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4 month waking every hour

11 replies

Frazzledandtired91 · 18/06/2021 05:24

Hi I need to some help. My 4 month (almost 5 month old), has been going to bed at 10pm and for the last 3 weeks will consistently wake up every single hour for 30minutes. I’m on my knees with exhaustion.
She’s breastfed and drinks 1 litre a day (I exclusively pump) so I know it’s not because she’s underfed. She used to sleep 6 hrs in her first sitting but since 4 months, this sleep regression has hit and it’s every hour. Then add to the mix teething and I honestly just feel so done with this whole thing. My NCT group don’t seem to be having anywhere near the rough time I’m having.

PLEASE HELP ME

OP posts:
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PopsicleHustler · 18/06/2021 05:28

Wow, bless you. That sounds tough. Can you call your Gp or a midwife for advice

I also have a 5month old who has a random sleeping pattern but it's not as rough as yours.

Hope it get easier for you op.

trufflepuff22 · 18/06/2021 05:39

That sounds really tough and the sleep regression hits in different ways and at different times - for us it hit more around five months. So hopefully you're through the worst with yours now... how does she go to sleep? Do you feed/rock her or anything? I think the key is usually getting her to fall asleep independently in her cot, so she can resettle herself each time she wakes. For us the issue was our baby was relying on the dummy to sleep so we had to keep replacing it, and when we weaned off it it resolved.

miltonj · 18/06/2021 05:51

My baby did this at around 4 months so you have my sympathies.
I wish back then that I knew it would pass and that nothing I could do would change it. Because I agonised over wether I should sleep train or what I could do differently to help us sleep better. Truth is, her sleep has changed so much and now at 9 months we're at a place were she sleeps through most nights but the new challenge is that it takes me an hour snd a half to put her to sleep! What I'm trying to say, is that it's hard, but it will pass snd it will pass naturally too. In two months your babies sleep will likely be quite different and two months after that, different still. In the mean time treat yourself well... but some strong luxury coffee and have whoever you live with bring it to you in the morning. Good luck!

FATEdestiny · 18/06/2021 08:57

@Frazzledandtired91

Hi I need to some help. My 4 month (almost 5 month old), has been going to bed at 10pm and for the last 3 weeks will consistently wake up every single hour for 30minutes. I’m on my knees with exhaustion. She’s breastfed and drinks 1 litre a day (I exclusively pump) so I know it’s not because she’s underfed. She used to sleep 6 hrs in her first sitting but since 4 months, this sleep regression has hit and it’s every hour. Then add to the mix teething and I honestly just feel so done with this whole thing. My NCT group don’t seem to be having anywhere near the rough time I’m having.

PLEASE HELP ME

What is your feeding schedule over the daytime as well as night? Is baby finishing the bottle fully or is some left in the bottle after a feed?

How do you get baby to sleep at bedtime and during these night wakes?

What's baby's daytime sleep schedule? Where and how does she get to sleep?

Frazzledandtired91 · 18/06/2021 11:40

What is your feeding schedule over the daytime as well as night? Is baby finishing the bottle fully or is some left in the bottle after a feed?
She drinks about 900ml by bedtime (at 9pm) . She's awake for 2hrs 15 and then she gets a bottle, sleeps for 30-40min nap in the day, and then repeat - so she's basically being fed every 3 hours

How do you get baby to sleep at bedtime and during these night wakes?
Feeding, rocking, singing, blowing on her eyes, dummy to calm her as well as a swaddle

What's baby's daytime sleep schedule? Where and how does she get to sleep?
She sleeps in her cot ^ see above for details do daytime schedule

OP posts:
Skyla01 · 18/06/2021 13:49

@Frazzledandtired91 same here I'm afraid. Up every hour and baby lost ability to settle herself back to sleep. Not much advice but perhaps helps a little to know you aren't alone? Hopefully a phase we can come out the other side in a few weeks. I do my best to get her napping in the day (with more success some days than others), also get DP to help with some of the night wakings too.

FATEdestiny · 18/06/2021 17:27

@Frazzledandtired91

What is your feeding schedule over the daytime as well as night? Is baby finishing the bottle fully or is some left in the bottle after a feed? She drinks about 900ml by bedtime (at 9pm) . She's awake for 2hrs 15 and then she gets a bottle, sleeps for 30-40min nap in the day, and then repeat - so she's basically being fed every 3 hours

How do you get baby to sleep at bedtime and during these night wakes?
Feeding, rocking, singing, blowing on her eyes, dummy to calm her as well as a swaddle

What's baby's daytime sleep schedule? Where and how does she get to sleep?
She sleeps in her cot ^ see above for details do daytime schedule

2h15 awake window is very long for the age. Generally your awake windows want to be around double nap length, so 30-40 minute naps want 60-80 minute awake time. Over tiredness ends up causing restless sleep in the night with frequent night wakes.

I'd therefore shirt your 3 hourly repeating cycles down to about 2 hours. This will also help up babys daytime calorie intake. Four months sees a significant acceleration in baby's calorific need, it's not unusual for the to go up by 25%. Because baby's stomach volume limits how much milk can be taken per feed, it often needs you to feed more frequently to get more into baby.

Feeding, rocking, singing, blowing on her eyes, dummy to calm her as well as a swaddle

I'm not sure which it is? If you want baby sleeping independently (ie in the cot, as you mention) then baby needs to go from awake to asleep in the cot. So that means not feeding or rocking to sleep. Putting baby down already asleep is very poor sleep hygiene and it is part of the problem at this age.

That's not to say feeding and rocking to sleep are inherently "bad", they aren't. But if baby is going to sleep in your arms, it is better sleep hygiene to have baby staying there for the whole nap. This lends itself more to attachment parenting and not independent sleep.

If you want baby sleeping independently, do not underestimate how much work you have to put in to help baby sleep like this. It is very labour intensive and the easy option that requires less work from you is to attachment parent.

You will probably have better luck at this age to move daytime naps into something that moves. This allows for movement to sleep, but in an independent way. It also allows for movement to resettle and try to lengthen naps.

This option isn't available at night though. If you haven't already, then removing one side off your cot (to make a sidecar cot) makes night resettles easier to deal with. Dont try to put baby down already asleep, your focus needs to be on getting her to go to sleep in the cot. Swaddling will help reduce the startle reflex and encourage deeper sleep - use it consistently though (for the sake of Safe Sleep guidelines).

Also ensure dummy is being actively sucked until in a deep sleep, not sitting passively in babys mouth. With the sidecar cot you can cuddle into the cot to help baby settle in there, then extract yourself once asleep.

I'm not sure if you're feeding overnight? While it's good practice to always try to resettle baby back to sleep without feeding and to not feed at every wake up, it's quite reasonable to expect night feeds at this age so if you are not feeding overnight this may be the problem.

Bella0831 · 30/09/2022 08:30

As others have said, I can’t help but I’m totally with you. Our baby is almost five months and has been waking every hour since twelve weeks. Tried pick up put down but didn’t seem
to work and have been driving myself crazy. You’re not alone, I hear you!!

GinnyBee · 30/09/2022 09:23

We had a few nights like this, some nights he even woke every 30 mins, but mostly it's been every 1.5-2 hours and it's lasted almost 6 weeks now! He is getting better and can link sleep cycles sometimes, he's given me one night of 7 hours earlier this week, and a few 3-4 hour stretches, so there's improvement!

But now his new thing is rolling over in his cot and whacking his head against the side at regular intervals 🤦‍♀️

GinnyBee · 30/09/2022 09:32

If you want baby sleeping independently (ie in the cot, as you mention) then baby needs to go from awake to asleep in the cot. So that means not feeding or rocking to sleep. Putting baby down already asleep is very poor sleep hygiene and it is part of the problem at this age.

No, this is nonsense. Babies, without sleep training, will need or want support falling asleep much longer than they need it through the night. They'll learn to link sleep cycles when developmentally ready and it doesn't have anything to do with how they fall asleep. I know one infant sleep specialist thinks it's around 3yo when kids stop needing help to go to sleep if following the child's lead, some will be school age. These same kids will be capable of sleeping longer stretches through the night well before that!

Mum1510 · 21/04/2023 14:47

My 4 month old can put himself to sleep. I literally just kiss him goodnight and put him in the cot. Sometimes he goes straight to sleep sometimes he loosely wines a bit before.
but this has absolutely nothing to do with him linking sleep cycles because he currently still wakes up every hour past 1am and needs resettling

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