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?!

Can I join your thread? Ds is 6 months. Sleep has been balls since 3 months. He wakes 8-10 times a night even though he is in bed with me most of the night. I just feed back to sleep which prob isn't helping. I also have a 2 1/2 year old. Pretty fucked really!!

Hi, can I join too! Spent my night of many, many wake ups reading old threads on how to deal with sleep deprivation

I long for the days when I complained about my lo only sleeping for 3 hours at a time, if he does that now I feel like I've won th lottery! Sleep went from being fairly predictable every 3 hours up to anyones guess, sometimes 15 mins, twice it was 4 1/2 hours but of course he managed that 7 - 11:30 before I was even in bed. Think it was around the 3 month mark too butternut, then at 4 months it went from bad to appalling cries into coffee

Posted a message on here in desperation last week and had a small amount of success with a later bedtime and an extra nap but last night again it was every 2 hours with a few extra wake ups 15-20mins after being put down just for fun! Aaaagggghhhhh!

Does anyone else hate their perfectly nice friends who are not smug at all about their little super sleepers?? I have started wishing teething/ growth spurts/ loud neighbours on them so they can REALLY feel my pain, not just say they do when their angel wakes up once for a dummy!

We do deserve a prize penguin! It's hard not to get emotional isn't it we had about 5/6 wake ups after I went to bed but I couldn't sleep after 4 when I fed him I was just awake. I started drifting off just before 5 when ds decided to wake up hope the toe doesn't clash with your outfit!

Sycamore ds still poorly? Is he still on the anti biotic? Hope he's not as hyper now, you must be exhausted,

Hi butternut! My ds is 8 mo and sounds very similar to yours! I don't know how you all cope with more than one! How is your other dc?

Ohhh max when someone tells me their younger dc sleep through I could bloody slap them! I tend to do one of them sarcastic smiles.

Ds has just fallen asleep on my lap I totally didn't feed to sleep... Maybe if I put him down he will wake after a few mins, but I have the shopping on the side and a lot of frozen food that needs to go in the freezer! Doh!

Sycamore! Nice to see you I hope you and DS are both feeling loads better now. Never worry about moaning to us you'll help me feel less bad about being the world's moaniest Minnie of late

Welcome Butternut and Maxies. Sorry you find yourselves here but you're very welcome.My DD1 will be 8 mo in just over a week and having worked my way down from around 6 wakeups to 1 by following the No Cry Sleep Solution and gradually reducing the length of feeds, I idiotically went to my parents for 2 nights and am not almost back to square one!

*now

it is soo hard

zombiemeow my other DS loves his sleep and slept through really early so I am completely unprepared for this. He was Formula fed though because I struggled to BF last time. DS2 is EBF. I

Maxiesmum1 I would love to be one of those smug mums (I think I might have been one with DS1)

Penguin13 I have just bought the No Cry Sleep Solution but I find the idea of doing all the sleep logs a bit daunting.

I feel like I have done everything wrong this time and it is never going to get better!!

Butternut I must confess I actually ignored her explicit advice not to skip steps and didn't do the sleep logs I do record all wakes as I have an app that I record feeds and sleep on (which to still be going at nearly 8mo is ludicrous but can't quite bring myself to let it go!) So I had a fair idea of her patterns already but like you I wanted to jump right in.

Oh and of course you haven't done everything wrong! I'm sure we could all tweak some things here and there but am pretty sure some babies are just easier than others when it comes to sleep.

Can't believe I failed to respond to the smug comment. I have a mix, a couple of mums who know how amazingly lucky they are and don't rub it in....and those that think they are God's gift to sleep and genuinely believe it is something they have done which means their baby sleeps 12 hours straight a night . In fact I can tell you exactly what you need to do to have a baby who sleeps 12 hours a night : be lucky enough to have a baby who is a good sleeper. not that I am bitter or anything

Hope everyone is having a good night!

Omg, today we had an hour and 20 min nap in the morning and an hour this afternoon! He went to bed around 7 and has only been up once so far bet I jinxed it by typing that

Evening. We had rubbish naps today and 3 wake ups tonight so far! Doesn't bode well.

Morning. We had good naps yesterday and DD ate a reasonable amount at three meals. I even made sure there was a 5 min gap between feeding and bedtime. All in all was pretty hopeful of a good HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....HAHA.....HA. 6 wakeups so we are officially back to the worst of the waking. This sucks.

How was it for the rest of you? Well done on getting those awesome naps in Zombie. What do you think made the difference in getting DS to nap well?

Hmmm my phone seems to have eaten the word night after good. Perhaps it knew they putting the words good and night next to each other is ludicrous!

Sorry you had a bad night penguin. We had a slight improvement for us. He woke up 4 times before 11:30 then slept till 2 then had a feed then slept till 4. At 4 he came in my bed and fed on and off till 6. Sounds bad when I write it down but it is actually good for us to have two 2 hours gaps for a change

That's crap penguin

Butternut glad you had an ok night.

Ds went to bed around 7, he woke up twice before I went to bed. I went at 11 and he woke up as soon as I got into bed although I did fall over and make a racket then... He slept without a peep until 3 am then his monitor alarm went off I went speeding in and as it was so dark I ran straight into his cot I am such a dork I flipped him over then as soon as I went to bed he woke up. Then we had about 4 more wake ups and up at 7.

Because of the false alarm though I was awake and unable to sleep from 3-5. I fed him at 4. Then I was having a wee and I heard dh go 'ouch what?!' I went in the bedroom and he said that someone had hit him in the face he was sure of it and even said his face hurt. I told him he was a wierdo.

Hi!
Butternut and Penguin yday I went for a hastily planned walk to get lo to nap for longer than 30 mins, bumped into a mum I know from baby massage wearing no make up, a dirty looking tee and fairly large dark circles after a night of 4 wake ups after 11 (pretty good night in the grand scheme of things!) first thing she said was 'how is he sleeping?' second was 'my lo is going 12 hours now'..... aaasaggggghhhh! I have to tell myself things like 'its just coz he is soooo clever/alert/curious that he doesn't sleep'

Zombie I have woken lo up this week in the following ways: squeaky floorboards, tripping over shoes in hall, turning phone on and not realising it was on full volume.... worst was putting on white noise too loud during his feed, he got such a shock he was sick soooo annoying when its something you do that wakes them!!!!

Ive got the no cry nap/sleep too tho never have a min to read it properly but like what I have read. Prob jinxing this massively but need to celebrate lo woke up at 830, 930 but was fairly easy to settle then 1145 for a feed, put him down at 12:20 then slept UNTIL 4:45!!!!!!! MOST SLEEP IVE HAD IN SIX MONTHS!!!!!!! I just keep hoping he'll realise that he likes sleeping, its nice being in bed
Happy and restful nights to you all! Xxx

Ugh Maxies clearly she only asked the question so she could be all "blah blah blah 12 hours blah blah" I posted this link before you joined this thread but I think it's very fitting here....

stolensleep.com/2015/03/29/how-not-to-punch-people-when-you-have-a-baby-who-does-not-sleep/

Great that you had a better night though! Hope this will be the start of turning a corner for you.

Zombie sounds like an ok night although how frustrating about the monitor. You have no idea how often I run into things in the dark - most recent was running into the door handle of our bedroom at full pelt! That is very strange about your DH....maybe there is a ghost waking everyone up

Things are very bad here. Two wakes already and I was so frustrated I threw my monitor accross the room. I just don't understand why. Why is she waking so much again when we had her down to one wake? I know, pointless getting so frustrated but I am trying so so so hard, doing all the right things and still she wakes

Oh no penguin. That really is shit I hope the night gets better. Can you maybe get dh to do a few of the get ups for you? Or is it like with my ds, he will not settle at all for dh?

Ds has only woken once so far which is an improvement, usually it's anywhere from around 2 to around 6/7 by now but I know that's no indication on how our night will go. Ridiculous isn't it, he wakes up and I moan, he doesn't wake up I worry and keep checking him!

And it's the bloody motorbike night tonight isn't it

Don't beat yourself up Penguin, its nothing at all that you're doing/ not doing, just keep telling yourself that each baby is a wee person and will ultimately do what they want and in their own time ...and all those bastards with good sleepers will pay in the toddler/teenage years if there's any justice!

Know exactly how you feel tho, when my lo turned 12 weeks thought he was out of new born territory and I got so frustrated, started to really not like him sometimes (at night) then feel horribly guilty about it. Think its worst when they seem to get worse rather than better and when you're doing everything under the sun to improve it makes you want to destroy things! He's now 6 months and we're no closer to thru the night apart from the fluke that was yday!

We're on 2 wake ups so far tonight after a mega 2 hour morning nap and then a measly 25 mins pm so think he's pretty over tired but happy we've made it to past 10 now.

Wishing you all happy nights, loving that link btw great ammunition for next time I'm accosted by a smug mum in the park! Xx

Thanks Zombie I know I'm being Ms. Defeatist mc moanypants at the mo but I have found making good progress only to go backwards utterly soul - destroying. Usually DH is pretty good at helping when he can although since I bf to settle for wakes he's not able to be much help there. DD will take a bottle so occasionally he will take first wake and send me to bed but tonight he is in Oslo for work. I have been chatting to him on whatsapp though and since he just got his bonus we've agreed to book with Ann Caird (gentle attachmenty sleep consultant) for Sept (she has a waiting list) so at least I feel like we have a positive plan. She is quite £££ but frankly I am concerned for my mental health so it will be worth it if it works. She gets v good reviews anyway.

Yay for only one wake! Hope those bloody motorbikes stay quiet. You deserve a good night!

Cross post Maxies. It really helps to know that I'm not alone in letting the frustration get to me sometimes. I know logically it's not her fault but sometimes it does feel like they are doing it on purpose!
Good luck for tonight.

Am procrastinating but really need to get organised with packing for Italy on Thurs as I know I won't get anything done with DD awake and of course it will be down to me to sort DD's packing. Hope the hotel has wifi as I need my mumsnet fix to stay sane!

I have had some dark and frustrating middle of the night rages Penguin. I think most people in our situation do! I have screamed into a pillow on occasion. I'm on our 4th wake up. He has a cough so I am expecting a bad night.

Hope everyone has easier nights!

Crap night. He slept until 2 am when he woke up and was wide awake. I needed a wee so bad I was bent over and couldn't walk I asked h to sit with him and give him his dummy while I had a wee, he went in, shoved the dummy in his mouth and walked off, ds started crying as soon as he left, he just went back to bed I ended up taking him into our bed until 3.15 am when he was showing no sign of being tired so I fed to sleep then we had a few more wake ups and up at 5.30

H had a v v long day at work yesterday and I think he thinks I sit at home and do nothing in the day which pisses me off. With ds not sleeping I have to entertain him all the time. I can't take my eyes off him as he causes chaos so I don't do much in the house but it's still exhausting

Have his dietitian today so will see what they say as he doesn't eat either. Offered him toast this morning and he just looks at it then cries to come out his chair

He's tired now but I'm too exhausted to bAttle with him to get him to sleep I literally have to pin him down for at least 30 mins while he wrestles against it, surely that's not normal feeling really down today

Sorry you had bad night. Will he sleep in a sling? I wore mine in a sling nearly all day yesterday because I read somewhere that if they are close to you in the day they will not need you as much at night.......didn't work obviously!

My husband used to annoyed about the mess until he spent one morning with the boys on his own and realised how hard it is. When I just had DS1 we were never on top of the housework and laundry either and he was a really good sleeper.

He was coughing most of the night because he has a cold. He slept 11:30 to 2 then woke up for ages and would only sleep in a really awkward position on me which meant i couldn't sleep. He then woke up at 5:30. I handed him over to husband at 6 and went to bed in the spare room till he went to work.

Not sure what to do today. Definitely too tired to drive!!