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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?!

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zombiemeow · 10/07/2015 20:04

He can move about starling, but I panic incase he couldn't move away from them, I just got him to sleep and he was sleeping with his face pressed flat against the matteres ConfusedI moved him back round and he woke up crying. Not counting that one we have had two wake ups so far Sad

I am going to give him his muslin next time but he holds that over his face too Confused

Allisgood1 · 10/07/2015 20:07

This too shall pass...
And in time you won't even remember it (like me Wink)

Penguin13 · 10/07/2015 21:23

Thanks All it really does help to hear that and remember it's true!

Nearly 2 hours with no wakes here so far. It's so weird, some nights we get barely any dummy runs and other nights it feels like every half an hour but I can't fathom the difference. I know DD will wake around 3 hours in whatever happens but at least it makes the evening slightly less fraught!

Zombie sorry you've had a few wakeups so far. My SIL said her DS was at his absolute worst with wakeups just before he started to dramatically improve (around 7 mo) so fingers crossed this is the very worst bit before the upturn for you.

Off to bed here to catch an hour before first wake. I hate giving up my evening and DD usually has a 6th sense about when I am trying to catch a sneaky early night and wakes early! but right now I need to prioritise my health. In this vein I have realised that whilst I can't control wake-ups there are loads of things I can control and can do to have more energy and feel better including not relying on chocolate, biscuits etc as a pick me up and trying to get more nutrients through my food.

zombiemeow · 10/07/2015 21:41

Hope you get some sleep penguin!

Thank you so much, all of you on the thread! For all your advice and support and listening to me whining. And thank you marilou for pointing me in this direction!

I have made a decision, for the moment I will definitely not have anything to 'calm him down'. I must admit I did consider it when I was a sobbing mess earlier. I will ride it out for another few weeks in the hope it improves quickly!

RevoltingPeasant · 10/07/2015 21:51

Hi all, so after a positive start in terms of settling quickly last night was a bloody disaster. One of our worst yet. DD basically woke and chuntered from around 11pm to near 2am when I crakced and co slept all night. Even though DH was in bed with us so it was technically against CS rules Blush she still woke us up quite a lot and we both feel rubbish today.

Made a serious effort at tiring her out today - swimming, lots of physical play, introduced her to some new people and spent 2 hours in park in fresh air - plus walked into York and back from village where pil live so had two big naps.

She was harder to settle tonight but has gone to sleep on her own after DH rocked her a bit. It's fecking hot here tonight plus pil ndn are having a party so we had to shut bedroom window to keep noise and bbq smoke out of the bedroom Hmm

I think tonight's gonna be a rough one but its so hard when you're away from home. Plus I am so conscious of DD waking up pil who are hosting us for 5 nights Blush

My current plan is.....

-intro formula bottle at night when we get home, also starting weaning

  • be super strict about naps and consistent about bedtime routine
  • feed almost to sleep, stop and rock, put down and shhhh to sleep every time....then gradually make the feeds shorter, then progress to just rocking and shhh, then finally hopefully shhhh
  • do that over about 2.5-3 weeks and if no joy, try Wnedy Deane!!

Does that sound like a plan????

RevoltingPeasant · 10/07/2015 21:53

Zombie fwiw I think you are right. You will only have to wean him off the drugs at some point, and imagine that battle! As then he REALLY wouldn't be able to get to sleep without it.

Original poster
hazel88 · 10/07/2015 22:34

It sounds as though you ladies have your plans sussed! I find planning and having something to focus on makes me feel better. We can do this remember! Fingers crossed for better nights for everyone! Grin

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zombiemeow · 11/07/2015 04:40

I think you have a good plan revolting! How did it go?

Why was it against cs rules? Does dh smoke? My mw told me it's ok to cs if dh smokes as long as baby stays on you/your side. Doesn't sound right to me though so I never tried
Confused

We had a bad start tonight, ds wouldn't settle, took hours to go to sleep, woke up wide awake after an hour of going to bed, then again half hour after that, then..... He slept! He slept from around 9 until 2am which is the longest he's gone in ages!!! Then h came home, drunk, banging about AngryAngryAngryAngryAngryAngryAngry and woke him up AngryAngryAngryAngryAngry I was so angry!!!! I waited until h was asleep then woke him and shouted at him. Ds has had quite a few wake ups since, but nothing too bad. I've made sure every time he wakes up, I wake h up too. The bastard.

Original poster
hazel88 · 11/07/2015 05:11

That's great news Zombie!! You must have been so so pleased! I bet you could have throttled DH! Angry Do you ever notice that they're quieter when they're not the one settling them but when it's their turn they're suddenly very aware of how quiet everyone should be?!

Quite a good night over here with 4 wake ups. DD hasn't done just 4 wake ups in ages, it's been 7+ for a long time now. So much quicker to settle too. PUPDCD is well worth trying!

Hope everyone had a good night.

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Original poster
hazel88 · 11/07/2015 05:55

that didn't make sense...I'm still half asleep! I meant that they're quieter when it's them settling the LO! Confused

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Penguin13 · 11/07/2015 06:17

Zombie that's amazing! Can't believe your H though! I would have been absolutely fuming! I like your strategy of waking him every time the baby woke. I have always thought that H would very quickly start to understand why I get so hung up on DD's sleep if I woke him each time DD did and kept him awake for the length of time she was up! Still, overall for the night that is brilliant progress so don't let H being an arse cloud that!

Hazel you are so right! Sometimes I think H is part baby elephant the amount of noise he manages to make.

We had 4 'proper' wake-ups and about 2-3 bleary dummy runs. Don't seem to be making any progress at all. I think my problem is that I just can't get my head around letting DD cry at all if I know there is a way I can soothe her instantly. Thought I would try PUPD but DD became so upset after being put down just once that I felt I couldn't continue with it.

Penguin13 · 11/07/2015 06:23

RP sounds like a great plan. You'll be home soon and then you can put 'operation sttn' into action!

Fwiw I bet the PIL aren't half as conscious of the wake-ups as you are even though I know that feeling of not wanting to disturb. Hope you had an ok night despite the heat.

Original poster
hazel88 · 11/07/2015 06:27

Penguin as awful as it is my DD did the exact same thing and still does it on the odd occasion which is hard to hear but it does pay off and I don't think this situation is going to improve without some sort of intervention. we were going to consider cc next month when she's 6 months but wanted to try something a bit more gentle first. It is really hard watching her get herself in to such a state but it doesn't last long and hopefully soon it'll mean she's sleeping more and feeling more rested. plus...so will we! If only we could avoid all of this and just explain to them how much better they'd feel if they slept then everything would be so much easier Grin

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Penguin13 · 11/07/2015 07:32

Ah yes, the times I have had the following futile exchange with DD Me : 'Look. I know you're tired. I'm tired too. There's a really simple win win solution here if you just go....to...sleeeeep'. DD: 'Waaaaaaah'.

Trouble is that with feeding to sleep in the night DD is only awake briefly and she naps pretty well so she is as bright as a button most of the time, it's me that needs the wakeups to be fewer so then I'm like is it really ok for me to distress her just for my own convenience when DD is totally fine with the status quo.

Penguin13 · 11/07/2015 07:33

There should have been a question mark at the end of that sentence obviously!

Sycamore76 · 11/07/2015 09:16

Pleased to read some of you have had better nights . Terrible night here but I can see a bottom tooth coming so hoping it's that ! So tired today Brew such a beautiful day and all I want to do is go back to sleep

Original poster
hazel88 · 11/07/2015 09:39

Sycamore it sounded like you'd made a bit of progress a few days ago, hopefully it's just that pesky tooth causing problems and you'll be back to better nights real soon

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Sycamore76 · 11/07/2015 09:46

Hope so. If she slept until 3am she must have self settled ? Isn't it awful when you fall into a deep sleep and they wake you again!! Only just got her to nap , she is really grizzly . Gel and powder didn't help so I have just given calpol . How is your dd today ?

zombiemeow · 11/07/2015 09:48

Hazel glad you had a better night! Smile Do you start with pupd just at night or are you doing it in the day too?

Ha penguin I woke him up at 6.30 to look after ds while I got dressed too! I think that has really taught him a lesson about how much I get up at night, although last night was loads better than the past few weeks. Fingers crossed you make some progress soon, it's horrible hearing them cry isn't it. The one night I made ds self settle he basically cried himself to sleep then I sat there crying on the phone to my dm saying 'he's gone to sleep sad!'

Sycamore hope that pesky tooth comes through quickly. I got ds some a&p, I was quite excited about using it thinking it would make a big difference, then looked at the ingredients and it's got lactose in it Hmm booo!

Sycamore76 · 11/07/2015 10:01

Zombie ! I didn't think of that ! She can't have cows milk protein , do you think lactose is ok ? I am confused now

Original poster
hazel88 · 11/07/2015 10:10

Sycamore she seems alright thankyou just pissed off when it comes to nap time!

Zombie I do it for every nap and at bedtime, I'm staying consistent. It took 19 minutes of PUPD earlier....she was maaaaad. The next PD was going to be the one where we walked out of the room for 5 minutes but she went to sleep this time!

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Sycamore76 · 11/07/2015 10:12

You are doing well , Hazel ! That's great

Original poster
hazel88 · 11/07/2015 10:15

Thankyou Smile hoping tonight will be even better!

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Original poster
hazel88 · 11/07/2015 10:17

Zombie that's good that you woke DH Everytime DS woke, shows him how bloody sleep deprived you are!! Hope he pulls his finger out so you get a bit of a break

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Sycamore76 · 11/07/2015 10:18

I am sure it will be . Dh has taken ds scooting and dd finally napping . I am really appreciating some quiet time now ...Grin