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?!

Hello all

Mari glad to hear about your improved nights and hope your news isn't too awful.

Hazel know just what you mean about thinking it can't get any worse!
DD didn't start regression till about 19w but then she was a bit early so often hits milestones 2ish w late.

I said I was giving her till 22w to sort it out on her own, and then....intervention!!

So yesterday she was 22w and last night possibly the worst yet. Nearly 2 hours to settle, I was in tears of frustration and had to leave room. Then DH couldnt settle her either, so caved and fed to sleep. Poor baby went off through exhaustion then I think. Then slept till 12.45, then woke at 3.50, 4.09, 5.09, 5.25, 5.40, 6.13 at which point I thought eff this and got up. Came back to bed at 7.30 and shed crashed again. We co slept till 10.30 on and off so drove coach n horses thru usual morning routine.

So time for sleep training! Only No Cry Sleep Solution so no cc. Tried new bedtime routine tonight and put her to bed 30min earlier. Went down without a peep and sleeping lightly but with no wake ups so far so let's see!?

Yes Hazel, I had the exact same thing, weeks of it being awful, I remember saying to DH, its got to get better right?.. nope it got much worse but only temporary, thankfully.

RP - that sounds so difficult, thats a lot of wake ups in a short space of time, and I too would be thinking about needing to do something. I co slept for a while, but tbh, DD still woke just as often anyway. Only this week.. this past week things have improved - just 1 wake up during the night for the past 4 nights, and has been self settling and I promise you I have done NOTHING to help her. I honestly believe shes just found it out for herself.

RP - did you put your LO down awake?

Hang in there ladies, - I agree this heat is a killer. We have a fan going during the night, and DD is sleeping in a vest and a sleepsuit, no blankets/bags. She seems to be comfortable, though me.. Ive permanently got a leg out for relief!

My news... well - wasnt going to mention it, but think awareness should be made. Have your smears done. Please. I put off having my first ever one for over a year, why? Absolutely no idea. Had one done finally after many letters stating I really should do it and got a result back today of abnormalities. Booked in for a colposcopy. sigh

Anyway, dreariness over! Sorry, Good luck tonight all

mariloulou don't know what to say, you must be so worried, I hope it gets resolved really quickly. And thank you for the reminder, I am going to book mine on Monday.
I'm really glad to hear your DD seems to have fallen into a good routine, that must make the day-to-day easier.

RP fingers crossed for the rest of the night, sorry to hear things were so bad last night, sounds rough!

DD slept well from 6.30pm - 9pm but I've put her down roughly 20x since then, lost my marbles, sent DH in, he's put her down 3x and is back in there now, she's still crying...

Whereismy - thank you. Im just kicking myself you know? So irresponsible of me to not bother getting it done sooner.
Is your DD hungry? Did you feed her between 9-11pm? Sounds hard that she was still upset at that time of night, were you able to comfort with rocking, dummy?
I worried so long about bad sleep associations and trawled the net for weeks reading the do's and dont's. In the end I did what I had to just to cope. I remember waking in the mornings feeling so ill. After a couple hours sleep and a whole day ahead, I said to DH I dont think I can do another day. It was actually him that suggested to drop the "training" ( wasn't really training, just ttyin to put her down awake and shush pat ) and to simply feed, cuddle, rock... whatever was needed to get her to sleep. I dont want to shoot myself in the foot but another good night again. Im honest shocked that im sitting here typing this now. It literally got better over night. Last satirical night I was up with DD 7-8 times, last night she slept 7.15-12.45am solid. Had a feed and slept 1am-5.50am!

Satirical?? Saturday predictive text drives me mad!!

mariloulou I'm sorry you didn't get the news you were hoping for

revoltingpeasant and Whereismy, sorry to hear it wasn't a great night, how did you get on for the rest of the night?

DD was wide awake when I put her down after taking 8oz. Then 2 and a quarter hours later she was up...and hungry! Then took another 7oz!! After then she was up at 11 where we coslept until 1 where she had another feed, then up at 3.30 (this has been the time she has stayed awake for an hour the past few nights) so I stayed awake to ensure she got back off to sleep. Then she slept until 4.30 and was restless before getting up about 5 ish. Way too early to get up but was a bit better night with a couple less wake ups. She slept in just a vest which seemed to keep her cooler.

DP bought her downstairs and was in the kitchen and turned around to find her on her front and she'd moved across the floor! Rolling over independently is becoming a habit it would seem!

Hope there were better nights all round

and I'm so glad things seem to be getting better for you and your DD with sleep you really deserve it!

Your DD sounds very hungry Hazel! If she is taking so much at night I think I would try to push more day time feeds. Easier said than done I know. Its just at one point my DD was having so much milk at night, during the day she wasnt interested. So I had to gradually reverse it. I know a lot of people dont agree with weaning before 6 months, but my DD is 21weeks now and on 3 meals a day plus 5x 7-8oz bottles in 24 hours. Maybe the extra meals is helping? I don't know but she seems way more satisfied then before.
sounds like you could do with a lot of rest today hazel, even just a good 2 hour kip yourself could boost you- and clever LO for rolling!

mariloulou yeah it's so easily done though, it's not at the front of your mind when you're so busy. We've all done it!
Great to hear another settled night, such a relief for you, and hope for us all!
I agree - doing whatever it takes to get DD to sleep feels like the right thing for us too. And prob more relaxed for everyone?
She's another one that won't take more in the day - the last week I've kept a food/sleep diary for HV to look at, and realised she takes exactly 19oz during daytime, every day!
I offer the bottle often but she punches it away, goes bright red and throws herself backwards!

Poor thing was up for 4h in the end, DH eventually settled her after 3h, took her into the living room so I could get some rest, then switched his ipad on max volume and woke her up so then she was inconsolable for ages! Arrrrggghh
For the rest of the night she was up every 2h, coslept from 6am and woke at 8 to find she'd soaked the bed as DH forgot the nappy change in the pandemonium!
Then got up to find the cat had pissed all over the hallway! Gonna put a nappy on her too at this rate.

Cor hazel that's loads of milk! All that rolling is making her hungry! Fewer wake ups is great news, hope you manage to get some rest today.

whreismy, jesus christ you poor thing what a night!really hope you have a better one tonight!

Hows its going so far tonight girls? I put DD down at 7.15, and shes woken at 7.50pm, currently rocking her back to sleep! First time its happened this week, oh god I hope its not happening again!!!!

Oh no mariloulou I hope it's just a blip!

DD took 7oz at bed time of 6.30 after a few spoonfuls of banana puree. at 9 she woke to take another 8.5oz. just put her down for her to wake and am currently up here again rocking her!

mariloulou after your suggestion of feeding DD more as shes obviously hungry...I don't know how to go about it. The past couple of days she's been taking on average about 7oz every 4 hours, then after the bedtime bottle takes another 8oz or so just 2.5 hours later. She doesn't seem hungry between feeds during the day, but come bedtime she becomes ravenous! We started weaning yesterday. She already has 6 bottles in 24 hours. I don't know whether we should:
a. Feed 3.5 hourly instead of 4 hourly
b. Add an extra bottle in the afternoon to keep her topped up (don't know when this could be as she has one about 2.30, puree at 5, bedtime feed 6.30)
c. Keep doing the extra feed shortly after bedtime until she's taking more solids

She's not settled now, dreading tonight and we're back to Monday again tomorrow when the DP is off of night duty again for the week

Its hard to know what to do isnt it. I think I would offer a bit more, a bit more often. So try 3 hourly, then 3.5. How much is she gulping after the 2.5 hours after bedtime, so how much actually through the night? At 4 months is quite common for feeding to increase so its completely normal, im sure she is just going through a super growth spurt!

Will she settle with a dummy and a rock? Hang in there, dont think about tomorrow yet! I found it easier to focus on just the upcoming night, if I thought about the next day I would panic x

That's exactly what I do...panic!

she takes about 8oz after the bedtime feed. Will try the 3 hours then 3.5 hours.

Through the night it varies but last night she had 8.5oz at 6.30pm, 7oz at 9.30, 7oz at 1.30, 7oz at 5.30

Sorry in answer to your question, we give her a dummy when we feel she needs it but she's never been bothered about a dummy and it tends to wake her up more if she has it. We've tried it loads since she's stopped sleeping but she's not bothered really.

How was everyone's nights?

Once we went to bed, DD woke at 11 where she had 2oz, 1 where she has 8.5oz, 3, 4.30 and 5.30 where she got up. In 24 hours she's taken 47oz with a few spoonfuls of puree! Will be feeding 3 hourly today I think, just to see if we can keep her satisfied until the suspected growth spurt eases up.

How is everyone?

How's it going with the feeds hazel are you seeing any improvement?
And hope Sunday night's wake up was just a blip mariloulou?

I'm losing my marbles a bit today, sleep deprivation, heat, and DD being totally hyperactive... naps and bedtime routine have both gone to shit and it has taken me 2.5 h to get her down tonight with a major meltdown, poor lamb!
Reckon I need to re-think everything, it feels like everything I do for her is wrong - offering bottle, getting her to nap, putting her to bed, everything tips her over the edge, as if we're totally out of sync. She's overtired from first thing in the morning and by the afternoon she can't cope with anything.
Too tired to work out how to go forward though! Ha!

Gaaaaaaaaahh it's quite hard innit!

Whereismy, oh no poor you and poor DD

Snap. I try and keep faith that this will get better and each night feels the same with DD waking after the first put down earlier and earlier. She's awake now after an hour I feel desperate to get something to work. I don't think there is anything though, i think it's just something she has to go through. I've fed her 3 hourly today and I don't think it's made a difference, she's taken pretty much the same amount as normal, just with 3 hour gaps rather than 4. I'm so exhausted every part of me aches. Last night we co-slept most of the night which was so uncomfortable as she doesn't stop fidgeting and hitting me.

She's now been up since 8 after going down at 7 and having 7oz, I think shes wanting another bottle

Just made up a bottle as quick as I could, fed DD and realised she had a bit of milk across her arm as she was fidgeting, I then realised i hadn't screwed the lid on properly and it's slowly leaked out all over me. Luckily (for all of 2 minutes so far) she has gone back to sleep so hoping she's not wet too

O bugger it! Hope she stayed asleep!? Blame the sleep deprivation.
I keep putting DD down in her basket, ninja-ing away silently then tripping on the bloody stand!

So sorry to hear things are still bad! Sounds like you're trying all you can are you getting out much in the day? Was having a cry to my mum earlier and realised I've become a bit of a slave to the daytime naps, got to try and get some balance again. Not easy on no sleep though.

Sorry you're feeling so down with re to the daytime naps, you just have to do whatever you can to get by!

I can't seem to catch a daytime nap as DD only take 30 mins and I can't switch off in time. This week we're not really going out at all as I'm having to wait indoors for a load of parcels which are needed for Friday. usually we go out a lot. DP is having a day off Friday and taking DD out for the day while my mum and I have a spa day. Words can't describe how excited I am!

How was your night?

Hoping those who have gone quiet have been having better nights!

Hi all ,
Sorry for the quietness . It's been so hectic recently .
Mariloulou - hope you are ok , big hugs.
Sorry to hear you are still having rough nights Whereismy and Hazel . It will get better . The last couple of nights dd has woken up twice but takes a while to settle down to sleep. So she has been settling at 9pm wakes at midnight or 1 20 and again around 3am. Haven't managed to get to bed for 9pm so still haven't benefited from a longer stretch of sleep ! But I am pleased I haven't been up as much the last couple of nights . Not sure what this hear wave is going to bring !
Hazel -wow a spa day! You totally deserve that ! Have a great time !

Sounds like things are still as tough girls. Whereismy ive become an expert ninja since having LO, I didnt realise I could be so light on my feet ha!
hazel did your DD get back off to sleep after the 8.45 bottle?
Im still really struggling with naps too, and also think maybe im over thinking them and should just let them happen? Though DD would never sleep if I didnt make her! She has 3 45min naps yesterday, which doesn't sound too bad, but her last one ended at 2.30pm and shw outright refused another nap so was shattered by 5pm. I really tried to get her off but instead opted for an earlier bedtime. She was out like a light at 6pm! Seemed too early but made more sense then having an overtired baby. All went well until 9.30pm when she woke for a bottle, that was fine, she was due butshe didnt go back to sleep til after midnight :( she was just so wide awake. I rocked, I fed.... bounced, cuddled, co slept... or tried at least. Sent DH on the sofa as neither of us were getting any sleep. She eventually after a lot of persistence fell asleep in my arms and I lay her next to me. She then woke at 5.30am.

Im just so worried that its all gone tits up again.... After 6 nights of being back on track im dreading bad nights again.
Maybe it was just a blip,it was hot last night and she seemed like she was knawing her hand alot, so teeth could haveplayed a part but we shall see!

Good to hear from you sycamore, yes a spa day sounds amazing! You totally deserve some you time hazel!!
sycamore, sounds like a slightly improved couple nights for sure. 2 wakings is a great compared to 5,6,7!

Mariloulou , sounds like a blip to me ! I think she confused the 6pm bedtime as a nap ? And then thought it was play time after. The heat probably did play a part also. Not looking forward to tonight . I kept checking dd chest to see if she was hot . Worries me as they can't regulate their own body temp at this age. Ds keeps asking what we are doing today and tomorrow ! How to entertain a 3 year old with a baby in this heat!!! Ok if you are on a beach eh .