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?!

Oh hazel, your situation sounds identical to mine. I think we have tried all the same things and no avail. I think your right aboutour DDs sleeping through in their own time. Maybe they are just not ready. Im trying to look at it from another perspective lately... yes its extremely hard getting up for the 5th time during the night,eyes are burning and patience is running thin... but that beautiful little baby staring back just wants a cuddle, just wants mummy and one day they'll be squirming away from a kiss because their too old! So.... for now, im going to embrace it! Enjoying every moment. It won't last, it never does :)

Yes Hazel took me ages to settle her tonight ...

mariloulou I agree, I do sympathise with my beautiful baby girl. You can't imagine what they must be going through- I could only think of it it to be like the first day of a new job when there's such an overwhelming amount to take in that when you get in to bed your head is so buzzing with all of the new information you're trying to take in that there's no way of switching off despite being knackered, only 100x worse for a tiny baby! I think we've had about 6 wakings since putting her down at about 7 tonight. She's also had 3 feeds in 6 hours as she seems hungry and I don't know when we should be offering them as she won't feed that often or that much during the day. I'll be bringing her in to bed with us next time she wakes I think. When she settles, I find co-sleeping such a beautiful thing, we're face to face with my arm wrapped around her I can feel her breath on my face and I feel it strengthens the bond between us. It's so lovely. I'm definitely making the most out of these times as I know she'll soon be pulling away from Mummy kisses and cuddles! Hope you're all having a peaceful night.

Aww hazel lovely message :) it is a beautiful thing. Their so small and vunerable arent they. When she wakes during the evening is she quite content, will she fall back to sleep easy enough? My DD does, but come 1-2am shes more unsettled and can take hours to get her back off. Saying that, past 2 nights have been alot better. Less waking in the evening, sleeping a longer bowt... 7.30pm-12.30am and going to sleep alot easier. Maybe we are coming out of it?

The only thing is she has really gone off her milk lately, I can just about make her have 3 6oz bottles from morning til bedtime. Then she will have 2 bottles in the night. She won't have anymore than that so shes been having a bit of porridge anda bit of homemade puree in the evening, just so I know shes having enough!

Wow mariloulou that's great news, really hope you're on the way out of the sleep regression! 4 hours uniterrupted sleep...forgotten those days!! When DD wakes she stirs for a while and we've tried leaving her until she cries then going to her as well as going to her beforehand and shushing and putting a hand on her chest and shoulder (this usually calms her or helps get her to sleep) but this hasn't stopped her waking either and when she wakes she cries and takes quite a while to get back off again. Thing is, I don't know when she's waking through hunger at night now so we're offering a bottle most of the time which I know she doesn't need. At the moment she has about 8oz at 6.30 then another 7oz 2 AND A HALF HOURS LATER!! She then has about 4/5 at midnight then again at about 4, with wakings in between. Previously she only had 1 maybe 2 feeds during the night She takes plenty of milk during the day but for the past couple of weeks has been squirming and fussing through feeds seeming like she's not interested. She does have reflux but this is under control.

*5 hours uniterrupted sleep.....whoops!

also mariloulou, when you say you're at the end of 5 weeks, is that 5 weeks since a good night's sleep or 5 weeks of loads of wakings? And if DD went back to 5 hour stints at the beginning of the night I definitely wouldn't say she was in the regression.

Such a sweet message Hazel. I totally agree . I co slept with my ds for 5.5 months and although it was fantastic when he went into his cot I still missed seeing his little face so content on my arm ! I don't want to this time around as I have ds to think about should he wake during the night . I had another rough night. , took me a couple of hours to get her down and then multiple wake ups. My heating is going fuzzy as I am so tired , is that normal ? Just 4 hours straight and I would feel like a new women . My dd does seem hungry when she wakes . She is breastfed so no idea how much she takes but only stays on the breast for five mins . Good luck tonight all xx

Sorry hearing !

Same story here! At 8 months & still struggling. Finally I've quit all feeds between 7 to 7...and started sleep training. Not yet had great success but the end is finally in sight.

Having been in this boat for a while I'd say too much milk can also cause night waking. Try following the recommended amount of milk for 24 hours & them don't do any more feeds (for example if baby needs 25oz at this age then give only that much in the day & no more I the night). Won't help the waking but will reset baby's expectations of what going to happen if she wakes!

On the bright side - after 7.5 months of shitty sleep, I've moved to a different bedroom!!! I've left DH incharge of night waking as it makes it harder to settle DD as am no longer bf her at night. So not having me in the room helps! Can't hurt you all by expressing my relief at the SLEEP I've had for a few nights now.

I have only 1 suggestion - sleep training!

Oh god sycamore, poor you I would imagine you're feeling pretty run down and that could explain your hearing, if it gets any worse maybe see your gp to be checked for the start of an ear infection? I always seem to get poorly when I'm run down or severely sleep deprived. I think if they seem hungry then just go with it, like DD has had 8.5oz at 6.15 tonight but I know she'll be hungry again at 9pm as she's been taking 7oz. she never feeds that frequently during the day. Going to try and get her to go 4 hourly for feeds after the 9pm one tonight as I think we've been feeding her lots during the night out of convenience to get her to sleep quicker and don't want that to become a habit, but as I said if she's hungry we'll go with it. Really hoping we all have better nights tonight

Your doing the right thing by leaving your DD when she wakes Hazel, atleast your giving her the chance to settle herself. I have the tendency to run in straight away - thinking that the quicker I settle her the quicker she will fall back to sleep! Whoops! I'm like you, I dont know when DD actually wants a feed sometimes, specially now her daytime feeds have dropped. I'm trying to feed just twice, approx 10-11pm and then 1-2am. Anytime outside those hours i'll offer dummy and persist with that unless she seems like she absolutely wants a feed!

Im quite sure she is still in regression, I put her down asleep at 6.50pm and I have just now put her down for the 3rd time!! The other night seemed to be just a one off!

Sycamore I feel the same too, whilst co sleeping is nice, I have my 4 year old to consider also, whilst she doesnt usually wake, on the off chances she will. Plus, as I stated any another thread, I'd quite like my husband back in bed with me ha!

Good for you for managing to persist mariloulou, I don't cope too well during the night when I'm so tired and try my best to give DP a peaceful night as he has a very physical job which he needs to be fully alert for so I tend to take a few easy options and shortcuts if I can find any to settle DD asap. I can rarely persist with anything during the night unless I have DP's support. I know she won't settle herself so most of the time I do leap out of bed to her rescue! She used to have a quick grumble then go back off to sleep but not a chance at the mo, and what is with wanting a conversation every time I put her down?! Haha, it's totally adorable to hear her finding her voice but c'mon there's a time and a place!

You know, the other day my friend came over with her 18mo DS who became clingy when she showed an interest in my DD,when he went to give her a cuddle she said 'Aww you never want to cuddle me like this anymore it's so lovely'. I thought to myself, even though every night of tortuous sleep deprivation feels like an eternity 14 months away in the grand scheme of things really isn't that far away for our darling babies to stop needing many Mummy cuddles!! So I make sure I savour every cuddle or time she needs me, even if my eyes are red raw, back feels like it's breaking from rocking and patience at an all time low.

mariloulou did sleep gradually deteriorate over the 5 weeks or did it suddenly become really crap with loads of night wakings?

This really will pass ladies, and as shit as it is at the moment we will all get there. Does feel good to be able to let off some steam though with others who are going through the exact same!!!

Remember this WILL get better, and for now let's all come together to have a big fat moan and make ourselves feel better

Sycamore, it does sound like you could be a little run down? that comes with tiredness, I have been getting terrible headaches during the day lately!

Hazel - well, its all become a bit of a blur lol, but if I remember correctly, I transferred DD to her cot about 6 weeks ago. Previous to that she had a moses basket that rocked, so after feeding her I was able to rock her briefly and she would be asleep. I remember thinking "omg what will I do when I cant rock her to sleep? " lol. Well, I dont know if its just coincidence or not but its been 5 weeks since she started waking multiple times in the night now. She would usually only wake once. This sort of coincided with me bringing her bedtime forward too, beforehand, she would fall asleep around 8.30pm, then I noticed that she suddenly struggled to make it past 6pm, so bedtime naturally pushed itself forward.

I read in another post Hazel, that you DD struggles with naps? Mine too, like you I also rock her in her pushchair, its the only way she will fall asleep. MIL kindly pointed out yesterday that it probably isnt a good idea that she naps there, I bit my lip....... Im struggling to see me ever getting her to nap in the cot upstairs!!! She has been asleep for just over an hour now, I feel so unsettled myself however, every murmur on the monitor makes me go arghhhh!!!

Hahaha me too! I sit by the monitor so anxious that I don't enjoy what little 'me time' I can salvage!

Up until about a month ago DD always took naps in the moses basket in the lounge. HV kindly bought it to my attention that she should be napping in the cot. I felt like saying 'ohhhh that's what that's for, I didn't realise that's where she's supposed to sleep!' Anyway, since then I've been putting her down to nap in the cot which was hell the first few days and took me half an hour of rocking, shushing, patting and pulling out every trick I had up my sleeve, but she now takes near enough every nap in the cot and the odd one in the car. It has been harder to put her down for naps recently due to the regression but she still takes naps in there eventually and the moses basket is long gone!! It's hard at first but try and persevere and you'll get there

Ohhhh good for you!! Starting from tomorrow Im going to persist with cot napping. Do you rock her to sleep for all naps?

DD has woken, but I rushed to put dummy back in and shes gone off for a while longer I hope!

Oh and how long does she nap for?

Phew, plug that baby haha hope you have a good night. I actually made myself feel sick at the thought of trying to get her to nap in the cot as I knew it would be hard work, but it was alot better than I thought it would be and now although she takes ages to put down and wakes alot at the mo I think her cot is where she likes to sleep. I always try to make sure I'm home for nap time if possible so she's as used to it as she can be. For the first few days I ended up bringing DD back downstairs as I was convinced she wasn't tired as she kicked and screamed so much, turned out she was though so back upstairs we went and I persevered for a good half an hour. On a good day it can take as little as 5 minutes to get her off! At the moment though it's more like 20 mins. And yes, I rock, shush and crank up the white noise every time! Was just starting to wean off of the dreaded white noise before the regression hit but now it's back right up to full whack!

Ergh, naps are CRAP! Now it's only ever 30 mins usually, although she will very rarely do a 45 min nap or even better, an hour! I actually could have kicked myself the other day as her nap had gone past the hour mark so I got all cocky and decided to do some hoovering as she was obviously in a deep sleep, then BAM!! Woke up, I was so annoyed with myself! how about your LO's naps?

Ohhh im very aware of those 30 minute naps! DD is a devil for them. She's never done a 2hr one, apart from when she was maybe a week old! Its always been 30-45 mins. Drives you mad really as 30 mins is barely enough time to have a wee, grab a cuppa, make a sarnie and catch up on 5 minutes of last night's eastenders before the monitor goes off!!
do you feel like you spend more time getting them to sleep than actually sleeping?
DD woke so I fed her as it was about time, she took a full 6oz and is peaceful at the moment so im going to try catch an hour or 2 myself!

Haha I can only imagine how you felt when you switched of that hoover, I think I wouldhave sscreamed, but at least it shows shes capable of an hour long nap! I read somewhere as they get older nap times increase, I vaguely remember this with DD1, though she was a dream baby, never had any of this regression business at all!!! Serves me right for being so smug haha

For naps do you go by the every 2 hour rule? I find DD is about due a nap every 1.5-2hrs and I try to grab her at the first sign of a yawn or eye rub! Sometimes shes so resistant though

Yes I am feeling run down. Tonight has been another difficult night with so many wake ups I have lost count. This is really getting me down now , it's so hard . The very early days were easier than this

Oh sycamore, snap. Terrible night here too. I saw absolutely every hour on the clock go by. She was just awake, constantly. Not crying, or upset; just awake and fussing. From the minute I go to bed. I sort of some it coming by how unsettled she was in the evening. So here we are, 3rd coffee... already been up 35 minutes. Heads banging. DD is gurgling away trying to eat her toes. DD1 will be waking in an hour for school.

Struggling to see the end to this day already!

I have training for work on Wednesday too.... god help me :( !!!

My baby is three months, she currently loves a sleep with one feed at about 5/6 between 9 And 9. I am so scared!

Mariloulou ! Poor you , my night was almost identical . My ds will also be up soon but thankfully it's a nursery day! I can't cope with this for months and months ! I was reading on a sleep site that at this age it's not really a regression as they only sleep again once they know how to self soothe . Her naps are also rubbish . I may try co sleeping for naps today . Hope you get some rest

Also meant to say. , poor you re training for work . Try and couple of pain killers and a multi vitamin drink, this may get you feeling a little human ...