4 month now waking 2 hourly

[R184]

As the title suggests, my baby is 4 months old and exclusively breastfed, and up until recently had been sleeping well. He would go sleep around 8, dream feed at 10/11 and then sleep through until 7/8. He is now waking up every 2 hours in the night. He has 3 naps a day, usually 2x2hr and a 30 minute catnap around tea time. He is asleep be 8pm and i still dream feed when we go upto bed. He does feed to sleep but also sometimes wakes up when I move him into his bed and is fully awake and puts himself to sleep. So he is capable!
when he wakes in the night I try to get him back to sleep without feeding him… is this the right or wrong thing to be doing? He has plenty of good feeds in the day so I don’t think he’s hungry as he will eventually go back to sleep with ssshhhing etc in the night. Any help or advice would greatly appreciated!!!! Just to add, he doesn’t have a dummy and is still in our room with us. Thank you!!

My daughter was the same, sleeping long chunks until 4 months, then waking every 2 hours through the night until 7 months. At 11 months we now get some 3 hour stretches, very occasionally 4 hours.

This is a normal shift as babies' sleep cycles change around 4 months old, making them much more likely to fully wake after every or every other sleep cycle

I wouldn't avoid feeding overnight, babies this age often do need feeds overnight still and it is most likely going to be the quickest way to get baby back to sleep. I still feed my daughter overnight (although I have a rough rule of thumb that I only feed her if it's been 2hrs or more since the last feed), as night weaning is not recommended until at least 12 months.

No more advice really, just to say this is very normal and not anything you or your baby are doing wrong!

Yep 2hours was quite normal for us and we didn't night wean until a year as it was recommended then.

It does make you extremely envious of the unicorn babies that sleep through though!!!

Agree with previous posters, don’t worry about feeding at night at this age. Its absolutely normal for babies to need milk at night and night weaning is not recommended till into the first year. Even if he’s suckling for comfort you will probably find this is the quickest and easiest way to get him settled again! Save yourself valuable time and get back to sleep yourself!