4 month old waking up more in the night

[Wigeon]

My 18 week old had got into a pattern of going to (deep) sleep around 9:30pm, waking up around 4am for a feed and going back to sleep until 8am / 9am. But for the last two weeks she's been waking up beween two and three times a night, and although we've tried just settling her, she always takes a good feed each time. (I'm breast-feeding).

She usually then goes back to sleep but sometimes has stayed awake (and happy) for quite a while (last night fed at 9:30am midnight, 4am and then was awake and perky from 4:30am to 6sm). I am completely knackered - had thought it was a growth spurt but it's been going on a fortnight now. As she's only a week over the minimum age for introduction of solids, I had been thinking it can't be time for weaning (had assumed when she was born I'd breast-feed exclusively until 6 months).

She usually has at least two naps in the daytime - about 45mins in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon.

I'm not desperate for her to sleep through (although that would be nice!) as one night feed was manageable.

Help! Any advice on how we can get a bit more sleep would be gratefully received!

My baby is 5 months now and seems to be coming through this now. At 4 months he went from sleeping through (8-6) to waking 2 hourly again, I was shattered. Gradually it's got better and last night he went from 8-5 which is great. I didn't do anything different apart from make a concerted effort to give him his last feed in a quiet place without too many distraction. Don't know if it made any difference and tonight could be different again.

Just to give you all some additional hope: my dd slept through for the first (and only) time at 20 weeks. The next night she lasted until 5am and now has a stinking cold. Grrr. But anyway, I don't think it's anything I've done differently. We've always had the same 7-to-7 (ish) routine. After the 4-month wobble things generally get better. Until the 6-month mayhem I believe...

Can i join too please?

My DD (4mths) is doing exactly the same- 2 or 3 wakes a night, sometime staying awake for 2 hours after!

Weve had this from since she was just over 3mths so im well and truely knackered and begining to get well a truely pissed off with "growth spurts!"

weve tried everything- less sleep, more sleep, more milk ect but nothing seems to make a diference..Its completely random!

at 2mths she started doing 8-4/5/6am with an dream feed at 11. But since 3mths she stared waking for her dream feed so we stopped it. Now we seem to have got into a 3/4 hour pattern.

ie Bedtime at 8 then 11/12, then 2/3 then 5/6. Its a "good" night when she goes straight back to sleep after each feed.

plus now to top it off, shes gone and got a cold! last night I was rocking her basket for about 4 hours on and off as she kept waking after about 20 mins snuffling and snorting! [Yawn]

Hi Pigley - I think we were in the same thread when ttc, I've just looked at your profile - what a beautiful little girl you have.

Pigleychez: I completely agree about the growth spurts, the next time someone tells me my boy is having a growth spurt, not sure what I'll do!!!

My boy is 17 weeks (almost 4 months) & has been getting worse & worse at sleep for about a month now... (since his 3 months growth spurt, roll eyes!!) And of course we're getting more & more knackered.....

Lets see what others have to say. Is there something about sleep in 4 month olds, I wonder

Debinaustria- Yeah I thought I remembered the name! Glad to see we both got there in the end!
Thanks for the comments on the pics- Reminds me to update them. Your little guy looks fab too

Glad to see that were not the only ones with a non sleeping 4mth old! Not that I wish it on everyone but good to know its not just something we are doing wrong IYKWIM

Anyone found a miracle cure yet??

Things are even worse in our house now as DD has a cold! Fri/Sat night think i got about 3 hours tops!
The rest of the time was spent with my arm out of the bed rocking her basket trying to settle her off as she was unsettling herself every 20 mins or so- Nightmare.

Hi! I'm much relieved to hear that other people are having problems with their 4 month olds. Ours was sleeping well, waking up once or twice a night, but recently has been up every hour. Friends have said it must be time for solids, but I'm not convinced. I think he is teething, but he's also definately more distracted during daytime feeds. Anyone any ideas? Short of shutting ourselves in a dark room all day so he'll feed more then. Mind you, if he keeps this up I might try that...

Think I need to be on this thread too with my 18week old, am getting desperate, really hope it will pass at 5 months as mentioned above! Not as bad as some of the others but still starting to feel like I can't cope, waking every 2 hours and then up for the day at 5. He used to at least sleep for 4-5 hours at the beginning of the night but that has gone now.

Tinierclanger: really sorry to hear things are so bad... I'm in the same boat, waking every 2 hours (that's the best case scenario) & really not sure what else to do to improve things! We have a regular bedtime routine, DS goes to sleep very easily, I mean he settles easily, BUT THEN THE WAKING STARTS! Mostly it's dummy-related (he wakes to have it replugged) but I tend to think it's not only that. Like your boy, our son too used to sleep for stretches of 4-5 hours, which for some reason doesn't do anymore for the last month!

Any improvement from anyone else?

Hi There,
My son did the same. by 3 1/2 months he was only waking once in the night for a bottle. He then started to wake at ten and then two and then 4 and drink a whole bottle everytime. I could not get anymore milk in him during the day. I had to start weaning him at 3 1/2 months and then he settled down. Maybe start solids?

Have been lurking on this thread with interest as this is exactly what has been happening with me and DS, used to be a 7-7 baby hit 16 weeks and it all went a bit crazy, lots of waking and crying at night, not settling after a feed at night, I ended up with him sleeping next to me in bed most nights. I have resisted starting solids as I don't think he's ready (despite everyone telling me otherwise ), think it also may have been a bit of teething at the start but I had a bit of a breakthrough the other night and wanted to share it...

I think he was cold - over the last two nights we have been putting heating on every other hour for an hour and he is now in 3 layers (one short sleeve vest, one thick jersey sleepsuit and long sleeve jersery bed jacket) plus a nice warm blanket (previously using a growbag), tucked in tight, and has only woken up once the last two nights for a feed around 3ish, and has gone straight back down again. He has also woken up smiling these last two mornings instead of being super cranky.

I feel terribly guilty that he was cold to start with - and am not sure if this is just coninciding with the end of this monster 'growth spurt' I keep hearing about, but it's worth trying! I was worried about him being too warm as all the books tell you but he is very happy now.

Hope everyone is doing OK - sleep deprivation is no joke !

Hi again girls,

BoobyRuby- that's very interesting what you say about cold. I have wondered about that too. OK, I dress my boy in a long-sleeved vest. On top of that a velour sleepsuit (babygro). Then a sleeping bag which of course is sleeveless (as they are). Then I do put a woollen blanket on him, but only lightly over his feet (due to being paranoid about suffocation risk). Then when he goes to bed or thereabouts we turn off the central heating. Do you think he might be cold???

I think though- not sure what all you others think- that there's something to be said about growth spurts, although I usually get very annoyed when EVERYTHING is attributed to a growth spurt. But the last 3 days, apart from waking for his beloved dummy which falls out (the dummy which we hate), he also wakes to eat ALL THE TIME, which he didn't used to do. So last night he fed every 2 hours throughout the night. Am knackered. And of course this means he was in our bed from midnight onwards...

How is everyone else doing? Any success stories to give us hope? (Thanks boobyRuby for giving us a bit of hope...)

Wigeon, have you seen any improvement yet?

DS is so inconsistent! One night, wake and feed every 2 hours, another, two big 4 hour chunks of sleep. And nearly every day up between 5 and 5.30, but then again, the other day just went back to sleep after 5.30 feed despite seeming wide awake (smiling, giggling) at the time. I keep thinking I have found a causative link on the better nights (nap timings, nap lengths etc) but then something proves me wrong...

Son, 3 months and a week. Got into nice pattern - totally tired around 18.00ish, bath - feed - bed (own room nd cot). Up twice at night but ok back to sleep. by hindsight ok - even though we thought could be better.

Then wee bit fever and all out the window. [hmmm]. Down around 18.00, too tired for bath, then up around 22.00/23.00, big feed, then again 4/5ish and then every hour, talking, gurning, crying, wide awake and unsettled. Sometimes takes big feed, sometimes not. totally wrecked and tearful.

Naps during day are an adventure. Sometimes happen, sometimes not. Mostly 45min, then some of 15min. [hmmm]

Will stronger feed (SMA white?) work or just constipate him? Stopped breastfeeding as he was more and more uninterested and was fighting the boobies.

All the best to all parents going through the same.

Am so relieved that this 4 month sleep problem seems to be quite common. Was convinced that I was doing something wrong. DD goes to bed about 8, wakes about 2 and then again at 7ish. From reading prev posts have realised that we are lucky!
We changed to hungry baby food (no probs with constipation) but that didnt make much difference, the big thing was creating a bedtime routine and basically crossing our fingers!!!!
Good luck to everyone!

Please Please Please don't start weaning. I did exactly that when my now 7 month old (then 4 months) started waking in the night after going from 7-7 from 7 weeks old. My HV advised me to do it, can you believe it? and because I was a novice I listened, doh...

So I started weaning purees etc and it DID NOT help her sleep longer if anything it made it worse. I bitterly regret weaning her early.

At 25 weeks I started BLW and so she prob eats less now, than she did then and only now has she started sleeping through the night.

Ellsabelle- yes, it seems fairly common for babies at this age to wake & wake & WAKE!! Your daughter sounds marvellous by the way, sleeps much much more than most our babies on this thread So enjoy it... Bedtime routines work very well, I agree. We've been following a simple bedtime routine for our boy from day one, & he falls asleep immediately (oh but then...the waking starts!!)

News from us is that our DS is doing SLIGHTLY better, in that he's had some nice stretches of 3 or 4 hours in the last days, so we're feeling slightly more human Long may it last, & hoping it stretches even more...

How is everyone else?

Oh thank god for this thread, I thought it was just me (DD is 4 months exactly tomorrow).

nope, chequers, not just you There's a whole bunch of us! It's funny, people keep saying (at the very beginning) 'wait until 6 weeks and then things will be better'. Then when we get there & nothing changes, they say 'wait until 3 months and ALL will be better!' Nothing changes again. Then at 4 months, when all hell has broken loose sleep-wise they say 'wait, at 6 months when you start solids things will change'. Well to be honest, at this point I'm not putting too much hope in anything changing anytime soon

Ive com to the conclusion now that we just have a night owl baby as theres no way a growth spurt can last this long! DD is now 20 weeks and her sleep changed from about 3mnths!

Every night is sooo different.
A good night is 8-2-5-8
A bad night is 8-11-2-5-8
A fantastic night is 8-5-8!! But that is only once in a bluemoon!

Annoying thing is too that when she wakes for her feeds she only takes about 3ozs- Is it really worth waking for that!

Maria- I know exactly what you mean..

Scampi- Completely agree with not weaning... I know some many people who think the reason for the waking is because they need food.

ha ha ha ha Maria 2007,that is really funny and unfortunately exactly what myself and hubby have been saying recently. We are (surprise surprise) going through the 4 month melt down. My ever so slightly temperamental baby has turned into a total horror to boot. The screaming is really something else - only to be relieved by a bit of ibuprofen (as advised by GP who was a bit scared by the screaming bean in her office!) So reckoning teething as no sign of anything else ailing him. Sleep is up the spout too but then it wasn't ever too good so I'm bizarely feeling good that he wasn't a 7:7 baby to start with....I think it would be harder to loose that. Cheers ladies you've put a smile on my face

Is good to hear peoples comments against weaning too early. Am currently in 'discussions' with certain extended family members who think i am daft for not weaning DD. Would really like to leave it till 6 months.

Hello everyone, I'm the original poster and have just discovered that the thread got revived. Sorry to hear that there are so many other people out there with the same issue!

My DD is 6 months old in 3 days' time and I'm sorry to say hasn't got any better at sleeping. I have been trying: frequent feeds during the day, a bedtime routine, getting on top of her daytime naps, more blankets in case she's cold, leaving her to cry for 5 mins (never works by the way).

Interested to see others thinking about the solids thing: we started weaning at 22 weeks but didn't make the blindest bit of difference to her sleep!

She really isn't a good napper whatever I do. Am really quite exhausted, but slightly given up thinking there is anythig I can do...

By the way, hello Debinaustria - we were on the "due in June" thread together!

Sending sympathetic vibes to everyone else in the same boat.