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?!

How did it go Zombie? We had a good bedtime but a wakeup one hour in although she re-settled fairly well without feeding. The real test will be the slightly later wakes! Going to attempt settling in her cot without feeding tonight but will revert to picking her up and bfing to calm if she gets upset then try again tomorrow and so on until it works (she said positively).

Sycamore do I take it from your earlier posting you had a somewhat challenging day? Those teeth still causing bother? Hope you have a good night.

Ha yes penguin ! Her naps have been terrible today and I am on the 3rd wake up since 7pm! It's starting to really get me down. She didn't seem in much pain today , just chewing her fingers constantly. I hope it is her teeth and not her sleep getting even worse ...
Good luck all !

Owe. Sorry you haven't had a great day. She may just be really aggravated by the teeth rather than in a lot of obvious pain and if she hasn't been feeding all that well as it's uncomfy that could make her unsettled too. Is she still crying after feeds? DD has actually been comfort feeding today but when the bottom 2 were coming through she went on a brief nursing strike. I imagine constant low-level aching would be enough to stop me napping too. I'm sure it must be teeth since you saw one ready to come through and the constant finger chomping is a dead give-away. This will pass. It's not you. Things will get better. It's rubbish while they aren't though I know. Hope that DD settles down soon and you have a decent night.

Penguin I hope it works well! I kind of messed it all up as ds only had one nap so he got crazy over tired

Hope she's feeling better soon sycamore

Think there is going to be a long night ahead of me too ds woke up 3 times since 7 as well. I was so tired and coming to bed early and he woke up and was up for 35 mins. I even tried to feed him to sleep I'm so tired but it didn't work. When he fell asleep the second I put him down his eyes were open again and he is still wide awake now

Awful night he was awake until after midnight. Lost count of the amount of dummy runs, at one point literally the second I got to bed he'd be screaming for his dummy back, he's been up since 5 I don't know what to do because I get so tired I just completely forget what to do

Oh Zombie that sounds awful you must be exhausted. Is there anyone who is able to give you a break even for just a short while? Have you been able to get him down for a nap this morning? Good luck and for today.

Our night pretty much sucked too. 7 wake-ups which might be our record not including the new born phase! The first attempt at settling in her cot was a fail and it then felt like we were going backwards as she took ages to settle even with a feed. Typical! Her teeth definitely played a part though as once I'd put some gel on her gums she settled. I did settle her in her cot a few times (still with dummy) but I guess they were like slightly more challenging than usual dummy runs really just complicated because of the teeth. One of the teeth has cut through so hopefully one more unsettled night and then I can do this properly.

How was your night Sycamore? And anyone else still lurking!

Sorry to hear about your awful nights!
Well I didn't think things could get any worse but they have ! Last night was terrible , she was up hourly and was grizzly . I gave her a dose of calpol at 8pm and at 2am but she still didn't sleep for long. Now I have to deal with ds too :-(
Can you both get some rest today ? It's hard isn't it

She took bloody ages to settle too!

Hope everyone else ok

Morning ladies,

Just wrote a long post then lost it!

Sorry about the lack of posting, it's been rather hectic and trying to get organised for our trip to London tomorrow. I have a massive list of stuff to pack- 99% of it for DD!

Sorry to hear how low you're all feeling and about such shitty naps and nights it's difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel and listen to others when they say 'it will get better!' I'm sure even if you could just crack the days OR nights you'd feel better Those teeth are causing more trouble again I see, I'm sure we'll all be glad to see them make their appearance at last! Hope you all have that wine on to chill

Things are pretty much the same here with a little improvement. DD had her best nap day ever yesterday- 2x 45 mins and 1x 1 hour 45 although I had to keep dashing upstairs when I heard her stir to try and keep her asleep so she would get a decent nap! She woke 4x last night. She's self settling well, and now we consider 10 mins a long time to settle her! She goes down awake at bedtime then gets herself to sleep. Then during the night I put her straight back down and don't pick her up unless she cries. She's still waking at 4 for a chat and a poo which I leave her to do until she cries. We're also encouraging her to sleep in until 7 ish as 5 is far too early and she's still tired on waking. That's hard though when DP's alarm goes off at 6 and wakes her hopefully she'll be more inclined to lye in when she's in her own room. We've shortened feed times of an afternoon and she's eating a big dinner which I think is helping her to sleep longer for the first chunk of the night...last night was nearly 5.5 hours! The longest in about 2 months!

I really hope things get better real soon for you all. It can't last forever...right? Hope everyone has a good day

Also, at times it's taking just 2 minutes to put DD down and for her to stay asleep. I just put her down for a nap and she was actually happier being in the cot than on me trying to get her sleepy, then off to sleep she went! I hope this gives you some hope.

Thanks for posting Hazel nice to have your encouragement and to hear a good news story to give us hope! 5.5 hours is amazing! I would be breaking out the champagne

So I'm not going to lie. Just had my 'emergency pack' of malteasers for breakfast! Not my finest hour

Looks like I spoke too soon about the toof. To be fair it's hard to get a good look as DD will barely let me near her mouth but it looks like it's just the white of the edge showing through not the edge itself. Come oooooooon already!

Sycamore sorry you had a rubbish night too. for you with DS to look after too! Ladies let's all just get through today as best we can, even if it's on our knees, regroup and tonight is another chance to work at improving things.

Hahaha, the amount of times I've had chocolate biscuits for breakfast...sometimes you just NEED them! At least it hasn't got to the point where you NEED wine for breakfast yet haha.

Hope that little pesky tooth comes through soon! DD won't let me near her mouth either, her tongue goes all over the place and she licks my hand if I try to have a peek in there

You're right- today is a new day. And tonight is another opportunity to break open the bottle

On the plus side DD just went down for her nap without a whimper although getting her in her sleeping bag these days is pretty similar to trying to wrestle 5 eels into a sack! Please please let it be a long one as am dying for a nap myself!

Penguin sorry you had a crap night too. I go out with dm Thursday evenings (with ds) but at least she cAn take him off me for a little bit.haha, the amount of times I have had chocolate for breakfast is crazy! It's perfectly Acceptable I think! Great news about the nap!

Sounds like you had a crap night too sycamore did the Calpol help at all?

Hazel it sounds like your having lots of success glad it's working for you.

I think ds is poorly. Yesterday he did 5 poos and he wAs so unsettled when he woke up. Have gave him some Calpol, he's done 2 big poos this morning . Do you think it could be a stomach bug? The Calpol didn't help much and he looks uncomfortable so I have booked an appt with the gp again. Have just managed to get him to sleep after about 30 mins of screaming. Am hoping he will sleep long enough to give me time to clean the kitchen and get ready so we can go Drs.

Oh zombie wishing him better asap. Poor little love, that's the last thing you want

Oh no zombie hope DS is feeling better soon and that the doc can help.

Feeling crap after baby clinic this morning. DD has always been pretty much bang on her curve (75th centile since birth) but over the last 2 weighs has moved up to the top of that centile. Trainee HV basically implied I am over-feeding her to get her to sleep which is probably true as I feed her most times she wakes and have started giving her formula before bed, fat lot of bloody good it has done. Feel like crying as despite being a crap parent I felt like feeding her was the one thing I knew I was doing well at and now that has been taken away from me too

Penguin, take no notice!! You are doing a brilliant job as a Mummy. Not sure if your DD is like mine, but mine just refuses the bottle/food when she's had enough- sometimes she'll go and go and go and I think bloody hell am I force-feeding you?! But no, she's just that hungry. In my opinion, health visitors are nothing but hassle. Know-it-alls who pull everything out of the book. Our HV told me we have a 'grumpy baby, but try not to blame yourself'. Every time I see her she always has give her 2pence worth of advice, telling me what I'm doing wrong. She gives advice even when I don't ask for it. She makes me feel like an incompetent mum and takes any confidence I have from me. She even feels the need to give advice about my cat when she does a home visit. This woman is morbidly obese, has no children, struggles to breathe and can barely open her eyes

I know it's hard but try and let it go over your head. HVs are notorious for being useless and for taking their knowledge from a book. YOU know your baby best, you're her mummy, and you're doing a bloody great job. I dont ask my HV for advice now, I go to the GP and only see the HV when absolutely necassary. Dont let her knock your confidence and go get that kettle on!

Thanks Hazel I needed that. I'm sure she was well - meaning but she did completely take away what little scrap of confidence I had managed to scrape together. She was only a trainee too.

Well they're bloody useless and don't let someone who actually doesn't know much about children...particularly YOUR child make you feel like you're a bad mum! Can you tell I don't like HVs?

I know their job is to look out for your child and ensure that they are as healthy and happy as can be, especially after high - profile abuse cases, but when you're ridiculed and beaten-down with jibes (as I feel sometimes with everything I'm told I'm doing wrong) that's actually more harmful to your baby as it takes all confidence you have as a mum and you feel you're constantly being watched and that you can't do right! My HV has made me cry on a few occasions which I see that as potentially more harmful to my baby if I'm feeling so down, whereas usually, when the HV isn't sticking her oar in my DD is a happy and healthy girl. I really doubt myself after speaking to her....so now I don't speak to her unless absolutely necassary

I can't believe that your HV told you your baby is grumpy - how rude! I have met a great HV who was lovely and referred me for my anxiety without making me feel like I was being pathetic but it's pot luck who you see at the clinic.

I bet she doesn't even realise how she made me feel. I actually had tears in my eyes when I was speaking to her and had to make a swift exit afterwards but she was so busy filling in the book that she probably didn't notice. Needless to say I didn't get any useful advice on sleep.

Zombie let us know how you get on at the doc today. Hopefully you won't cross paths with that evil man again!

Too busy form-filling and ticking boxes to notice how you actually feel How is your DD today?

Zombie, if you do see that vile man I'd be inclined to give him the benefit of my left fist ignorant pig!!

I'm in the middle of baking a birthday cake and DD is currently 2 hours 10 in to her nap, great timing kiddo I suppose I'd better wake her soon though!

Penguin , sorry you had a bad experience at baby clinic . It's very hard to get a decent health visitor , mine was lovely , she was just about to retire. I always think babies need a bit of fat on them as when they start getting ill they need reserves !y ds was quite a chunky baby (now quite slim) and I was pleased he had reserves when he stopped eating due to illness .
Just got back from soft play , it was so bloody noisy and I couldn't see through tiredness ! Luckily dd slept in the sling . She is on calpol as was super grumpy this morning.
I can't have chocolate because of dds cmpi so I have milk free muffins , got into the habit of having one every day for breakfast , only way to function !
Hazel , glad the self settling is going well .

Zombie - how is your ds now ? Hope he is better