4 month sleep regression- oh.my.god.

[hazel88]

So my DD has just hit the 4 month sleep regression hard. It sucks. It really sucks. for a short while she had been doing 6 hour chunks for the first part of the night followed by 1 or 2 wakings after. On the rare occasion she would just wake up once for a feed then that was it. BLISS. She's now waking up more times than I can count and I'm wondering if she'll ever sleep better again. I know about the 4 month sleep regression inside-out but would really appreciate experiences from others who have either gone through it or are going through it. I need some sanity restored...please?!

Hi, welcome!

Oh no you poor thing have you tried sleep training?

Your poor DD hazel, this teething business is awful isnt it. Sleeping with them last night was the best thing. DD woke a few times though I didn't check the times. Shes just fought her first nap, throwing herself back and wriggling away from me :( has only managed 4oz this morning. Makes you feel useless.

Welcome zombie,

You said you tried cc for 3 weeks didn't you? Would it be worth trying again now he is abit older? Ill be doing it Monday :( xx

Also, her dummy is getting on my nerves. It may have to go! Would that be cruel as well as letting her cry though?

I would give her a comforter now mariloulou if she hasn't already got one to try and replace the dummy and give some comfort when you start cc. I've chosen a muslin cloth (the one which she uses each day) so it smells comforting and I put it in the cot with her which she snuggles in to. I chose a muslin cloth as it's easy to replace should this precious item be lost in the future, she'll never know I've bought a new one!

This sounds stupid but what is sleep training? Is that cc?

I was going to try it again Mari but the second I put him down he's wide awake! It's like he's not in the slightest tired! But then if I move him he screams and rubs his eyes and gets over tired. I've been holding him for the last hour trying to get him to sleep, he did fall asleep for around 15 mins but then the bin men coming woke him up could of gone our there and throttled them

He's currently yawning and rubbing his eyes and starting to moan

Yeah that could be methods such as cc or PU PD. I wonder if PU PD would be effective for you? I do it with my DD during the day, will be working on it during the night once DD is over teething. I rock her until she's drowsy then put her down and then she protests, I pick her up and rock until she stops crying then put her back down and repeat the process for as long as it takes. takes quite a while sometimes but she does eventually get the message!

Oooh I might try the pupd later!

He's only just gone to sleep

The main problem we have is his last nap of the day, he fights it so much I usually just give in because his dinner is ready, then he gets over tired early, falls asleep waking every hour then starts the day very early after a bad night

my DD is difficult to put down for the last nap of the day too! she fights it so much but she fights most naps! I've been keeping her up about 1.75 to 2 hours between each nap which seems to be helping. I find the key to PU PD is persistence. it's tiring but they do take the hint eventually.

Does his bed time need to be bought forward instead of his last nap or would that make it too early?

Can I join please? DD, 1st baby now nearly 7 mo used to be a pretty good sleeper (we often got a chunk of 5-7 hours at the beginning of the night) then we got hit with the regression and then teething and it's been getting worse since then! We are currently on 4 wakeups a night, each time she refuses to settle without a feed despite being put down awake and going off to sleep by herself every night which IMHO makes eff all difference to anything! (Anyone else feel the urge to throttle those with sleeping babies who bang on about routine and self-settling as if it's something they have done rather than just amazing luck?!)

I haven't managed to read the whole epic thread but from what I have read something tells me I'll fit right in.

My current strategy is gradually reducing the length of the night feeds I want to cut out which is going ok though am dreading the bit where I have to make the leap to not feeding at those times at all! I actually try to feed pretty much on demand but am sure DD has just got used to frequent feeds at night rather than needing them.

to all of you going through this - it is really tough!

Hi penguin, welcome!

sorry to hear you're still having a rough time it's shit isn't it? Have you tried any form of sleep training? My DD is 19 weeks and if her sleep is still just as poor at 6 months then we'll be considering cc unfortunately. For now I'm going to try persevering with PU PD during the night which I often fail miserably at as I'm just too tired!

Ok so I'm losing the bloody plot. Just tried for half an hour to put DD down for her last nap. Wouldn't have it at all just screamed her head off the whole time but would sleep on me. I've given up. That's bed time gone to pot now. I'm so pissed off. I don't have the energy for anything. So fed up and dreading tonight.

DS still sometimes refuses a nap in the afternoon... Then I do let him sleep on me but only for 15 minutes max. Then it takes the edge off but still means he's tired at bedtime. Could you try that?

I didn't think of that, will bear it in mind next time though, thanks

she's now downstairs with daddy and we're going to try and get through the next hour until it's normal bed time

Welcome to the newbies who have joined our misery loves company thread !
Last night was better than last night in terms of settling and feeding but I still had multiple wake ups !
Naps have been slightly better but she has still ended up over tired and grumpy. Went down at 6pm but will no doubt be up at 7pm.
Quote of the day for me "oh she isn't sleeping through yet " why do people say that !!!!!

Sorry that was meant to read better than night before

Glad to hear things are a little better for you sycamore. Did this person get back up off the floor after you punched them in the face?! I hope things continue to improve for you. These people, along with the 'yeah I just put them in their grobag and they sleep all night' or 'I put them down awake and just pat them to sleep' I loathe. LOATHE!!!

DD has been a misery since not going down for her last nap. She went WILD after her bath and it took a long time to calm her before she would even consider the bottle. She then fell asleep on me halfway through the bottle after being awake for 3.5 hours where I put her down fast asleep. There was no way was I going to wake her for the sake of trying to put her down drowsy! I am totally dreading tonight, my patience is at an all time low and I feel like I can't tolerate anything

Hazel I tried bringing it forward and putting it back, putting it back a bit seemed to help but he gets so tired now when he skips his afternoon nap so can't stay up hope your nights not too bad, ds has been awake around 4.5/5 hours with a 15-20 min nap maybe. Not cool.

Penguin could you possibly try giving water instead of one feed, then maybe give water until they're on 1-2 milk feeds a night? My hv suggested it to me but ds wouldn't settle with water. Might work for you though?

Starling he won't even sleep on me, he's so tired but he lies there with his eyes wide open!

Sycamore, good news you have had a better night I bloody hate that question with a passion, and especially when they go on to say 'my dc slept through at one day old' slight exaggeration there!

Right, the nighttime nightmare begins, he's still awake after eating none of his dinner. He is in his grobag just had almost a full bottle but is looking very likely!!!

Ooh I just saw his eyes looking heavy! Fingers crossed!

*lively.

Thanks for the welcome all. I haven't tried any sleep training exactly. Not really a fan of cc at this age. I have read the no cry sleep solution but tried pantley gentle removal technique for getting rid of dummy with zero success!

I have thought about trying water instead of a milk feed Zombie. I suspect that like your DS she wouldn't settle but I don't know until I try. Going to give it a few more nights of reducing the feed and then either give water a whirl or make a concerted effort to settle without a feed at all.

Am with quite a few of you on the 3rd nap vs earlier bed conundrum. DD currently goes down around 7 ish but am always walking that tightrope between struggling to squeeze a 3rd nap before bed or waiting for bedtime. Tonight DD was def overtired but thankfully managed to get her down without a massive drama.

Good luck Zombie!

Sycamore I think you deserve a nomination for sainthood if you didn't punch any of the 'oh isn't she sleeping through yet?' crowd!

Haha penguin ! It's nearly as good as 'just going to put down the baby for her 2 hour nap ' it's that easy !

Welcome all new sleep deprived mummys!

the 3rd nap vs bedtime conundrum is a tough one. If it gets past 3.30pm and DD hasnt started a nap, I tend to leave her and push for earlier bedtime, say 6.30pm. I also dont let her sleep past 4pm for 7pm bedtime. But, hey my daughter sleeps shit so what do I know! Ha.

tonight has been classically bad so far again. Bed at 7pm and has already woken 3 times. Probably for that sodding dummy.
I know how your feeling hazel, im so close to giving up. Completely at the end of my tether. Im so done with having nap battles with her.. its so draining.
Tonight will be bad, I know it. Optimism has totally gone! Im feeling sad about next week however, the monkey is driving me nuts but I still dont want to leave her to cry :*(

Hello all, shitty night here and what's worse is, all my fault.

We normally have good success settling her at night since doing the NCSS naps + bedtime routine. But I fucked up the naps majorly today with her last one ending at 6.15 - bedtime normally 7pm :(

So I thought, okay, not ideal, but put bedtime back a bit today.

But then at 7.10 she suddenly started acting really tired so I went straight for bedtime routine - which I couldn't do properly due to being in strange house (pil) and then she would not go to sleep in the end! Just taken 1 hour 20 min and I had to feed to sleep which I'm trying not to do. Totally self sabotaged.

Gaaaaaaarrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhh!!

I am up here waiting with her to make sure she settles and can hear everyone else downstairs eating dinner. I am so hungry. DD is EBF and fed like crazy today as well as for over an hour just now. We had a snack lunch of cheese and biscuits and celery, but because I'm in someone else's house I feel like I can't just go and help myself.

....aaaaand just when I was preparing to sneak downstairs, she's stirring.

Mariou, bloody dummy's ds is very slowly learning to put his back in himself but it takes him a while and he's wide awake before it gets back in his mouth .

Ds is now asleep, but he's rolled onto his front which worries me I have an angel care monitor but I still like to check on him.

Do you think I should roll him back and risk waking him up? Or do you think he will be ok?