4 month old waking and only settling with feed

[annapom85]

We have been hit by the dreaded 4 month sleep regression! My little boy (18 wks old) who used to sleep through the night, now wakes 4-5 times a night and will only settle with a feed. We’ve tried rocking, shhhing, singing but the little monster will only settle back down once we’ve fed him a full bottle of formula. He goes full psycho, kicking and screaming until he gets it.

It’s hard to know if he’s actually hungry. He’s having way more than the upper end of recommended daily amount so he shouldn’t be, although he does seem to be hungry? He’s already a big boy and at the moment he is taking c.1600 ml a day which I know is too much. (Incidentally, we’ve tried ‘tricking’ him and putting less in his bottle but he’s cottoned on and will scream until he gets at least 200 mls).

As well as the volume of formula he’s consuming, I’m also worried that we will never be able to break this ridiculous cycle and get him to sleep through the night as he is so dependent on being fed.

Does anyone have any advice? Is it too early to sleep train? Many thanks xxx

They have a growth spurt around 4 months so he's probably wanting more milk because of that.

Yes it is too early to sleep train but if you want to break the feed/sleep association you could try changing his nappy after the bottle to wake him a bit before you put him down.

I would be inclined to say he needs the extra milk.

You could try giving more frequent daytime feeds, so that fewer calories are needed at night. For example 6oz (180ml) given every 2h at 7am 9am 11am 1pm 3pm 5pm 7pm 9pm and 11pm = 1620ml

Honestly, I'd be glad you had a good first few months and just accept that the night feeds are back for now, society hopefully not quite so many. Night feeds are very much the norm at this stage. I too had a baby that pretty much slept through the night before the regression, it's pretty common. Your baby will get there eventually, but 4m if very young to exclude l expect them to go without feeding at night.