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Sleep

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Original poster

4 month old who doesn't sleep at night!

11 replies

bailey10 · 13/11/2006 14:58

hi, have a 4 month old DS who is lovely and content during the day but nightmare at night waking every 2 hours for feeds, i think. I'm getting so knackered and not sure what to do. Try to keep to routine in the evenings, which is fine, put him in cot at about 730 awake and he nods off alone but then wakes all night. He's in our room as we are decorating his which isn't easy, anyone have similar probs or any ideas? I'm BF and don't want to stop or wean yet which is what the MIL suggests!

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amijee · 13/11/2006 15:05

how much does he sleep in the day?

Original poster

bailey10 · 13/11/2006 15:08

He does have a few naps in the day but usually only for about 15-20 mins. Find it hard to keep him awake whens he's tired as he gets so grumpy.

OP posts:

popeye123 · 13/11/2006 19:43

Hi,

Try offering him the breast more in the late afternoon & evening, even if he doesn't ask. Sounds like he might be catching up at night so you might want to encourage him to tank up before bed.

You don't have to stop b/f or wean if you don't want to. There are others reasons this could happening....
Even with the night wakings , it sounds like you are doing really well (content....nodding off alone..) so ignore MIL if your gut feeling tells you otherwise.

Original poster

bailey10 · 14/11/2006 15:42

Thanks a lot for yr reply, will try that today and see how we go

OP posts:

popeye123 · 14/11/2006 16:02

just another thought - if he's not it his own room, does your room have blackout blinds? could it be too light for him? hang a blanket up over the curtain rail and see if it makes any diff...

usandourlittlexmascracker · 15/11/2006 07:43

Hi Bailey

My DS is also 17 weeks and isn't a great sleeper I could have written your post a few weeks back. Things have improved since we sorted out his daytime naps. The more he sleeps in the day the better he sleeps at night. I think he was getting overtired.
It was a bit of a struggle settling him during the day and it did involve leaving him to cry but now he goes down like a dream. I put him down as soon as he starts rubbing his eyes and yawning. He tends to go for a nap when he has been up couple of hours apart from his first sleep of the day when he is only up for an hour. Then he doesn't sleep properly after 3/4pm, but does doze during breastfeeds. After 5pm I encourage him to feed as much as poss. Hope this helps

usandourlittlexmascracker · 15/11/2006 09:27

Forgot to add, I now take my ds off the breast as soon as he has finished a feed , this means he doesn't use me as a human dummy! When waking in the night he didn't want feeding he needed me to get back off to sleep.

Original poster

bailey10 · 15/11/2006 15:19

Thanks, and its good to know i'm not the only one suffering!!
Tried feeding him more last night (every hour actually from 6pm) and he did go longer but he's decided not to let us sleep from 2-5! He whinges for ages then if you go and see him he laughs, then he starts chatting! It's so frustrating, we try and ignore him but its so hard.

Our room is really dark so don't think thats the prob and he usually does have a few naps in the day. Think the human dummy thing is definately true though, just hope its a phase and will change in a few weeks! Nice to hear things have got better for you, there is light ...!

OP posts:

DizzyBint · 15/11/2006 15:26

it could well be that he's overtired. with a lot of babies they need a certain amount of daytime sleep in order to be just the right level of tired for a big sleep at night.

my 6 month old needs 3 naps each of an hour long and at least 2 of these need to be in her cot. her naps 'on the move' don't seem to rest her enough.

she gets very grouchy if she is awake for longer than 2 and a half hours.

can you try to get him to nap better in the day? this has really been the key to getting dd to sleep through the night.

Original poster

bailey10 · 15/11/2006 15:37

Maybe that is the problem, i always worry when he sleeps in the day for too long that this will stop him sleeping at night. Reckon this is where i'm going wrong, will try longer naps and see what happens

OP posts:

popeye123 · 15/11/2006 16:19

Another thought....have you had much luck with expressing milk?
Probably hard at the moment if he's feeding alot, but if over a period of a few days you can express enough (easier in mornings) to give him one bottle then you can either try giving it to him at bedtime or at "dream feed" time of 10-10.30pm. Best if someone other than you can do it because if he smells you i'd obviously prefer you.
Even if it doesn't help his sleep it would give you a break. Even if for just one night, go to bed earlier knowing someone can do one feed and try to catch up a bit.
There's a chance it might help him a bit- I'd sometimes find that my DD took more from the bottle than she got from me as (a) she was less likely to fall asleep on bottle and (b) didn't use bottle as a dummy in the same way.
You'll probably find that even 4ozs at 10ish might help....

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