Sorry - it’s another 4 month sleep regression one!

[MrsB902]

My LO turned 4 months old this week and has started going through the 4 month sleep regression. He would previously sleep 8-6 each night, however for the last 3 nights he has woken every 45mins - 1.5 hours overnight and is awake for hours at a time. He is FF, I’m trying to avoid offering feeds as he isn’t crying for one which he usually does when he is hungry. I’m currently leaving him in his next to me crib and patting his chest or stroking his head which sometimes supports him back to sleep. He isn’t upset when he wakes … he’s just wide awake. We have been able to put him down awake for the last 7 weeks and he will go off to sleep, however he is now fussing and crying when put down. I don’t want to sleep train as he’s still tiny so I guess I’m looking for reassurance that I’m doing the right thing and also if anyone else has got through this without necessarily changing anything it would be good to hear positive stories ☺️ Thanks for reading if you got this far!

Hey! I'm curious to know if you have come out of the other side of the regression yet? My LO just turned 4 months and we have been having 30 minute day naps, several night wakings and 4am wake ups / 5am starts for past 2.5 / 3 weeks, absolutely shattered and feel like it's been 3 Months of this, he's never been a great sleeper to be honest due to silent reflux but it's the day sleep with 30 minute cat napping and screaming/fighting to sleep which is slowly making me lose my mind 😫

Hi @Nosleepclub16 , I’m pleased to say the sleep regression only lasted around 2 weeks for us and then my little one returned to his normal sleeping habits. It felt like forever at the time but from chatting to friends and family with little ones the general length seemed to be from 1-6 weeks. I frightened myself reading so many horror stories on here about people whose little ones sleeping habits were never the same again or people having hourly wakes for the next 2 years so hopefully my reply has reassured you a little.

how does your little one nap during the day? My little boy contact naps so his day time sleep wasn’t too badly affected.

I'm the exact same, reading stories on here from people saying if you don't start sleep training or removing bad habits then this sleep regression will last longer, was this not the case for you then? I even thought about going cold turkey with the dummy just to see if even that would help, really hoping he returns to normal soon. Only place he will sleep in the daytime is in his pram, but he will still only sleep for 30 mins on give dot, I tried putting him in his cot with blackout blinds and white noise, he protests and needs me to rock him before putting him down but eventually goes down (again for 30 mins) at the moment I'm letting him nap on me in the afternoon to get a longer nap in as I'm worried the lack of daytime sleep contributes to overtiredness and frequent night wakings 😫 it just seems like a constant never ending battle at the moment 😴 at the moment I just keep telling myself to take everyday/ week as it comes and it will eventually end - out of interest how did it end for you, was it sudden or gradual ?

It's not regression, it's a growth spurt and innately they wake up to suckle the breast to make the milk they need for the spurt; the right fats, antibodies, nutrients. They're biologically predisposed to do this.

Ref. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK148970/#:~:text=When%20a%20baby%20suckles%2C%20the,the%20next%20feed%20(20).

He's already had his growth spurt, which was mixed in at the start of the regression, with a growth spurt they want to feed more, he was finishing bottles every 2 hours, this lasted about a week as growth spurts do, the problems I'm having is due to his sleep, not feeds, I'm struggling to even get him to take 5oz every 4 hours at the moment

Chin up, you got this. It's so so hard, I know. We got hit by all the regressions under the sun, but they are temporary, and that is what I recite to myself at 3am in the morning with no sleep and work the next day.

The 4 month regression lasted for 11 days with us. (felt like 11 months!) And then DS literally decided on night 12 that he would sleep.

It's not the best time to sleep train IMO because it is developmental. It's not them not "wanting" to go to sleep, it's just part of the journey, ride it out.

I did what I needed to do to get through it. I got help, grandparents to look after during the day, milk on tap, fed to sleep etc. I didn't care about the sleep associations or bad habits, because once he was out of the sleep regression, it was fine.

I'm so glad you have said this @mmamabeeboo, i have been doing everything to try get him to sleep so I can get sleep too, even had to move the pram inside the house to rock him in because nothing else works, the more the days and weeks go on Im starting to panic that I'm setting up bad sleep habits and he will never sleep for longer than 30 mins again and he will only sleep in the pram, but your comments have reassured me I will get my sleeping baby back, I used to put him in his cot and he would suck his fingers and go to sleep without a fuss 😫 it feels like that was a lifetime ago now !