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Sleep

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Original poster

HELP! 4 month old night waking escalating

15 replies

lilysma · 11/03/2007 11:13

Any experiences of reducing night waking with a 4 month old? Mine used to sleep at least a 5-6 hour stretch and is now waking every 1.5-3 hours and it's getting worse.

She bf to sleep no problem at 8pm but it all starts to go pear shaped a couple of hours later.

Have tried not feeding her and pu/pd when she wakes but she screams for hours (last night 2 hours). End up taking her into my bed out of exhaustion.

Has anyone got any experience to share? Should I be trying to 'space' feeds or pu/pd to get her to sleep at bedtime or both? Am getting really desperate!

OP posts:

BizzyDint · 11/03/2007 11:14

4 month growth spurt i would think. so best not to opt for not feeding her. try giving more bf through out the day, tank her up. she's demanding more so give her more. it will pass.

Original poster

lilysma · 11/03/2007 11:33

Thanks. The problem is this has been going on for at least 3 weeks, so can't believe it's a growth spurt. She went through a stage of not feeding well in the day but that has pased. Then she was ill with a vomiting bug for 36 hours, but that was a week ago. Now she's feeding a lot in the day but things are still getting worse at night ;-(

OP posts:

TrinityRhino · 11/03/2007 11:40

maybe if she was ill a week ago she is now getting her appetite back and wanting to fill up. try offering more in the daytime

I also really don't think you can rule out a growth spurt, she still is tiny and I believe that babies under 6 months or so are supposed to wkae in the night for food.

I answer to your last question I would say neither just feed her more

Original poster

lilysma · 11/03/2007 11:49

Thanks. Yes, I know she should feed in the night, but every 2 hours at 4 months seems a bit much and makes me think it is becoming a habit...

OP posts:

BizzyDint · 11/03/2007 11:58

it hasn't really been 3 weeks though has it? she was ill in the middle of it all so she's building herself back up, PLUS going through a growth spurt. please don't worry about her getting into bad habits, she's crying for food. give it to her. ride it out.

Swizzler · 11/03/2007 12:09

Prob not much help, but DS still waking every 2 hours for a feed and he's 5 months old - getting better gradually though. 4 months is a tricky time, they're growing and developing really fast and it can uset some babies.

Original poster

lilysma · 17/03/2007 11:53

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. Sorry for long break - I was away at my parents, where the situation got steadily worse until the final night she would only settle for a maximum of half an hour! Back at home now and back to 2.5 hour stretches but it takes 1.5 hours to settle her after feeding when she wakes up. This makes me think food is not the problem. Am completely desperate as have become a walking zombie and getting quite depressed . Need to do something, but can't decide what...

OP posts:

cruisemum1 · 17/03/2007 12:44

join us on 'sleep is for the weak'. we got together because of EXACTLY what you are going through. good sleepers going 'bad' at around four mths. be warned....mist of us still suffering two mths later

cruisemum1 · 17/03/2007 12:45

btw - my ds's sleep went haywire after he had a cough/cold

dunscared · 17/03/2007 13:30

i know how you feel
my son, bf, upped his night feeds around the 14 week stage, 2 hoursly at night
tried to encourage more in day but he was too distracted to feed for more than 10 mins!!
this went on for 4 weeks at which point i started a bit of food as thought maybe me being soooo tired and down was affecting my milk supply and not giving him what he needed?
within a week he was more settled, I was a lot brighter and he was feeding better in the day and only once at night.
by 6 months he was on 3 meals a day, 3 feeds a day and sleeping 12 hours.
and i feel normal again!
hope this gives you some hope?

cruisemum1 · 17/03/2007 13:35

dunscared - jst out of interest, my ds is 6 monts, on three meals a day but how do you fit in three bfr's? I do one at night, one in morning, one about 10am ish. do you thing that is enough? he has yoghurt, cheese and formula mixed cereal etc. I do offer ff's but he is not that interested.

dunscared · 17/03/2007 13:46

cruisemum1, like yours he doesn't like formula so he had 6:30 bf, 8am breakfast, 11am lunch, 2pm bf, 4pm tea, 7pm bf
that said dropped the 2pm one last week as started nursery and i go back to week next week, just has a yoghurt and breadstick as a snack at 2pm now
he's a gannet and will eat anything and everything and i just make sure he gets loads of cheese, yoghurt and milk on cereal
daughter was exactly the same and so think i'm much more laid back about it this time.

gingerninja · 17/03/2007 14:25

lilysma, like Cruise said, we formed sleep is for the weak because of exactly the same problem. Those that have started weaning haven't seen any improvement so I'm not convinced about the relationship with sleep (although I clung to that theory for ages hoping that at 6 months DD would suddenly start sleeping like the proverbial baby.)

If you have a look at the original thread (the new one is quite recent) you'll get an idea of what we were going through at that point. It is slowly getting better, by no means perfect and some nights bloody awful but somehow it gets more managable.

Original poster

lilysma · 17/03/2007 14:47

Thanks for the replies. See y'all on the sleep is for the weak thread...

OP posts:

mears · 17/03/2007 14:57

At 4 months old I would do whatever it takes to get baby back to sleep. If that means taking her into bed and feeding while you sleep, then that is what to do. I would never spend hours on end trying to get a baby of this age to sleep without feeding the,. Just gets everyone wound. Just try and go with it. For me it was a phase that passed. And no, I was not stuck with a child in my bed who wouldn't sleep on their own. My philosophy was always to feed them if the nappy was dry and a cuddle wouldn't do it. Try and feed more during the day if you can - that might help.

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