Baby waking every hour after 2am

[xmasbaby20]

My LB is 4.5 months old. We have a bedtime routine, bath, fresh pjs, sleep sack, white noise, bottle and in to bed awake with dummy. He can put himself to sleep after grumbling for a few minutes. He will sleep from around 7.30pm to 2am (with dream feed at 10.30pm) so I know he can sleep for long stretches, after 2am he wakes every hour and needs resettled each time with the dummy and some sshing. He goes back to sleep then same thing happens the next hour, I will offer a feed, back to sleep then awake again the next hour. He usually wakes at 5am for the day unless I bring him into bed with me. I'm not sure why this is happening? Is it the 4 month regression and I just have to ride it out?

He has 4 naps a day

Nap 1 - 1 hour
Nap 2 - 1 hour
Nap 3 - 1 hour
Nap 4 - 30 mins

I go to bed with him at 7.30pm otherwise I would be a zombie

Sleep at that age is just horrendous. Quite possibly the 4 month regression, sounds a lot like what my boy went through. My understanding around why they have that first long stretch is because their bodies build up sleep pressure and melatonin through the day/evening. It's the melatonin that helps them sleep, and stay asleep, but their bodies stop producing it throughout the night, which is why more wakings happen after midnight.

My honest advice? The 4 month regression is tough and lasted around 6 weeks for us. We were at breaking point and the sleep deprivation was the worst. Take any opportunity you can to nap. Not going to say sleep when the baby sleeps because as someone who had a baby who wouldn't be put down, I know how impossible that can be. But if you and dad can take it in turns, or a friend or family member can come help while you catch some zzzs, that will help.

I didn't find anything helped the regression. No amount of letting him put himself to sleep worked, we had the most regimented bedtime routine and in the end, all he needed was time to get through it himself. In hindsight, I wish if cuddled him more, instead of trying desperately to get him to sleep independently.

Just hold on, it will get better.

@Ajahd

Sleep at that age is just horrendous. Quite possibly the 4 month regression, sounds a lot like what my boy went through. My understanding around why they have that first long stretch is because their bodies build up sleep pressure and melatonin through the day/evening. It's the melatonin that helps them sleep, and stay asleep, but their bodies stop producing it throughout the night, which is why more wakings happen after midnight.

My honest advice? The 4 month regression is tough and lasted around 6 weeks for us. We were at breaking point and the sleep deprivation was the worst. Take any opportunity you can to nap. Not going to say sleep when the baby sleeps because as someone who had a baby who wouldn't be put down, I know how impossible that can be. But if you and dad can take it in turns, or a friend or family member can come help while you catch some zzzs, that will help.

I didn't find anything helped the regression. No amount of letting him put himself to sleep worked, we had the most regimented bedtime routine and in the end, all he needed was time to get through it himself. In hindsight, I wish if cuddled him more, instead of trying desperately to get him to sleep independently.

Just hold on, it will get better.

Thank you @Ajahd for your reply! It's good to know I am not the only one who has had to deal with this I guess we will just have to ride it out. I am able to have a nap with him in the mornings as he usually goes back in to his crib then thankfully!

What are awake times between those naps?

@FATEdestiny they can be anywhere between 1.5 - 2.5 hours depending on our day!

I was trying to work it out and figured if your day is 5am - 7.30pm (14.5h) then 3.5h over 4 naps suggest at least 2h awake time between naps.

I'd suggest that's too long awake and so by the time baby is going to sleep, he is already over tired. Better daytime sleeps leads to deeper night time sleep (or more accurately poor daytime sleep leads to restless nights).

2h awake windows on 1h naps would be fine, If baby was also sleeping well at night. Given he isn't, 2h is the absolute maximum you want. Given baby is showing signs of sleep deprivation, if set your maximum awake window of 90 minutes, but be prepared to reduce more if baby is clingy, won't be put down or fussy.

That will mean more daytime sleep by having more naps per day.

At night I tend to work by:

• apart from the dream feed, never go straight yo feeding at night.
• if baby won't resettle with 10 mins of dummy/patting, then feed
• if baby is/awake within 1h of last waking, feed
• if baby won't settle after a feed and good wind, baby is struggling to get into a deep sleep. Could be due to sleep deprivation (over the previous 48h), could be the method you are using to get to sleep (not likely in your case), could be pain/illness (more TLC required). Could be developmental and baby will just grow out of it in time.

Thank you @FATEdestiny I will try the shorter wake windows today and see if we can extend some naps or add in an extra one somewhere 🤞