What's gone wrong? 4mo waking five or six times...

[verytiredmummy]

My 4 months old baby boy was sleeping through from 8pm ish to 2/3am ish then going back to sleep until 8am. But for the last couple of weeks he's been waking every two hours (every hour and a half last night!) from about 11pm. I honestly don't think he's hungry as last night he had 200mls of hungry baby formula (he has a bottle at night and is breastfed the rest of the time) at 11pm but then was awake again at 2am. If I breastfeed him when he wakes he goes back to sleep very quickly and only feeds for a couple of minutes.
I am exhausted and desperate to work out what I'm doing wrong to make him suddenly change from being a great sleeper to barely sleeping at all...

Any suggestions?

PS: This is my first post on mumsnet - hello everyone!
x

I think he may be heading towards needing to be weaned particularly if there doesn't seem to be any other reason why he is waking up. I think a lot of people notice the change in sleep patterns. Is he interested in food at all? If he is going through the formula and breastmilk and still waking to feed then it may be the next step but it takes a while before they are really eating enough to be properly sustaining meal as such.

i sympathise totally with you as we are in the same boat with dd2 who is the same age. dd2 does have reflux issues though.

I haven't got any answers (i wish i did!) and I will be watching this thread with interest

It may be that he is just wanting the comfort of a breastfeed in the night. Could you try breastfeeding him before he goes to bed and then if he wakes in the night, offer the hungry baby formula then instead? The hungry baby formula should help him go back to sleep but it should not encourage him to wake up again for more as it is not as comforting?

I am just guesssing - mine woke in the night all the time for bfeeding and I couldn't solve it.

I also totally sympathise as I am experiencing the exact same thing with my 4 month old ds! He sleeps from 7pm until around 11, and from then on wants to feed every couple of hours. Not really sure if he's hungry or just comfort feeding.

Does he feed well during the day? Mine has got very distractible during the day lately, and is too busy watching the antics of dd (22 mths) to concentrate on feeding - guess he's making up for it at night!

Some people recommend offering water instead of a feed - but hasn't worked for me so far.

Could it be the 4 month growth spurt? (although in my case it's been going on for weeks now)

So no real answer - sorry! maybe they'll just grow out of it eventually....

Hi,
My DS, now 6mo, started exactly the same thing at this stage. he was going from sleepy feed through to 5am, sometimes 7, then bang, just started waking every couple of hours, totally exhausting, you have my sympathies!

I do think he was ready to be weaned, even if just onto baby rice. (He's BF). I didn't start weaning until 5mo, with baby rice and progressed onto purees, but have since realised purees alone don't fill him. Once I started giving baby rice with brek, lunch & tea, with diff purees mixed in, it's really helped the night wakings. Of course, you prob won't want to jump in straight away and do this, given he's younger, but maybe try some baby rice at lunchtime, just a couple of teaspoons mixed with his normal milk and work up to some at tea time and see if it makes a difference? (as long as he's 17wks now - or 17wks according to his due date if he was early).

You probably don't want to hear my story - my DD slept really well until 17 weeks. Then woke frequently, I tried everything except formula or CC. DD started sleeping through at 7.5months. I think she was ready for it. We did do gradual retreat - lots of threads on it if you need info about it. Food IMO has nothing to do with it, my DD has slept through the night after eating only 1/2 pot of yoghurt for tea.

Try gradual retreat and read the NCSS.

Yep - my DS is doing exactly the same thing at 17 weeks. In large part I think it's because he's become easily distracted in the day and there are more interesting things to do than feed. He is also very interested in the food we're eating (pulling my plate towards him with his mouth open, very cute . I think I'll be trying him with a little food soon.

I am being driven to distraction by DS2 doing this as well. Now 5 months. I'm unwilling to wean as he is, like DS1, atopic and therefore prone to allergies. Plus not really sure it will make a difference. He has just got two teeth, which might have explained it, plus he's had his first cold... ditto. But these issues are now resolved and he should be back to 'normal'. It's very upsetting.

What really gets my goat is that NOWHERE IN ANY PARENTING BOOKS IS THIS MENTIONED. Even in nice, nurturing ones, it's all "3-6 months, your baby may start to be more settled at night now". BULHT! Both of mine slept through occasionally before 3 months, and then were dreadful from 4-6 months. DS1 started going to 5am from about 8/9 months and finally slept through at 1. He's a v.g. sleeper now, though. Just bung him into bed and off he goes.

What is this conspiracy theory though, about the second quarter of baby's life? It really really hacks me off! By now, I'm much more tired, plus a lot of the "falling in love" hormones are wearing off. The last thing I need is unreasonable expectations about sleep. Do they do it to make DH and I fight? Because we really don't need our love tested in this way, thank you very much. And why will the little bugger insist on munching all night, then spend "feed time" in the day chewing on my nipple, pinging it with his teeth and 'forgetting' to let go of it when he turns to look at DS1/radio/car going past/passing cat etc?

[I was whizzing up the motorway and thought "slow down, you don't want to kill yourself and the kids" then I thought "what if only one of the kids died?" Then I thought "Oh please don't leave me the one that doesn't sleep!" He'd better sleep better soon...)

Still, one gurgly smile and big sloppy kiss in the morning and he's forgiven. Luckily.

Four months is a very common age to have a big growth spurt/wake more/feed more etc. There was a thread about this earlier today.

If you can bear with it and feed as often as they want then it usually settles within a few weeks as the milk alters to fulfill their needs, triggered by feeding more frequently.

It is hard as you think, have I got enough milk, everyone tells you they need food now and so on but if you can stick with it it's such a relief when they start being full after five minutes and going for hours again.

My Lo is seven months and has had several of these phases but the four month one was the worst, as I think was the case with my other two.

Hope it sorts itself out soon.

pmsl at specialmagicladys motorway madness, i have exactly the same problem and wholeheartedly agree with your conspiracy theory

More settled from 6 months?!! they must be joking, all it means is that she's learnt to chat to herself at 3am, which in our tiny house means she keeps everyone awake.

From waking up once a night for a quick feed and back down til 6am, she has woken every hour and half since 10pm for the last four nights. I am physicxally restarining my husband from putting her on Freecycle. I suggeste Ebay.

DS did this. We had 7 weeks of it. That was nearly 2 years ago, but the figures are etched on my memory. I shall probably mention it at his wedding. He hadn't been a great sleeper before then but during that hideous time I lost count of how many times I was up with him. Food didn't help BTW, in fact, things had started to improve at 23 weeks, only to go to pot again when I started weaning at 26 weeks - go figure! (You may not want to hear this, but 9-11 months was another truly terrible time...)

DD is 9 weeks and a really good little sleeper, but I can tell you, I'm not looking forward to her being 16/17 weeks.

Thanks so much ladies - it's always nice to hear you're not alone!

I had a (tearful!) chat with my (rubbish) health visitor yesterday who suggested giving him an extra bottle during the day, so I'm trying that today although I don't really want to rely on formula so I'm also trying to breastfeed more.

I've also bought some baby rice as he's definitely interested in food now, but I'm going to hold off giving him that for at least another week if possible. And, my last idea is to move him into his own room at the weekend as I'm wondering if he just wakes up because he knows I'm there...

Specialmagiclady you are so right about there being nothing in any of the books about this! Thank goodness for the internet, eh?

x

As an addendum to this, my boobs have gone all gorgeous and full like when he was first born, so my milk supply's obviously regulating to his new demands. Here's hoping it works....

verytiredmummy - you mentioned moving him into his own room to see if that would help - well 2 nights ago I moved ds into his own room and own cot for the first time (was still squashed into his moses basket!) and so far it has revolutionised things!! (fingers crossed I'm not speaking too soon though)

last night he slept from 7-11, fed at 11, then woke for feeds at 2:30 and 6, then slept till 7:40 - much better than every 2 hours like before. also went straight back to sleep with no fuss at all each time. Naps have also been much better, and he just seems much happier in there.

so if I were you I would definitely give it a try!

Another positive story!

Fed my LO ALL the time, both boobs for a few days AND upped his 10.30 bottle to hungry baby formula. Last night he did 7-10.15, 10.30-4am then 4.30-6am. HOOP-HOOP-HOORAY!