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Sleep

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Original poster

4 month old terrible sleeper HELP!

18 replies

Fattynoms02 · 20/02/2017 12:54

Hi, this is my first time posting, I'm a first time mum. Dd is just over 4 months and ebf. She will only nap during the day if out with the pram or if either me/dh rock her and hold her, if we put her in her cot, she's wide awake. This wouldn't be so bad but she's up hourly in the night so I'm then exhausted from walking for hours with the pram. Oh I should also mention that it can take a while for her to switch off and get to a remotely drowsy state. I do try to make sure that she's not awake for more than 2 hours between naps. She's also quite a windy baby.
Any ideas what we could try? Or do we just have a baby that doesn't sleep so we need to suck it up?!!

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FATEdestiny · 20/02/2017 13:15

You could try a bouncy chair. Something like this one:

www.argos.co.uk/product/2494054

(With the play arch removed for sleeping)

Original poster

Fattynoms02 · 20/02/2017 13:24

We've tried 3 different types of bouncy chairs/rockers.....unfortunately she still doesn't drop off and ends up hysterical.

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Hatemylifenow · 20/02/2017 13:27

You're in the thick of the 4 month sleep regression which doesn't help -ds was awful at that age. We used to rock him in the buggy indoors in a dark room with a snooze shade over the top of the buggy and loud white noise playing. You want minimal stimulation.

White noise and dark room at night too.

I still think even 2 hours at that age might be pushing it into overtiredness, IIRC ds could barely go 1.5 hrs. I'd try for less awake time.

Original poster

Fattynoms02 · 20/02/2017 13:43

hate
OK so I should be aiming for 1.5 hours between naps. Yes, dd definitely needs minimal stimulation.
At what point did it get easier with your ds?

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ElspethFlashman · 20/02/2017 13:47

Tbh with the 4 month sleep regression it can last well into weaning onto solids.

It's definitely the point at which shit gets real. Waking every hour and waking so much it takes an hour to resettle. All very typical. A lot of people cope by bringing the baby into bed with them as they sleep a bit better. You're not doing anything wrong, if that's any consolation.

ElspethFlashman · 20/02/2017 13:48

Also if she gets irritable even one hour after her last nap, and it's not hunger, then go for another nap. Cos during this time 1.5 hrs tends to be the absolute max and often less than that.

Original poster

Fattynoms02 · 20/02/2017 13:51

Thanks Elspeth
It's reassuring to hear that as I kept thinking that we have somehow managed to teach dd only to nap in our arms etc. Plus the hv makes it sound easy, that little one should be self settling now!

OP posts:

ElspethFlashman · 20/02/2017 13:55

You can start training her about naps once this hump is well over and you're not shattered. Plenty of time, she'll be having naps for another 2 years remember!

melonribena · 20/02/2017 14:01

Op! Are you me?
I'm having exactly the same thing with my 4 month old.
I'm just riding it out. Ds1 was just the same but at about 8 months we turned a corner and he slept in his cot!

fruityb · 20/02/2017 14:02

I had a hideous month or so when DS hit this regression period. I don't know what we did necessarily but I do know he went back to sleeping through. He started the regression at around 16 weeks and it went away a couple later. We put him in his own room at four months and it seemed to help.

It does pass!! DS could go to sleep easily enough but he woke just as easily and needed a cuddle to go back off. We never put him in our bed as I didn't want that to stick but dummy and white noise certainly helped. He has a Ewan sheep now and that's been a big help.

Just wanted to say this will pass you just have to grit your teeth for a bit! and helped

And DS is in a phase of napping on my knee at the moment to settle but I can put him down afterwards. Sometimes I don't want to and as he might be the only one we have I'm going to enjoy it while I can as it won't last forever.

savagehk · 20/02/2017 14:18

If she'll only sleep on you, have you tried a sling/carrier? Might mean you can sit at home with your hands free rather than having to go for long walks, and being upright might help the wind. You might want to check with a sling library for one that is ergonomic rather than buying one in store as often those aren't.

Re overnight, we coslept/bedshared which worked well for us, as I never had to 'get up' at night, just pull baby closer for a feed.

Hatemylifenow · 20/02/2017 14:21

At what point did it get easier with your ds

Afraid the nights didn't get easier til we sleep trained at 6.5 months. DS wouldn't co sleep so we were at our wits end. Best thing we ever did!

Naps turned a corner once he dropped the third nap, also at 6.5 months. He's been a dream napper ever since - goes down for an hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon in his cot with no fussing (touch wood!!!). But honestly before that it was literally only in his buggy - inside the house!!!

Original poster

Fattynoms02 · 20/02/2017 14:23

Thanks everyone for all the advice and reassurance.
savagehk I'm going to a sling library meeting this month, so fingers crossed we find one that she likes!

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CrunchieFeeling · 20/02/2017 15:34

There's a pram rocker. You wheel the pram on it and it rocks the pram.

Tabitha1983 · 20/02/2017 19:00

Hi Op...I'm in exact same boat with the hourly night time wakings so no help there at all! Sorry! The 4 month sleep regression is just cruel 😭
Just wanted to say regarding the naps.....if u can, try not to walk/rock to sleep for every nap because I did that with DD1 and it just becomes exhausting. Every nap meant I had to walk for an hour (I was slim mind haha!) With DS2 he is EBF and I did not want to go down that road again (literally!). I feed him until he is very drowsy, but not completely asleep and then settle him with dummy, swaddled into pram (stationary in the house). No rocking/pushing involved...so far it is working...it might only be one sleep cycle but I'm happy we will keep working on it...so might be worth you trying before the habit is engrained. If u do need the movement then try a swing...DS will nod off in that with his dummy also x

Newmother8668 · 20/02/2017 20:28

Going through the same thing right now! Keep in touch and let me know how it goes! So far what's working is that I'm letting him have the 30 minute naps and he has started to change. It's been three weeks that built up to his naps being terrible but now it's starting to calm down. What helped me was a bedside crib with one side open and it has wheels. So I'll wheel him back and forth until he's drowsy and then stop. I also put a vibrating pillow under his feet and he sleeps in a cozy dream and a sleep sack. As for his naps, I was trying to sleep train him for three naps a day, but I've given up and back to napping every 90 minutes of awake time. Mainly because he's now waking up at 5am. I'm starting to see his seep get better. He's now only waking every three hours at night! Never happened before and sometimes he naps for two hours for one nap and then the rest are 30 minutes. I've finally eliminated rocking and his bouncy chair, so a little more crying but then more solid napping. I'm at the tail end. I can't wait until it finishes!!!

Original poster

Fattynoms02 · 22/02/2017 19:38

Last night was better, we didn't have hourly wake ups.....but I haven't a clue what we did differently!

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Lucybutton1985 · 20/01/2018 09:54

HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!!!

I’m a first time mom to my daughter who is now 17 weeks old! Since 12 weeks her sleeping has got worse n worse! I tried putting her in her own room, giving her a dummy which once is out she wakes up crying! And now she is awake every hour and I just do not know what to do anymore!!! I am exhausted! I have had a sleep routine since birth, the room is pitch black, I have tried white noise and swaddling and nothing is helping! She will sleep on me all night long but not at all in her cot/next to me! We have regular naps in the day no longer than 2 hour wake periods and sleeps anything from 30 mins- 2 hours... as soon as night time comes it’s jist a nightmare... she will go down now no problem but staying asleep even for jist 1 hour it jist does not happen! Then sometimes she’s awake for over 2-3 hours during the night! Please can someone help me, is it just the sleep regression that’s never ending??? Thanks

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