20 weeks old, waking every 30 min

[3sugarsplease]

Just a brief outline.. DS is 20 weeks, exclusively breast fed on demand and co-sleeps. Didn't take to his Moses basket and I didn't have the will power to keep putting him back in to stir 5 mins later He is also fed to sleep (a habit I really would like to break) He also refuses a dummy.

He used to wake every 2-3 for a feed in the night. This was perfectly fine. Apart from the last 4 weeks he's been getting up every hour. Sometimes refusing going to back to sleep resulting on me going down stairs at 3am... And then him subsequently falling asleep --

He goes down between 6.30/7 PM each night. And for the last 4 nights has been waking every 30/40 mins after being put down. He is a fidget in his sleep. Kicking his legs around. Sometimes I think this is gas but he never gets it during the day. For this he has Infacol/gripe water just to ease.

I really want to get into good sleep habits. I'm exhausted. My main questions are:

1. Does sleep training work and what methods should I use shh pat etc

1. Is this possibly the regression and will it pass?

1. Is sleep training worth it before 6 months

1. Should I even bother sleep training till he is possibly out of this regression?

Any advice is greatly received!

I think it's the rwgrezsion. My boy is similar. I've been told no point in sleep training to they are out of it, but tbh I'm too bleeding knackered to even try it at the moment.

is he warm enough when in bed?

My sympathies. Watching with interest as I've just started a similar thread about my 20 week dd!

Totally sounds like regression to me! We had 4 weeks of it. I think 4-6 weeks is pretty standard. I think sleep training works but I think it just depends on the method and the baby combo. I started do VERY gentle "training" before DD was 6 months, probably around 16 weeks. I needed to feel that I was helping the situation and it worked for me. If I remember correctly the first think I did was stop feeding her to sleep for naps. I started to use EASY method of feeding on waking. It was pretty easy to make the swap for me. Once that was good I stopped feeding to sleep around 20 weeks. I picked something new to work on after she'd adjusted after to the change for 5 days or so. By the time she was 6 months she could be put to bed awake for naps and was ok. After 6 months we did something like cc/gradual retreat to break the habit of needing me to rock her back to sleep at night. So we let her cry while I lay in our bed next to her cot, patting and verbally soothing. She is almost 7 months now and can be put to bed and we can leave the room while she is still awake, soothing via the monitor for the most part. She sleeps through until 1am most nights before needing a feed. It used to be 10... So training worked for us. I would just keep it gentle and are it slow.

How did you stop feeding to sleep for her nighttime feed?

I switched her routine slightly. It had been bathe, then sleeping bag, story and feed. I now to bathe, feed, sleeping bag then story. I kept all the lights on for the feed, then dimmed for the story to start with. We use white noise and that goes on with the story, previously it had been with the feed. Now I can feed in dim light and unless she is REALLY tired she will stay awake throughout. It was a pretty pain free switch actually, but she hadn't been fed to sleep at any other time of the day so it wasn't a total shock to her system. She seems to adjust quickly (except for the own room transition, which hasn't been fun), so I think some of it is luck...

Mine is 20 weeks and has been doing this for 8 weeks . I don't think it's the regression in our case as it started at less than 3 months. DD1 did exactly the same and it immediately got better when I introduced I bottle of formula at night (fully aware that may be coincidence). DD2 is an ardent bottle refuser so can't even try that.

Posted too soon! I've been trying desperately to get her to take a bottle just to get a break but as soon as we make progress she refuses again. I don't feed to sleep in the day (followed an EASY routine since birth) and put her down semi awake at night. It's destroying me.

DS refuses a bottle from me! I've just given him a big feed, laid him down whilst he was dopey, as soon as he hits that mattress wide awake.. I popped a boob in his face and typical he dozed off!

I felt in his gums earlier, it's possible one tooth could be trying to come through. He has been very grumpy all day so something seems to be unsettling him.

Praying for a good night, I literally feel too tired to function at the moment