Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

Original poster

4 month sleep regression- oh.my.god.

955 replies

hazel88 · 19/06/2015 21:52

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?!

OP posts:
mariloulou · 08/07/2015 21:30

5th wake up...dear god help me

zombiemeow · 08/07/2015 21:31

Mariou, it's exactly the same with ds. Do you also find occasionally you will have a random good night? strange isn't it Confused

RevoltingPeasant · 08/07/2015 21:34

Well I shouldn't complain too much as DH will have a go at resettling her when she wakes at night.

Just, there are three other adults in this house. They sat downstairs eating dinner and dessert and listening to me struggling with DD - they would clearly have been able to hear her crying out etc when I was trying to settle her. Why couldn't DH just come up after his meal and give me a break? Just check I was okay?

I feel like a stupid martyr now, hiding up here with no food but my face is all vlotchy

Original poster
hazel88 · 08/07/2015 21:37

zombie I always used to take DD off DP because it was easier for me to settle her and I'd just say 'give her here!' The only way to break that is to just leave your LO with DH, that's the only way LO will learn to settle with them and the only way DH will learn to pick up on hungry/tired etc cues.

RP I'm livid on your behalf!! You should go and get yourself something to eat then go to bed and refuse to budge all night leaving DH to do all of the night wakings! How bloody inconsiderate!! Look after yourself Thanks Brew Reading about others selfish DHs pisses me off too! A lye in until noon?! What the fucking fuck!! That's beyond selfish. I would refuse to get out of bed, or I would just leave the house and kip in the car for a bit so DH had to do something!

OP posts:
mariloulou · 08/07/2015 21:38

Yes zombie its so random. I had 3 fab nights and thought yayy! Oh hell no, the following night I was up 8,9 times. Im now rocking/holding her, going to just get into bed with her now. Ive spent my whole evening cooking for dh, cleaning up and running up and down the stairs. Im done.

Original poster
hazel88 · 08/07/2015 21:41

Jesus mariloulou, tell DH you need him to take over for a bit tonight, you'll run yourself in to the ground

OP posts:
Penguin13 · 08/07/2015 21:42

Argh Mariloulou! We have dummy issues too. Periodically I think we should get rid of it but she is REALLY attached and I am a big scaredy cat It's so hard when they're at that stage of not being able to reinsert it for themselves.

mariloulou · 08/07/2015 21:58

He has sat on the sofa all night. He is great at the weekends, he sends me upstairs for a mondo nap both days and does loads with DD1, takes her to the park swimming etc. Bathes DD2 and watches her whilst I have along bath myself. But during the week good god I could throttle him. He doesn't notice its his responsibility too. Yes he has a demanding job, yes he works long hours but ffs your wife is sinking.... fast! Just doesnt get it :( im calling it a night..too angry to bother trying anything now.

I do hope you all have better nights tonight. Speak in the morn xx

RevoltingPeasant · 08/07/2015 21:59

Mari how old is yours again? Tbh I would be tempted to do cc if faced with that. Can completely see you're at the end of your tether.

Right, we will all get thru this! We really will.

Managed to wash face, get downstairs and have sth. Going to try and sleep,soon..... Need more than 1.5 hours at a stretch!

Penguin13 · 08/07/2015 22:20

Those of you dealing with this with more than one child not counting DHs Grin are bloody amazing by the way. I am just barely coping with one to look after, I can only imagine the extra energy involved to look after two or more.

Really hope everyone has a decent night. Good luck ladies and remember when it's the middle of the night and you're at a low point - we're in it together and one day our babies will be sleeping like angels and those smug bastards who have sleepers now will be weeping into their coffee and wondering what happened to their oh so perfect routine as little johnnie swings from the lightshade at three in the morning Grin

Penguin13 · 08/07/2015 22:22

Good to see that I have in no way allowed sleep 'challenges' to make me bitter Hmm.....

zombiemeow · 08/07/2015 22:41

Haha penguin!

Well ds has woke 2ce again for his dummy, once he woke up properly and I got him to sleep, I have just come to bed and he is stirring loads Confused

praying hoping everyone has a good night!

Penguin13 · 09/07/2015 03:01

Not having a great night here Sad Think DD's teeth are bothering her tonight but she has so far woken at 8.40, 11.20, 12.40 and 2.40. Twice have managed to settle her with a shorter feed (4mins) so I guess that's progress clutches straws wildly....

zombiemeow · 09/07/2015 03:26

Sorry your having a bad night penguin, me too Hmm

Since I went to bed ds woke twice for his dummy, then woke 1am and was up until just now (3.25). Hmm. I fed him to sleep in the end, I couldn't cope, I was about to pass out. He usually wakes At 5 too. I'm dreading it.

zombiemeow · 09/07/2015 05:13

HmmHmmHmmHmm

How am I going to do thuscSad

You know when you don't actually know if you slept or not Sad I don't understand how he, or me for that matter, can function of such little sleep

Original poster
hazel88 · 09/07/2015 05:57

7 wake ups. DD ended up in our bed as she was just wide awake for ages.

OP posts:
Original poster
hazel88 · 09/07/2015 05:59

didn't mean to send that so soon but DD pressed send haha. she didn't seem to be woken by teething, not hunger either....just awake. What the hell do we do?!!! PU PD just wouldn't work. Humph Sad

OP posts:
mariloulou · 09/07/2015 06:27

DD is 26 weeks RP. This has been going on she was about 15-16 weeks. So actually longer than I thought!

Penguin it is divided with the 2 of them, but mostly I feel guilt. DD1 is 4 and so lovely and patient with all of this, she doesn't moan or play up with the lack of attention. I just.... miss her :( barely get time with her now.

Sorry you had bad nights girls, seems like a lot of wakes upa. I also dont understand how they can be so wider awake, for hours in the middle of the night. All you end up doing is watching the clock and adding up what little time you have left to kip!

I wish I had a solution for us all because this is so hard, not inc the wake ups before I got into bed, DD woke 12, 2.15, 4, and 5.50am. So that's a total of 9 last night? Bahhh

Original poster
hazel88 · 09/07/2015 06:41

Ergh mariloulou that sucks.

How old are everyone's LOs and how long have you been going through this?

DD is 19 weeks and has had shitty sleep since 13.5 weeks.

OP posts:
Sycamore76 · 09/07/2015 07:31

Sorry to hear you have all had bad nights. Well I hope this gives you hope and I can't quite believe it ! After lots of wakings early evening she slept from 9ish until 3am , had a feed and then slept until 5am where she had a feed and went down again from 6-7am. It maybe a one off but she has NEVER done this ! She did have calpol at 8 ish for teeth and I got rid of dummy ( until 5am ) and as it was cooler I swaddled her properly with just a vest underneath . Who knows ! Just shows just as you give up hope you get a good night .
Must have been something in the air with rubbish dhs ! Mine is also great at the weekend but during the week has selective abilities !!

I am keeping fingers crossed that we all have good nap days . Flowers

Sycamore76 · 09/07/2015 07:33

Hazel my dd was 13 weeks when things went wrong too ....

zombiemeow · 09/07/2015 07:38

Ds is 7 months and have been going through it since 4 months Sad we had a good 3 days imbetween where I thought it got better but no Sad. We occasionally have one good night but then it goes back to this.

I'm going to try today and reduce his feeds; see if that helps. I know the three good days came after we dropped the dream feed. He's still having milk every 3 hours so maybe it's too heavy on his tummy. I saw somewhere, might of been this thread that someone stuck to the recommended amount of milk and that helped. I'm also going to try bringing his afternoon nap forward in the hope it will be easier to squeeze his last nap in before dinner.

I was sitting there awake at 2am thinking I should take him to the drs today, but they're bloody useless anyway.

Do you think I should give him calpol too before bed incase his teeth are playing up? I often think they might be but don't want to fill him full of calpol if there is no reason to.

Sycamore76 · 09/07/2015 07:47

Zombie , does he have signs of teething ? Teething bothers them more at night as they have distractions during the day. Gels and power don't seem to do much at night. It maybe worth ruling out an ear infection as they often have the same symptoms as teething . Pulling at ear etc.
does he eat well during day ? If so you could try offering water instead if milk in the hope he will get sick of waking up ! He maybe using milk to get back to sleep . It's hard isn't it

zombiemeow · 09/07/2015 07:52

He has for months sycamore, he drools like crazy, he is constantly putting anything in his mouth, bites my fingers and he rubs his gums with his fingers a lot. But it's difficult to know as it's gone on so long. But I wouldn't of thought teething can go on for this long, I would of though he would have a break! Grin no sign of any teeth yet though, but his gums are quite hard

He did have his ears checked last week at the hospital but they didn't see anything.

Penguin13 · 09/07/2015 08:12

With dummy runs I had about 9 wake-ups but I don't usually count those as they are so quick. We had 5 proper wakeups.

DD was about 4 mo when this started I think. All a bit hazy now blocked out due to trauma she is 30 weeks tomorrow.

Sycamore glad you had a better night! Hope for us all! When you say 'got rid of dummy' did you just take it away? I would love to be rid of ours although it does really help when putting DD down to sleep.

Swipe left for the next trending thread