Anyone on for another 4 month sleep regression hand-holding thread?!

[uppereastsidemom]

DD2 is 16 weeks and had been doing 7pm - woken up at 11.30ish for a feed - 5 or 6am. Happy days.

She is now waking up anytime between 7 and 10pm, going back down but reliably waking up for 2-3 hours between 3 and 6am. It is torture. I know this is a predictable phase that will pass, but christ it is miserable.

Waiting to see what tonight brings . I know there had been an active thread that seems to have died - hopefully meaning that all those babies are now sleeping beautifully

Friend's baby is 16 weeks and my DD is 17 weeks. Guess they're all designed differently! Was kind of hoping the 4 month regression would hit but no such luck

Not sad at all Starfish - I'd be the same! My favourite fantasy is imagining booking a hotel room, just for me, and spending the entire night there in undisturbed sleep! (although knowing my luck I'd probably get insomnia!)

Purple you deserve a medal for not punching your friend! Although sleep regression may hit them later, you never know. Also my friend who has 4 kids told me the ones that sleep crap as babies tend to sleep well as toddlers and the ones that sleep well as babies sleep badly as toddlers so she may get her turn yet! Haha

I really hope ds sleeps better tonight. I really don't know what to do for the best at the moment. He's currently napping on my knee. I'm not sure that's wise but I'm too tired to deal with trying to put him in his crib right now.

Someone has offered to lend me a sleepyhead. I think it's got to be worth a try.

Oh yes - and an overnight stay in a spa hotel is another daydream. Right must stop torturing myself!

Helen - this stage is all about survival so don't worry about what's best. Just do what works to ensure you get the most amount of sleep. It's hard tho isn't it - the aim is a lovely drowsy baby who drops off to sleep happily and settles themselves after stirring... but the reality is a fed to sleep, sometimes rocked, comfort sucking whirlwind that sucks the life out of you - literally and figuratively!! Oh and mine throws up every single feed and isn't putting any weight on. Sigh.

I have a Sleepyhead Helen, we paid full price for it as we were desperate and expecting great things! Well, DD isn't magically sttn (else I wouldn't be on here ha!) but she does settle more when she's in it. Before that she was thrashing about in her cot and that was waking her. We had been swaddling her so stopping that didn't help. Definitely worth trying the Sleepyhead though. Be interested to know how you get on!

Hugs Starfish. I wish I could grant you your spa wish but it will happen for you. A small silver lining - not sure how many kids you're planning on having but at least you're getting through the (to me, anyway) hardest part of surviving with two! We want another one (I think) but I'm already dreading the sleep related shenanigans...

Oh and Starfish - I'm trying out the Ergo - loving it so far!

I have a cheap babies r us sling, I bought it just for popping to shops etc and it does the job but I imagine there's better ones. I wish I'd have invested in a couple of decent slings from birth.

I always wonder whether to believe these people who claim their babies are sleeping 12 hours.

Sweet relief. DP is taking ds to grandma and grandad a for a few hours. I'm going for a sleep

Not too late to invest in one pyjama - you can always sell it on eBay after.

Errrr def no more kids purple! I'm glad I had them close together to get the painful bit out the way (praying this doesn't go on for months and months!)

We're all just getting thru hey - good to have this thread to be able to rant!

Enjoy the rest Helen

Much better last night. He slept at grandma and grandad a from 8-10. Then at home he went to bed at 11 and woke at 2.15 and 5.15, up for the day at 8. I don't imagine it will continue but it was a welcome break. How did everyone else get on?

I love my sling too. I have a melkaj mei tai. It was the only place ds would nap for ages! He will now nap in his crib but we are going to have to move him to his cot soon as he's rolling and starting to try and pull himself up.

That's great you had a better night Helen! Yippee! 8am start is a luxury. How did you go from sling naps to crib naps? This is my next mission you see and putting in the cot awake and ssshing patting doesn't seem to be working...

Shit night again here. Up at 10 30am for an hr then up at 1:30 for an hr and awake for the day at 430am interspersed with toddler needing to be sssssddd. I'm thinking his sleep regression has passed as he doesn't seem as wired this week compared to last week and that he's just shit at going back to sleep once he's stirred...

Shh pat and picking him up to comfort him made my ds worse! I popped him in the crib asleep a few times to get him used to it (made sure I was there when he woke up to reassure him). Then after a week or so I put him in awake but sleepy (after boob, often he would fall asleep on the boob but I'd gently wake him again) and just sat beside the crib and sang and/or spoke to him till he fell asleep. Again I stayed in the room till he woke a few times. It took a wee while the first time but it gets better.

Helen my ds goes to bed fine in his cot. He goes back to sleep there from awake after his feed. But come 4.30-5.30am he won't stay in there and the only way to get more sleep is to bring him into bed.

He also can't stay asleep in there during the day.

How was everyone's nights? As if she knew that DH was planning to give me a rest today, DD slept the best she's done in ages! A block of 6 (!) hours and only one night waking. My body doesn't quite know what's hit it. Also having a lovely lie in although it's technically not a full day off - DH suggested I still take her to her music class - so that he can get a break. Er, what do you think I do all day - you don't get a break when you're in sole charge of a baby! Ah well, I don't mind as I love that class.

Hope you've all had better nights too! Fully expecting normal service to resume tonight but enjoying this strange feeling of being 'rested' while it lasts...

Oh lovely purple - 6 hrs sounds like bliss! What else have you got planned for your day of rest?

Crap night again - 2 wake ups which isn't bad but both were 1 to 1.5hrs long then up for the day at 445am (tho DH did the honours and I got an extra hour).

It's going to be a long old day!

Oh Starfish

I really hope you get through the day Ok.
DH taking DD shopping so planning a kit kat, coffee and a bath once they're gone :) Although lying here in bed wanting to get up cos I miss my baby! No pleasing some folk

Purple you sound like me! Need a break but then I miss him.

We weren't too bad last night. 3 hourly wake ups but went down quickly after them with the exception of the 4am wake up which was a bit more difficult. I can cope with 3 hourly, it's the every 45 mins that is torture!

So glad you got some sleep purple, it's amazing when you get a good block of sleep isn't it?

One things for sure, when our babies are sleeping better we will definitely appreciate our sleep.

Anyone around for a moan?!

I'm soooooooo tired even tho last night wasn't too bad in the scheme of things. Up at 930pm (wtf?!), then twice more and woke up in our bed at 6am which given the clocks could have been worse.

Managed to get him to sleep in his cot this am which was a minor victory but he only managed 30 mins so now we're back to the sling.

I must have blocked this all out from DS1 as I don't remember it being this relentless!

Wotcha starfish. Ours has woken up for a feed around 10pm for the last few nights as well . Back in the far off distant past when he used to go down until at least midnight or 1, I used to sit down for an hour and drink a glass of wine and watch some crap telly and pretend that I was an autonomous adult with free will and a life . But sadly no more.

We tricked him with an 8pm bedtime yesterday so we were up at 6.15 rather than somewhere in the 5s, but I'm knackered today too, can barely motivate myself to sing the usual string of nonsensical bobbins that I usually try and placate him with.

'Nonsensical bobbins' ha sploink!

Bad day here too. Last night wasn't awful...but it wasn't great, given that the last two nights haven't been too bad. After the glory of six hours on Thursday it's been downhill. Why??? No changes to daytime routine! I feel horrible today. Weak, drained and utterly fed up. Me and DH have been arguing on and off all morning. Just want to stop the world and get off for a bit!

Yes I remember ONCE when bubba woke at midnight then again at 6am when he was about 6 weeks and I stupidly thought that was a sign of things to come....

Haha that's what I said last night purple - in the hour between toddler finally settling and baby first waking. Think my DH thought I was mad!

Apologies if this has already been mentioned up thread but how long are your 4 month olds 'happy' awake? I know if I get the timing right with DD2 19 weeks she'll go down without a fuss but when that will be is anyone's guess. Her first nap of the day is 75 mins after waking but she takes an hour to feed first thing so it's a bit of a rush to change her, put daytime clothes on then back to bedroom for nap routine. However that nap tends to work quite well. After that who knows! What nap times do yours have?

I know it's not going to get much sympathy but she does sleep usually 8pm to 6am so night time is great; it's just the 3 or more times a day nap battle. She's even started crying while I put the sleeping bag on her because she knows what's coming . Rocking or nursing are no good whatsoever with her. She did wake at 2am this morning though so I saw in the clocks change!

No more than 2 hrs... probably more like 1.5hrs as happy with 30 mins of grumbling /getting tired

It varies. The first morning nap tends to ho like clockwork - she'll wake at 630/7 if I'm lucky, we'll have an hour and a half of play, she'll do a mega feed then sleeps on me (means I csn rest too). Rest of the day not so predictable! Trying for a late morning nap in her cot, and either an early afternoon and late afternoon nap or just a late afternoon nap. Problem is she's so curious now so if we go somewhere, she'll get easily distracted. But she does seem to be moving towards a more regular nap schedule.