4 mo was sleeping thru, now waking - any ideas why?

[Frith]

Hi all. my daughter had been sleeping through from 7pm-7amish with a dream feed at 11pm for the last 3-4 weeks. We would sometimes hear her wake up but then would hear her re-settle herself, which was great! But for the last 4-5 nights she's started waking up around 3am and not settling, so there is lots of to-ing and fro-ing until about 6am. We don't think it's teething and she doesn't appear to be unwell or too cold (we think - though this is a possibility that we're working on). Has anyone else experienced something similar, ie is this something that happens at this age perhaps?? Any suggestions most welcome!

I might be wrong but I'm sure I remember DD doing this at this time. I think its growth spurt time and they just NEED that extra feed.

Agree with Lucky about growth spurt. DD started waking early at this age too - she wanted milk.

growth spurt/is cold ( that was defo causign the early shuffling in mydd)- had bit of this as have others in my baby group.does pass after week or so if they were sleeping before -fwiw dd beter at settling once we got past this bad patch

4 month sleep regression I'm afraid. My DS was a wonderful sleeper then we hit 17 weeks and life became hell! up 4 or 5 times a night and all i could do was feed him to get him back to sleep. I know now that he wasn't actually hungry, just couldn't get back to sleep. Unless you actually think she's hungry, I'd avoid feeding her, otherwise you'll end up how i am now - i've got a 6 month old DS who can't get back to sleep during the night without milk.

I stopped night feeding all together at this stage. What time does your heating come on? Could it be the boiler? Outside traffic? We used to live next door to a cabbie who'd be up and out at 4, always woke ds.
I have to agree with lovelymama and say don't feed other than last resort. Can you set your alarm to go off 5 mins before swhe due to wake and then you can already be there when she stirs so she won't wake fully?

Are you bf or bottle feeding? If bottle, and you think it may be a growth spurt, can you try adding an extra punce to bottles throughout the day? If bf, try tanking her up more during the day and doing a split feed before and after bath as well as the dreamfeed.

Don't suppose by any chance you are using a dummy? If you are, it is around about this time that the dummy can start disrupting sleep.

Also, how is she during the day? ie does she seem under the weather/teething etc? Or is it just at night?

my 19wo dd definitely needs food when she wakes at night. i used to give her one boob at 4 or 5 but now she wakes at 3 and i give her both, otherwise she would wake again in an hour or two. daytime naps are all over the place. some days she sleeps only 35 min each time, other days she is out for 2 hours. good to hear from poppy that settling can improve after this patch

Me too!

My DD is the same.17 weeks. Chatting with others ive come to the conclusion that they seem to go through a huge development phase which tends to mess up their sleep.

I have seen a huge change in DD the past few weeks. She learnt to "chat", sit for about a min unaided, and her Cheeky little personality has really come out now!
Ive spoken to a few HCP's who have said the same about this phase.. It can almost take them back to being a newborn whilst thier brains process everything.

Im know how hard it is them suddenly staying awake in the wee hours again. Thankfully DD is slowly getting better again. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel... Honest!