Probably the millionth thread on 4 month sleep regression!

[Elliedh]

18 week old DS has just hot 4 month sleep regression, and im just looking for any advice, experiences to get me through it

Prior to this he would go to sleep around 7 pm and wake twice for feeds, once atound midnight and once around 4. He'd then wake up for the day around 6 - 6:30. Now however he goes to sleep around 7 and his typical wake ups are 9:30, 12, 2, 3:30, 5:30, up for the day at 7. These are the major wake ups, in between these are mini wakes that I can soothe by just patting or stroking him.

Bedtime routine is bath at 6:30, followed by a story and a lullaby, then into his sleeping bag and into his cot drowsy but awake. He has a dummy to sleep but this does not need constant replacing overnight. He currently sleeps in a next to me crib with the side down in our room.

DP and I are both starting to lose it from lack of sleep! So my question is, do we just need to wait this out or is there something else I should be changing/doing?

I should also say he naps 3 times a day, awake time is 2 hours, naps always in his cot. Naos are a bit dodgy, typically around 40 minutes, but sometimes he'll surprise me with a longer one.

@Elliedh the constant sleep disturbance is hard bloody work isn’t it? I’m sending you tons of sympathy as I know exactly what position your in and how tough this stage can be to adapt to. My DD never recovered from the 4 month sleep regression unfortunately and is still just as much of a poor sleeper now at nearly 9 months as she was when the 4 month regression first hit.

Co sleeping is the only thing that’s saved my sanity if I’m honest. It’s not for everyone and not always possible to practice safely but if it is something your willing to try and it means your household is getting a better nights sleep for it then go for it.

I really hope it settles down for you soon.

Thanks so much for the reply, good to know im not alone! Unfortunately DS hates co-sleeping!

You also have my sympathy! My baby started the regression at 15 weeks, on a good night he'd wake up 4 times and on a bad night more like 12! I think I was averaging 3/4 hours of broken sleep a night and felt like a total zombie for weeks. People kept telling me it would get better but it didn't. I rode it out until he was 6 months then did some sleep training (I used the Just Chill Mama online course bought in desperation one night at 0300 and there really wasn't as much crying as I thought there would be!) The tipping points for me were having to sit up and hold him from about 0500-0700 every morning or he'd wake up every 20mins, and that the night wake ups started interfering with his naps so he was chronically overtired.

From what I've read about/spoken to others about the 4 month regression it seems like there are 3 scenarios;

1. a short 'rough patch' with lots of wake ups but then the baby goes back to doing longer stretches of sleep, but will ultimately always need help settling back to sleep in the night if they can't fall asleep independently.
2. It doesn't resolve and at some unspecified point the older baby/toddler will start to fall asleep on their own.
3. The parents implement some form of sleep training or settling method when the time is right. (I wasn't comfortable doing this before 6 months.)

Ultimately it's about what is right for you and your partner.

My partner getting up with the baby in the morning so I could get an extra hour or 2 of sleep helped me. Neither my baby or I like co-sleeping but he always ended up in bed with me at some point and it meant I got a little bit more sleep. And having a good group of friends and family to moan to about how tired I was!

I went through exactly the same but all I can say is the sleep regression only lasted a couple of weeks. I got some good tips here on how to keep being consistent www.peanut-app.io/posts/5pnh-kdb

Thank you everyone. We just had a slightly better night (only 3 wake ups) so I'm hoping this is something we can just ride out.

@alwaysmarmiteontoast
Would you rate the just chill mama online course?
I’m considering it...but a little worried that it’ll be wasted on me in that I won’t have time to get through all the content!
TIA