Sleep regression etc. 4 months

[voobylooby]

Looking for advice, tips or just reassurance.

My happy smiley 15 week old has become really difficult! She has gone from sleeping from around 9pm until about 5am and then going back to sleep again fir a few more hours after a feed.

I could kind of handle this and the resulting lack of sleep if she was a bit happier during the day, but she basically cries all day, unless she's in her pushchair.

She wakes up, has a feed, manages about 10 minutes vaguely happy on my lap or on her changing mat, then screams until she falls asleep. She used to be happy for about 90 minutes between naps!

Any tips/ support would really be appreciated!

Oh it's horrendous isn't it 😣 Have you got the wonder week app? It predicts your babies fussy periods based on their due date...it's been quite accurate for my 2!
All I can say (which isn't that helpful!) is...it is a phase...it does pass honestly! You just have to do the best you can to cope...baby wearing helps...and getting out the house as other wise you go crazy all day with a twining baby on your hip 🤣 The 4month regression is by far the worst!
Good luck x

Ah thank you. Yes have the app which at least gives me the reason why! It's amazing when you think what they are going through!

Ps your quite lucky she tolerates pushchair! Both of mine wanted carried all the time when going through fussy periods (and I'm not a fan of baby wearing!) x

On a positive when you 'come out the other side' she will be really happy with lots of new skills which is nice to see ☺️

When was her last vaccination?

Salty it was her 12 week, so she has another middle of next week.

SusannahR at least it'll offset all the chocolate I'm eating!

Oh I live off the stuff...1 of the main reasons I'm carrying on breast feeding is the extra 'chocolate' calories it allows 🙈🤣

She wakes up, has a feed, manages about 10 minutes vaguely happy on my lap or on her changing mat, then screams until she falls asleep. She used to be happy for about 90 minutes between naps!

She needs less awake time between her naps then. 40-60 minutes would not be unreasonable if baby is grumpy.

She may also need extra help to get to sleep.

*FATEdestiny
*
It definitely is reduced now.... sometimes down to only around half an hour, as I'm trying to out her down as soon as she shows any sign of needing a nap. 90 mins was the 'old' DD who was quite happy for 85 of those minutes.

I might try not even waiting for signs though and just putting her down after about 60 minutes max....

Did you all just ride it out? Or is it a good idea to actively try to stop it at some point???

voobylooby - how are you getting baby to go to sleep?

And is your settling to sleep method successful? It should take no more than 10 minutes to get baby to sleep usually. I prefer quiet and calm for going to sleep, rather than a acreaming battle (dummy is critical in this)

Yes definitely doesn't take more than 10 mins. Dummy & dark room, hand on tummy.

It's only the nights that are still disturbed. She does 4 or 5 hours but then wakes frequently, anything between 1 to 2 hours, and usually needs feeding to sleep.....

What's daytime sleep and feeding routine like at the moment?

We do EASY. Feeds about every 2 hoiurs. Awake time about 75 minutes. Have tried to make it less but she fights it!

45 minutes nap plus one feed in every 2 hour block of the day is a great routine.

But she cries all the time she is awake, is that right? She shouldn't do, she really shouldn't. Could she be in pain? Some types of pain that are not externally visible include things like ear ache, sore throat, reflux burning.

Is she happier at any times? What sorts of things happen when she's happy?

Could this be wind related? Are you winding her enough?

Ah yes so things have changed since my OP. She was definitely teething. Calgel has worked its magic. Really now I'm just wondering if I need to do anything to help her go back to long stretch of sleep at night, or if after this leap it'll naturally settle.

Thanks for all your help!

Sleep in the first 3 months is very different to sleep for the rest of the time. It's ususlly easy to get baby to sleep in the "fourth trimester" because sleep is passive. So as long as all needs are met, baby will sleep.

At around 3-4 months old sleep matures. It develops into cycles with periods of light sleep and deep sleep, and becomes an active process tp get to sleep.

So sleep will never go back to how it was in the newborn stage. It's developed and matured now. This is the new way sleep will be. Over time baby will learn to link more sleep cycles together and wake less frequently. But this will be a different way of sleeping longer stretches than the passive sleep you saw in the first 3 months.

Thanks FATEdestiny. As long as I'm not missing something! Your explanation makes perfect sense.