Is this the 4 month regression??

[Anothersleepdeprivedmum]

Hi, im a long time reader first time poster. You ladies and your posts have got me through some bad times at 3am so I thought I’d see if you had any advice for me.

Im a first time mum to DD who is 14 weeks old. Her sleep was brilliant from about 5-10 weeks, having a dreamfeed at 10pm and then only waking once at night - usually about 4am and then get up for the day between 7 and 7:30am. The last few weeks however she has been waking multiple times in the night - first around midnight, then about 3am and then again at 5am and is up at 6am. I always offer her a feed (she is FF) - sometimes she will take 4oz sometimes only 1.5oz. Im not sure if she’s actually hungry?

The last few nights she has slept until midnight - 1am and then is impossible to settle back in her cot. She has a dummy but just spits it out and cries. I’ve tried calpol incase she’s not well but that didn’t help. In the end I just take her downstairs and she sleeps on me on the sofa. But this isn’t sustainable as I can’t sleep then. There’s only so long I can keep this up - I’m exhausted! She’s also taking less milk through the day. She was having 5oz bottles but is not only taking 3oz per feed. Is this the 4 month sleep regression or something else? I should say that she goes down fine around 7pm and will settle herself to sleep without too much fuss!

Thanks in advance

Try active sucking techniques with the dummy.

Tapping on the outside of the dummy triggers the sucking reflex. Tgis will keep it in. If still not sucking, remove and start again to get her to take the dummy. Tickle cheek or upper lip with teat so she actively reaches for the dummy with her mouth.

Avoid sleeping with her on the sofa, this is very dangerous. It would be safer sleeping with her (safely) in your bed.

Another option is to remove one side off a full sized cot and butt it up to your bed. This makes a sidecar cot. It means you can cuddle close and dummyreinsert while still lying in your own bed.

Try settling techniques when she wakes in the night, rather than feeding. This will move calorie intake back to daytime hours.

Thank you, I will try that with the dummy. Just to clarify, I’m not sleeping on the sofa - just DD. I just watch episode after episode of Modern Family That’s why I can’t keep it up, I’m only getting about 2 hours of sleep before she wakes up! Thanks again!