4 month sleep regression

[H8624]

Please send me tips! We're only a few days in and it's a killer!

My DS is 16 weeks and since 8 has slept through the night (9-6) the majority of the time. He usually feeds right before bed and falls asleep on us then we take him up and he sleeps in crib. Sometimes if he doesn't fall asleep during feed we put him in crib awake and he eventually drifts off himself so he can self settle. He's formula fed.

Naps - he's a good sleeper in the day, usually has a short morning nap on me, a lunchtime nap in the pram after a walk and then an afternoon nap on me again. I'm not worried he isn't getting enough sleep in the day.

First question is - where do you put your child down for naps in the day when they outgrow the Moses basket? We can't really do crib as you have to stay in same room til 6 months and my DH works upstairs currently so I'd be in the way.

So for the past week he's been waking every hour or so. I've been waiting to see if he settles himself back down, but generally end up getting up and popping the dummy back in and putting Ewan the dream sheep on an he eventually goes back to sleep.

Is there anything I can do to help his sleep improve again at night? Or is it a case of riding it out and hopefully it goes back to normal again?!

This is easy to sort, so don't worry. The central themes that you need to tackle are:

Go to sleep in the cot

It's a crucial part of the 4 month progression that baby now needs to learn to go to sleep in the cot (or the surface in which they will stay asleep- say the pushchair). Being put down already asleep is very poor sleep hygiene.

So every time, for every nap and at bedtime, start with baby awake and put down fully awake, then get to sleep and do not move baby once asleep.

Hunger

Have you increased daytime feeds recently? It's not unreasonable to see calorific need increasing by 25% at around 4 months (due to very fast paced development). If you don't keep up with calorific need in the daytime, it's not unusual to see an increase in night wakes because baby is hungry (even though they weren't needing night feeds before).

You usually get more calories into baby by having more bottles per day (ie feeds closer together). Because baby's stomach volume is a limiting factor with the amount of milk taken per feed, so they often cannot take any more per feed.

It's not unusual to need to do 2 hourly daytime feeds in order to fit all feeds into the daytime so that none are needed at night.

Seperate feeding and sleeping

To stop the feed to sleep habit, start feeding baby upon waking up from a daytime nap, rather than when going to sleep. Or feed midway through awake window. The idea is that baby learns that feeding does not mean sleeping.

At bedtime feed at the beginning of bedtime routine not the end. So feed first, then bath then might wear and then put down awake.

Naps in..?

Bear in mind that baby does not need anything fancy to sleep in. Sleeping in the middle of the lounge floor would be fine!

You could do cot naps if you sit in the bedroom with baby.

Another easy option would be to do all daytime naps in the pram or pushchair. Naps in something that moves makes getting to sleep easier and also assists you in resetting back to sleep is waking early. I'm not suggesting going out for a walk with the pram (unless you want to), just parking it in the middle of the floor and pushing it back and forth on the spot.

The bouncer is my favoured option. Park the bouncer on floor in front of the sofa. Bounce it with your foot while you watch TV.