3.5 month old sleep, I'm struggling

[SerialSleeper25]

Hi all,

Can anyone help with suggestions to get my 3.5 month old to sleep longer at night and better during the day?

I'm.not sure if this a regression thing or what as he has never slept great but this is the worst it has ever been.

At night, he currently wakes after 1hr on the dot and will only go back down if his mouth touches my boob. Doesn't necessarily feed at all during the night just suckles for about 20-30 mins. This is from around 7:45pm - 7:30am.

During the day, the only way I can get him to nap for over an hour is on my boob. Second best option is in the pram but he wakes at 35mins on the dot. Today, I tried for nearly 1.5 hours to get him down without being on me. It did not work at all. He was drousy/asleep and put him down and instantly awake and wouldn't go back down unless on the boob. His wake windows are 1.5 hours and he struggles with any longer than this.

I really don't know what to do, I'm so tired and stressed I can no longer think straight for myself. Any help please. Even if it's some gentle encouragement....

Thanks

Bump.

My baby was the same at 3 months and nothing other than the boob worked.
Nothing. All the suggestions around drowsy but awake, white noise, music, routine, all of it went out the window. It just got worse and worse and I almost lost my mind. He had been sleeping so well until 10 weeks and it just went downhill from 10 weeks really fast.

We co-slept a little here and there to retain some sanity but co-sleeping on the whole doesn't work for us. He had 1 good week right before he turned 4 months then the 4 month regression hit, which was as bad as before.

We started sleep training a few days ago (he's almost 5 months). So far brilliant and only a few minutes of crying but it's only been a few days.

I don't have advice other than to say my third baby is a similar age and honestly when you're in it, it feels so awful, but it's always just a phase. It will pass itself even if you do absolutely nothing different. A positive mindset and relaxation for you and doing whatever you can to support your own way through it is more important (and easier to change) than your baby's temporary sleep habits. If you have a partner, I hope they're pulling their weight so you can catch up on sleep where possible.

I'm currently awake with DD2, who is 4.5 months and her sleep is also appalling. I'm accepting 2-3 daytime naps with her on the boob a day and a pram nap. I sleep trained my first DD at 6 months as she was waking every 45 minutes (whatever I did) and I thought I was going insane. It worked in 3 days (went for sleeping in 45 mins chunks to initial 6 hour chunk, such a relief), so I'm planning to do the same with this one if nothing changes by 6 months. It's not nice them crying, but you need a certain level of sleep to survive. Sleep training definitely not a must though as many friend's babies seemed to naturally outgrow this regression stage within a month or so. Honestly, it will get better. I'm more relaxed with this one, and less worried about "bad habits" which is making me calmer. I go to bed around 8 which also helps and I'm also co-sleeping too which helps slightly, if not a huge amount with this one. This too shall pass and you can do it.....!!!!!! Rest as much as you can and you will get a normal(ish :) night of sleep again!

Yeah definitely let go of the whole fear of creating "bad habits". The Internet will convince you that a 12 week old needs a strict routine but no baby in real life works that way. And they change so much from one week to the next.

My DS is just about to turn four months. He will only ever sleep to feed, unless he’s in the pram when his sleep cycle is 30-40 mins. He’s never just fallen asleep independently!