13 week old sleep regression

[Sophie165]

Hi

I have a 13 week old baby. The last 3 nights have been awful. Last night, he did 2 hours in his next to me crib before waking every 30 minutes - I am exhausted. At one point I did put him next to me in my bed with my hand on his tummy and he slept for 1.5 hours. Then I gave up and put him on my chest. He wants to sleep on me for naps during the day too. He never took a dummy. I’m exclusively breast feeding but he doesn’t always want to feed when he wakes (and he certainly shouldn’t need to that often!)

I have a 3 year old and I remember the 4 month sleep regression being really hard. But I can’t remember if I did anything to help get me a bit more sleep.

is there any advice in helping my baby link his sleep cycles? Is this the 4 month sleep regression a few weeks early? do I just continue contact napping during the day and focus on night sleep? Is it a case of giving it time? I did sleep train my daughter but I think she was about 5 months old.

thanks

I wish I had the answer to this.

I am in an identical situation with a 16 week old. I am absolutely shattered and it just seems to get worse every night/day. I don’t know how to carry on functioning like this.

I can’t even put him down during the day without him screaming so I can’t ’sleep while the baby sleeps’ - he won’t even cosleep. He is currently sleeping on a cushion on my knee and I’m eating cadburys mini rolls to give me the energy to stay awake!

I’ve been considering paying someone to come in for a few hours a day so I can catch up on sleep but it is so expensive so I couldn’t do it for long.

And yet he was such a dream of a sleeper until two weeks ago!

I am hoping it is a short phase that gets sorted but as you suggest I think he will need to learn to self soothe so that he doesn’t need me to cuddle and let him feed/suck after every 45 mins. But I have no idea how to do that.

So sorry, no answers, just solidarity and eagerly awaiting someone with a way of dealing with this.

My daughter did this - it was punishing, you have my sympathy. Hers only improved once she could roll and sleep on her front. Around the same time I also started her on some formula. Not sure which thing was the driver, suspect the front sleeping, but it definitely coincided with them both. I think all you can do is try and keep on top of naps/sleep as much as possible so she isn’t overtired and try to encourage self settling where possible, but accept to some extent it is a phase you just have to ride through. It’s awful, I am sorry. Second just approaching this age and dreading the same thing happening again…

I didn't ever notice a four month sleep regression, nor any of the other sleep stages, because it was just one sleepless shit show that lurched from no sleep to even less sleep and back again for several years 😂

I say just do whatever gets the most sleep for the most people and it will end eventually. Throw all expectations and "advice" in the bin unless it's from someone who's going to book you into a hotel for a couple of nights and look after the baby. You are not alone.

it is really tough. I remember thinking with my daughter that I would never sleep again but of course I did. You just can’t see it when you’re deep in the sleep deprivation.

I just had a sofa nap with my baby on my chest whilst my daughter was watching tv. He won’t be put down for naps during the day either but will sleep on me or in the carrier.
do you have any friends or family that can come and watch the baby for you? Do you have a partner who can give you a bit of you time eg when they come home from work?

sleep training isn’t for everyone but I had to do this with my daughter when she was about 5 months and it really worked for me (I was desperate, not being a good mother due to the exhaustion and she was also exhausted). But if you’re still in the same situation in a few weeks maybe worth exploring?

Yes my daughter turned into a front sleeper when she could roll and I moved her into her cot in her own room so she had more space. My son isn’t at that stage yet but maybe sleep will improve when he is. He is having one bottle of formula a day - doesn’t seem to make any difference to his sleep! Hopefully your second gives you a better time with sleep!

Hi, I'm in the same position op, so similar I could have written this myself! I posted something similar earlier, but no replies. My baby also rubs his eyes and wakes himself up, it's constant. Even swaddling isn't working like it has done before 😫 have you seen any improvement over the last couple of days?