4 month old sleep troubles - to feed or not to feed?!

[Bxy123]

First time Mum here.. DS is EBF and to be honest has never been the best sleeper. Think he's slept through once since birth. We did start having some fairly consistent 4 / 5 hour stretches which was great, waking up maybe once or twice a night for a feed.
But now he wakes every 2 hours and it is exhausting. I'm assuming that we've hit the 4 month sleep regression.
So I've got two issues.
Firstly, I don't know whether to start sleep training or if it is too early?
Secondly, I feed him each time he wakes, I try to settle him by other means but it doesn't work. So I don't know if he is actually hungry or just using feeding to go back to sleep? He feeds for a good 20 minutes each time though.

Any advice please!?

Feed. It's so hard, but of you can set up your bed safely and feed lying down it's a game changer

Sounds like you're doing a great job.

I'm not sure you can sleep train during a regression - so much is changing in your baby's brain anyway. They are learning to sleep in a totally different way. It's rubbish, but it's not forever.

Most sleep training is recommended from about 6 months, I think?

Your baby is absolutely tiny and so, yes you should feed as often as he likes. Having babies is absolutely exhausting. I’ve had three and my youngest has slept through the night twice in two years. Babies do just wake every hour or two... they get the hang of it eventually. My eldest two sleep through now but as babies they just didn’t - and the bast majority of babies don’t.
There is no need to sleep train your baby... ever. I know it’s tiring but this is being a parent. Just look after yourself, go to bed early, get your partner to stay up and cuddle the baby while you get some sleep.
It will improve I promise. I fed all my babies back to sleep until they were 16 months and then transitioned to offering a cup of water if they woke.
It’s tiring but you’ll get there

His sleep prior to the regression sounds pretty good. I understand the 2 hour wake ups now is exhausting. What do you mean by sleep training? He is too young for methods like controlled crying but if you are thinking about routines, gently encouraging self settling etc then you can do that now. It's a personal decision whether to feed each time really. With both of mine I fed each wake up as it was the easiest way of getting back to sleep. DD had a short period of bad sleep then went back to two night feeds (she sucked her fingers which helped her). DS is 9.5 months and inly just improving from the 4.5 month regression. However in his case, we have also tried gentle sleep training and that didn't work well either! So I don't think we could have done much else other than feed him, or he would have been up pretty much all night!

Your baby is far too young for any "sleep training" However now is the time to start settling in to a routine of feeding/naps. If he needs to feed in the night you feed him. At this age many babies are not sleeping through

I've just posted about this too! If baby wakes pretty soon after a feed, half an hour - and hour my partner picks him up and tried to settle but if he cries and doesn't settle he passes him to me to feed. Most of the times he wants a feed but every now and again he does settle just with a little cuddle.
We're on night 6 now and so tired! I find myself celebrating a 2 1/2 hour sleep stretch which is the longest we've had for the past 6 nights! It's like we're back at the beginning again which I suppose is why they call it a recession!

Definitely feed, I think it makes your life A LOT easier. Also things WILL get better, when my little one was four months old I thought things would always be that hard but they really won't.

Does he have a dummy? If so, I would try to settle him with a dummy first. If not, I'd do my best to introduce a dummy now before it's too late.
Otherwise I'd get into a routine of dream feeding at around 11 pm or so. You could even pump breast milk and your OH could do the dream feed while you get some rest.

Many babies that age do still need numerous night feeds but in my experience many bf babies will end up using the breast as a prop to go to sleep. Yes, being a parent is tiring but there is no need to feed to sleep for a year or more. You are entitled to some rest and don't need to feel guilty about taking steps to improve your baby.'s sleep.

Thank you for all the advice everyone! I don't feel sleep training is something DS is ready for yet but people keep suggesting I give it a try. Sounds like I need to listen to my gut instincts a bit more.
I'll just keep doing what I am doing for now then, and just repeat to myself 'this wont be forever!'

I have sleep trained my DS who is 5 months. The results have been excellent and it was absolutely the right decision for us. He now sleeps in his cot in his own room. His 4 month regression lasted 6 weeks and I felt like it was killing me, waking every 45 mins some nights and taking hours upon hours to fall asleep in the evening. We co slept but it didn’t hugely help to be honest.

Feed definately or dummy, Thats what he wants and to be next to you. I would never go against what baby wants because of other peoples advice.

Look up 4th Trimester.

And you are right to go with your gut, its not forever.

So I don't know if he is actually hungry or just using feeding to go back to sleep Probably both.

I

i know it was a while ago… but how did the pan out? What did you do? I’m currently in the same situation and don’t know how to resolve it!!