well since then.

museumum · 04/08/2014 15:30

At six months exactly my ds cut his bottom teeth, learned to sit up and started food with gusto. His sleep just fixed itself at that point.

Cric · 04/08/2014 18:25

Blue I take her up for a bath, story and feed between 7:30 and 8 and sometimes she falls asleep but of she doesn't I bring her back down and put her on her bouncy chair for some quiet time but without us taking it in turns until 10! Like you we don't want to sacrifice a whole evening when we know she wont go to sleep!

Popalina · 04/08/2014 20:57

I think the sleep habits learned at four months stick with some and not others. I am praying we are in the latter camp. My first was nowhere near as bad as this at four months. I have avoided giving baby the dummy until last week. Totally caved now but I really don't know what else to do. It settles her in a minute flat.

Original poster

badfurday · 04/08/2014 21:12

My daughter took 8oz if milk tonight! She fell asleep about 8.15pm and I have just brought her up to her cot and I'm in bed. She is really restless though and I think I'm in for a long night good luck fellow regression friends.

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Cric · 04/08/2014 21:35

Good luck!! We just had a melt down! :)

Jonkastique · 05/08/2014 00:14

My lo hit the dreaded regression at just before 4 months, and has just recently come out of it 8 weeks later.

She was a good sleeper before the 'blip', and is a sleeping well again. BUT, she still wakes once in the night for a feed, plus she has a dreamfeed. Before she slept 8 pm until 6 am without waking.

She no longer wants to feed to sleep or be cuddled to sleep, and i did pupd to encourage her to self settle because she didn't know how to fall asleep on her own.

It was brutal! You have my sympathies! But it will pass. Good luck.

Original poster

badfurday · 05/08/2014 01:08

And so it begins....

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Cric · 05/08/2014 03:42

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Original poster

badfurday · 05/08/2014 05:00

Hmm. Not been too bad. She woke at 4 but no amount of dummy action would pacify her. Now feeding. Husband snoring.

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Cric · 05/08/2014 05:42

We had a playful wake up tonight too .... I had a good sleep from 10-2 and then it went down hill!

Original poster

badfurday · 05/08/2014 07:24

This sucks doesn't it. After her feed she just wouldn't go back to sleep. I've tried all this time to get her to sleep. Finally admitted defeat, went to the loo before coming back in to take her downstairs, and oh she's fast asleep!

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Cric · 05/08/2014 09:05

I hope you got back to sleep! Each night I keep hoping we are coming to the end of it. We had a couple of nights with 2 quick feeds in the middle of it.... Fingers crossed for tonight :)

blueberrypudding · 05/08/2014 20:20

Only two proper wakings last night, which I consider a success! She had to come into our bed at four thirty in the morning though, refused to settle in her cot. Kept waking on and off till half six, when I gave up and got her up. Good luck for tonight everyone!

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