4 month old not sleeping

[Kat2287]

Hi

I'm struggling with my lb who won't sleep. He's never slept well a good night for him is a 3 hour stint following with hourly wake ups. The last week he is now waking every 40 minutes and struggles to be put down. He tends to have one nap in the day (everything I've read says he should be having 3!) he'll have a second one at a push (if you continually rock him for about half an hour!). Has anyone got any tips can't do gradual withdrawal as he just screams and won't even tolerate being in the cot at all unless I put him down asleep or with a full tummy but I don't want to feed him every 40 minutes.

I'm also struggling in the day he's my second so I have a toddler to look after in the day too. I keep arguing with my husband because neither of us has had a decent nights sleep in months. All of my friends babies seem to be sleeping through. My in laws help a little but they are really busy so just help when they can. The Hv came and was really unhelpful she just said that it was normal and would get worse before it got better.

Feeling a bit lost and like no one gets it. Is anyone else had struggles like this if yes what did you do? Need a bit of hope that this will end soon!

Sorry for a long moany post x X x

Could he be teething? If so teething granules might give him some relief, also if that's the problem there will be and end to it. If it's not too cold have you tried getting to sleep in his pram outside during the day?
It is horrible when they are like this, I know this sounds mad but sometimes I have been able to distract a fretful baby by clapping in rhythm or making clicking noise, if they quiten it's worth just talking to see if they listen. At this stage I think having a good moan is beneficial alround. Hope the situation improves soon.xx

I've just been through the 4 month sleep regression (and a bad teething period) with my DS. Fitestly, for me, it was worth reading up on it- it helped me to know why it was happening. It lasted just over a week with DS (fingers crossed it's over anyway!), but some babies take less/ more time to move past it. I really feel for you- I sat and cried at 3am one night because I was so tired and started to dread bedtime!

Does your partner do some of the work to help you? My husband started taking DS at about 5am so that I could get a couple of hours sleep before he went to work.

Where does your baby sleep? I found that using his bed nest (which we had stopped using) really helped to settle him.

He's still not a great daytime napper, but sleeps well on me, so if I'm desperate I give in and cuddle him. Some babies sleep well in slings. He also sleeps in his pram- I've walked miles wound our block getting him to sleep during the day!

I really hope that things improve soon.

I had this with my first and it lasted til they were 18 months. I know how you feel but it does get better. Have you heard of the 4 month sleep regression?

He will sleep better in the night if he can nap in theday better so afe there any guaranteed ways to get him to sleep. Ie take him out in the car?

Have you tried a sling? Sometimes it's the only way of getting my DD to sleep at all! And she doesn't scream falling asleep in it when she's over tired. Does he seem tired to you during the day? Yawning or rubbing his eyes? It's common for babies that age to need to nap every 90 minutes but the more tired they are, the less able to fall asleep they are due to the production of cortisol. Every baby is different but it does sound like he should be very over tired have you tried a dummy too?
Every baby is different so he may well just not need as much sleep!

Our DS is also 4 months and doesn't like napping at all but we do our best to make him fall asleep during the day as that and a consistent bedtime routine helped immensely in settling his sleep pattern at night. He is a terrible napper but I keep going as I believe it really does help with nights.

Is your LO ebf? Do you express at all? We found that giving DS a top up bottle of expressed milk (after usual nursing session before I go to sleep) helped him sleep for longer stretches. Have you tried that at all?