Sleep regression. Anyone else want to join!? Sleepless mums!

[pinkgin1]

Currently going through what I believe could be a four month sleep regression? For ages my son slept really well didn't wake up in the night and if he did it was for one bottle then slept. Most nights slept 9:30pm till about 8am next day.
Has alllllllllll gone out the window the past week 🤣 I always knew the good sleep wouldn't last long and I appreciated it when it did but it's kinda making me feel extremely tired now including my partner🥱
How long does it last?? Will it go on for months?? Will I ever have a 8-8 again? 😥😥🤣
The strange thing is if he wakes up. As soon as I place him onto my bed and pillow he sleeps. So if it was a sleep regression surely he would wake also in my bed?

@Sneezymcsneezy

Also *@JammyRedRooo* I've dosed off many a time with him on boob, I recline at an angle and position the nursing pillow so there is no way he will fall off/I will squish him. Obviously each to their own but may be a consideration?

Definitely a consideration thanks- its just I'm so scared of squashing her I don't know if it would be a restful sleep for me anyway.

Glad it's not just me who can't get drowsy but awake to work (well not glad but feel less alone). I just tried it, she got very angry very quickly and I've had to put her on the breast to calm her back down. So it begins.

Best of luck to you all tonight maybe il see some of you here at 3am

We’ve so far been awake from 10.30-11.15, midnight until 12.30, 2.30…times are currently exactly the same as the night previously so I’m looking forward to her waking again at 4 and starting the day at 5.30 😩😩😩😩😩

Has your day started already?!

We were doing well with brief milky wake ups at 12 then 2 but have been stuck in the cycle since 4am now. Sleeping like a baby on my chest but each time I try to put her down we have to start over. So I'm giving it longer this time to see if that works.

Hi all it's comforting to know we're not alone. DS was 16 weeks yesterday and hasn't slept longer than 2 hours for a few days and after 2/3am is up every half hour I also BF to sleep because he won't stand for anything else. Also feeling torn about "sleep training" more inclined to just power through. But I do worry the feeding to sleep is going to come back to bite us in future

@Flittingaboutagain She managed to sleep until 6.15am which isn’t anywhere near the 7.30am she has been doing but it’s a small improvement on the previous morning.

@ayylauren Yep, I’m BFing back to sleep when it works (it was failsafe with my son but my daughter has other ideas) and I also think she’s going to expect that now at each wake. There’s so many schools of thought about whether you just get through this phase and they’ll go back to how they were before but then someone else says this regression changes their sleep forever so they need to learn to settle themselves 🤷‍♀️

@LCF2021 it's so difficult to decide what to do, I've seen a few people on here say 4 months is too early to sleep train anyway but all the "professional" advice online is they need to learn to self settle. I feel like my DS is nowhere near sleeping independently. He constantly fights sleep

My DS fell asleep downstairs on sofa after his last bottle whilst I put the tree up and when I carried him up to lay him in his cot it woke him up and he was wide awake kicking and smiling there was no chance of settling him so I scooped him up and put him in with me and he slept right through til 7:45 which is great but I'm trying to get him out of co-sleeping... so

Is anyone also able to actually get theirs down for a nap?! I said second time around I wouldn’t make the same mistakes as last time as my son was a dreadful sleeper and contact napped for 6 months (not that it’s necessarily a mistake but not my preferred option). Even if she’s totally asleep on me and I lay her in her crib or on my bed within 15 minutes she’s awake and crying 🤦‍♀️ I’m so envious of these magical babies you hear of, especially when people say “oh the second baby is always so much more chilled and sleeps much better”…hmmm, I ordered one of those but didn’t get it.

@ayylauren I wouldn't worry about sleep training, if you need to then give it a go, I mean, I reckon all of us were "sleep trained" by our parents I'm sure gives bottle, say goodnight, closes door 🤣 also 4 months is pushed in the US, in the UK it seems to be closer to 6.

@StickyStickyStickStickSong how long have you co-slept for? I've tried but it just doesn't work for him, as in it doesn't make sleep any better..

@LCF2021 mine was fussy about being put down for, what seemed like, an age but he was going through a period. Just keep trying and see if it happens because it just happened for us one day! We did put my PJs down under him and then release him inch by inch on our bed first and then did the same in his cot!

@Flittingaboutagain yup up at 4 until 5.15, he slept till 8.45 though so I'll take that, but it was weird as I did a nappy change at 4 and his legs felt cold!? I already go against the guidelines and put him in a sleepsuit and a jumper and then a 2.5 tog sleeping bag, so I then put on a couple of blankets on top which resulted in more sleep... Gonna try it again tonight to see if it makes a difference..

So we actually had a decent night last night. Bed at 8:45pm and wake ups at 1:45am and 5:30am. Not as good as before when she was doing a 6-8 hour chunk but il take it over wake ups every 45 minutes, any day. Trying to replicate our exact day from yesterday now...

@LCF2021 my DD wont nap unless held or on the move (pram or carrier but carrier gets better results). I feel like I spend my entire day walking tbh! The dog loves it

[quote Sneezymcsneezy]**@ayylauren* I wouldn't worry about sleep training, if you need to then give it a go, I mean, I reckon all of us were "sleep trained" by our parents I'm sure gives bottle, say goodnight, closes door* 🤣 also 4 months is pushed in the US, in the UK it seems to be closer to 6.

@StickyStickyStickStickSong how long have you co-slept for? I've tried but it just doesn't work for him, as in it doesn't make sleep any better..

@LCF2021 mine was fussy about being put down for, what seemed like, an age but he was going through a period. Just keep trying and see if it happens because it just happened for us one day! We did put my PJs down under him and then release him inch by inch on our bed first and then did the same in his cot!

@Flittingaboutagain yup up at 4 until 5.15, he slept till 8.45 though so I'll take that, but it was weird as I did a nappy change at 4 and his legs felt cold!? I already go against the guidelines and put him in a sleepsuit and a jumper and then a 2.5 tog sleeping bag, so I then put on a couple of blankets on top which resulted in more sleep... Gonna try it again tonight to see if it makes a difference..[/quote]
@Sneezymcsneezy I've had him in with me for a month. He started teething late at 7 months and I think a bit of sleep regression hit aswell but I found as soon as he's in with me he feels close to me and he settles right down and sleeps through without waking even once sometimes. But I want him in his own room now so DH can come back in with me, it feels wrong him not being in there.. although I think he's secretly enjoyed it a bit 🤭🤣

@JammyRedRooo yay! What did you do yday do you reckon??

This is a bit of a used trope, but at 4 months old it might very well be that your baby is starting teething. And that can indeed be quite long ... but it comes and go.

Anyway I'm with you, I have a sleep regression going down here... but he's 4 years old haha. Baby sister is coming very soon so now big brother wants a spot in our bed and calls me a bazillion times a night. He would ask me to rock him to sleep if I could do it !

@Sneezymcsneezy I fed her every 2 hours and gave her 2 bottles, a lunch time one and an evening one. She normally just has an evening one and is BF for the rest of the time. No clue if thats got anything to do with it but I've done it again today just to see! Also did 1.5-2 hour wake windows so she didnt get overtired. Meant she had 4 naps all in the carrier or pram so maybe the fresh air helped??

Also tried to make sure she had plenty of time on her tummy to practice trying to roll and chatted to her a lot... apparently if they dont get enough practice they try to practice at night and it interrupts sleep?

Have done all the same today so will see tonight if its actually helped or last night was a random fluke!

I actually managed a 90 pram nap this afternoon so that was great.

All the breastfeeding Instagram people I follow say feeding to sleep is developmentally appropriate and never to stop something today that you like and works well outside of a regression at least because of fear of tomorrow. So I'm going to ignore drowsy but awake as it just doesn't work for us and let her enjoy that nipple

Love reading your updates gang. Let's see how we go tonight.

That's so good to read @Flittingaboutagain. Very reassuring amongst all the other conflicting advice.

@Flittingaboutagain

I actually managed a 90 pram nap this afternoon so that was great.

All the breastfeeding Instagram people I follow say feeding to sleep is developmentally appropriate and never to stop something today that you like and works well outside of a regression at least because of fear of tomorrow. So I'm going to ignore drowsy but awake as it just doesn't work for us and let her enjoy that nipple

Love reading your updates gang. Let's see how we go tonight.

this is so helpful to read, it's hard not to worry about feeding to sleep but I trust they will stop when they're ready

I actually managed to transfer her asleep to her cot this morning and she woke after 45 mins but I settled her and she did another 15 mins. Her lunchtime nap was mostly on me as I got home from a cafe with her late and she was desperately overtired so I couldn’t be bothered with a battle to get her in her cot. I did put her on my bed for 15 mins so I could put a wash away. Her 3rd nap is always in the carrier on a dog walk as she loves it in there. Going to keep persisting with getting her down for her first nap of the day in her cot and hope it naturally lengthens.

Yes! He's been teething it seems for about two months?!?! When will they appear!!
Slept slightly better last night. Was still up about 5 times though 🙄🤣
Sounds like we are all going through it. Least it's together and we aren't alone 🥱🥱
My sons just gone to sleep now so will see when he wakes again.
Like some people said they just need us sometimes! 💜

My son napped today for an hour.
He's in a cot already. Outgrew his basket but also could sway it side to side when he rolls onto his front! Was too dangerous!

Just to say sleep training really isn’t recommended till 6 months. I know people who do it early but it rarely works.

Doesn’t mean you can’t try putting them down awake though and it’s true they will struggle to get through the 4 month regression if they can’t self settle.

Our little one is 7 months (almost 8) and only just sleeping through, she still wakes but can be soothed without feeding which was not a possibility before. Day naps are still a battle though. Till 4 months we just tried in the pram or sling when she wouldn’t settle but then got a bit tougher.

@Newmum29

Just to say sleep training really isn’t recommended till 6 months. I know people who do it early but it rarely works.

Doesn’t mean you can’t try putting them down awake though and it’s true they will struggle to get through the 4 month regression if they can’t self settle.

Our little one is 7 months (almost 8) and only just sleeping through, she still wakes but can be soothed without feeding which was not a possibility before. Day naps are still a battle though. Till 4 months we just tried in the pram or sling when she wouldn’t settle but then got a bit tougher.

how did you transition to / stop feeding to soothe?

Well, a much better night for us last night. She did have her 16 week jabs yesterday which I think knocked her out a bit! She managed 8pm-4am without a wake, had a feed and then down until 7am and she stayed in her crib all night without coming into our bed 🙌

DS went down at 9 (Perfect timing for I'm a celeb Yay!) I put him straight in his cot. Slept til 12 without waking then had about 3 unsettled moments until 3am. At 3am he'd pooped so changing his nappy really wakes him up, put him in with me at 3:40 then he slept right through til 7:55 🙌🏻 making progress

@LCF2021 @StickyStickyStickStickSong it's good to hear they can have good nights mine was still up every hour/two hours... Didn't have the middle of the night party and he was in bed from 9 till 8.30 so I will also take it as a win ☕☕☕