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4.5 old not coping with regression, me neither

5 replies

Pippinsqueak · 23/05/2019 06:46

My daughter is 4.5 months old and is struggling with this sleep regression business.

She is exclusively breast fed, we have had a routine of a short walk in the evening, bath every other night, get into night clothes, read a book, and bed time around 8:30pm and feed to sleep. She used to be able to be put down after 20-30 mins or so once she drops off and she would stay asleep. She would then wake at around 2am and 5am both times a bum change and feed back to sleep until about 7ish. I can cope with this.

Each time she would wake up she wouldn't cry but would let me know she's hungry so I would feed her, she would drop off and all would be well.

Anyway she is now crying every time when she wakes and as soon as I put her down. I've tried to get her to self soothe, leave her for ten mins, she won't take a dummy either. We have a white noise app in which used to work, she just ends up thrashing around in the next to me crib and winds herself up.room is dark, I don't spots her or make a fuss when she wakes.

It is also taking now over an hour and at least two feeds to get her to sleep initially and back off to sleep and she's waking once extra around 6 am.

Is there any advice or can anyone see if I'm doing anything wrong (nicely please I'm sleep deprived and emotional). I can't do co sleeping, it's not for me.

Also she is not very good at falling asleep in her own during the day, again she falls asleep when I feed her. She fights it when she's tired, should I be feeding her after she wakes and not to sleep,? Again she is asking for it when she's tired hence why I give it to her and she falls asleep. Then I find it incredibly hard to put her down as she wakes easily and stays on the boob mostly.

These sleeps in the day only last 40 mins. She does fall asleep in the car or on my shoulder (after 15 mins of tears as she's fighting the sleep and refusing the boob if she's not hungry).

Advice/experience greatly appreciated x

OP posts:
SS1987 · 23/05/2019 19:20

Really sorry but the only thing that helped me through sleep regression was co sleeping. Said I’d never do it but when I’d tried everything else it seemed like the only option. Thankfully it wasn’t all night long and wasn’t every night but I’d say 5 out of 7 nights. I finally started getting bigger chunks of sleep and so did the baby. She’s ten months old now and very very rarely ends up in our bed. Do what you can at such a young age to get some sleep. Good luck

Pippinsqueak · 23/05/2019 21:16

Thank you for your reply. I tried co sleeping and side feeding but it just aches my body so much it made me worse. Glad it helped for you though

OP posts:
redbedheadd · 23/05/2019 21:43

No advice but just to say I'm having similar problems with my 4 month old and wanted to say you aren't alone! My DS is napping shorter and shorter in the day... awake for ages and very frustrated with me if I don't play with him. Night times, it's taking hours to get him off... I try feeding, rocking, leaving him.... the problem is he gets himself more and more hyper thrashing around the cot and doing crazy yoga moves. All I'm doing is keeping calm, dark room, no chatting and keep trying to get him off to sleep. I'm sure someone will come along and tell me I'm doing it all wrong.

I think it's just a phase. It sounds like you are doing everything right. Sorry no helpful advice!!

Pippinsqueak · 24/05/2019 02:37

Oh my word my daughter does exactly the same at night! Thank you for your reply, I do hope someone can come along with some advice to help us. I know it's probably all normal but I just want to help her (and me) to get through it. It's so unfair that she's teething, going through sleep regression, she had her third jabs a few days ago and is going through a growth spurt all at the same time yet she's so small in the grand scheme of things. Hope it gets easier for you too x

OP posts:
Darkstar4855 · 24/05/2019 11:16

The frequent waking could be sleep regression but the crying and not going back to sleep could mean something is bothering her. Could she be teething? A dose of calpol or some teething gel at bedtime might be worth a try.

I would also only change her if the nappy is obviously full/leaking or if she has had a poo to avoid waking her up more than necessary.

I feed to sleep and at that age my son was swaddled which made it much easier to put him down without waking him - maybe worth a try if you’re desperate?

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