4month sleep regression, EBF with a cold

[PandaMum88]

Someone please tell me it's going to get better soon...

My DS previously only needed one feed in the middle of the night around 3am (plus a dream feed at 10:30) which was brilliant. A few weeks ago he started waking every 2hrs, which is rough - but I was dealing okay. Last night though he was up every 30-60min and taking forever to go back to sleep each time.

So now I'm so worn out I've got a cold coming on and feel absolutely miserable. I EBF, so my partner can't really do much to help in the night (DS refuses a bottle of expressed milk)

Not really sure what I'm hoping for by posting other than reassurance that it's going to get better?? I'm so exhausted and worn down I feel like a useless mum during the day.

Ahh remember it well. Honestly it gets better! I ebf my DAughter and I think as I never really got more than 3 hours in the first few months I probably coped better when we hit a regression, as I was already used to the lack of sleep. The 4 month regression lasted about 3/4 weeks waking hourly then it settled again and I got a good 6 hour stretch. It calms down. They go up and down. Try getting a nap in the day if you can!
There is light though.

@Blondiejay24 3/4 weeks of hourly wake ups?? Dear lord I don't know if I can handle that!!

I was/am hoping the 2hr wakes is our sleep regression and last night was just fluke...but that may be wishful thinking.

Did the 6hr stretch just suddenly happen for you? Or did it slowly stretch to longer?

Ahhh you poor thing, it's so tough and sounds very similar to my DS (he was only feeding once a night by 3 months) and then the 4 month regression hit and he woke every 2 hours, to the minute. I was convinced he didn't need feeding more as I'd offer and he'd just get frustrated/not really suck or latch on/push away. You say your partner can't do much but this is where I would disagree. I had to get my partner to help and we ended up taking it in turns. I would feed when DS usually fed (around 2am) but other wake ups (usually 10pm, midnight and 4am) we'd take it in turns to resettle. We quickly learnt that picking him up to rock would make him more unsettled and angry (genuinely felt and sounded like he just wanted to get back to sleep but didn't know how) so we'd go over, place a firm hand on his chest and just say over and over quietly 'time to go back to sleep now, relax your body etc etc'. Makes me want to laugh now thinking back to how ridiculous this sounds but it usually worked within 10-15mins and as the nights went on the wake up times reduced to him just calling out once and back to sleep. He's now 7 months and usually sleeps through 12 hours straight so please please just tell yourself it's just a phase and things will improve with time.