4-5 month olds sleep club, - come and join..........

[SnowlightMcKenzie]

Hiya,

There have been so many threads lately about babies who were beginning to sleep better, but suddenly hitting this regression to newborn hell.

So I thought I would start a support thread for us all to compete whinge about how little sleep we are all getting, and tips on how to cope.

Baby Starlight was up just twice last night, but the previous night it was 6 times, and because of that I kept putting off going to bed at all last night, so even though it wasn't too bad, I still had hardly any sleep

Hi everyone. sorry, i sounded like a right whingebag yesterday.....what was really worrying me was that ds was getting alllll his feeding in during the night - fed between 3 and 5 and then not again til 10.30am. Not a pattern I want to work on developing!

he's 23 weeks today,and has been eating banana and baby rice and mush for a couple of weeks -tbh it just seems like more work at the moment!

Thanks for responses though fg and chegirl, am normally a very positive person, just this bloody sleep deprivation, worrying about getting it all wrong, and all 4 of our cats have started peeing all over the house and am feeling like I'm not paranoid, they are out to get me!!!

That's what this thread's for right? Having a good old whinge when we're absolutely knackered!!
DD went through a horrific stage from about 8-12wks when she did about 10 feeds between 7pm and 5am and then only fed 2/3 times during the day. HV said to offer more during the day so she wouldn't get used to feeding all night...as if I wasn't doing that already sometimes I swear they are soooo patronising. DH was away the whole time as well so I did actually want to just lie down and die after about a week - but we made it!! Small victories eh?! Anyhoo, the point is that DD sometimes decides nights are more fun for feeding but she has gone back to mostly daytime. Colds deffo throw everything off, pesky bugs...I can't remember how many times I woke up last night but all I really wanted was a good slug of Night Nurse and maybe 8 straight hours...remember those days?? My dad assures me they'll be back - hah!
We're doing BLW just cos I am lazy and the thought of pureeing stuff - sheesh, that's actually effort! DD loves it too but she doesn't get much down and it's very messy. It is easy to give her half a strawberry and a couple of green beans and leave her to it though. HV (nice one, not patronising one) said that if you start before 6 months then fruit and veg are perfect...
Man alive...I do ramble...hope everyone has a nap filled day!!

and staines, don't get me started on cats... DH gave ours to a more loving home about 2 weeks ago. Ever since DD was born he crapped everywhere (the cat, not DH)...and I mean everywhere - behind the tv, in the kitchen, right on the doorstep etc. I think he'd have worked through it but DH had enough after 20 odd weeks of it. I might smuggle one in now that he's away again

Is the general feel on this board that we just have to roll with these wakings and ideally feed them when they wake? Have people who've tried any form of sleep training found there has been any point whatsoever? I'm worried I'll be burnt at the stake for admitting trying to train my son out of some of his night wakings!

He's been waking 3-4 times a night since about 3 months - he's now 4.5 months. About a fortnight ago I just couldn't take getting up every two hours all night as decided I would feed him just the once during the night. On the other occasions he woke I sat next to his cot and shshshed and every now and again spoke very quietly so he knew I was there. Doing this, the longest he has ever cried is 15m, and sometimes it's just a minute or so. The great theory was that he'd decide on some 4 month old level that there was no point waking before five or six hours was up as there was no food forthcoming. Some nights he does just wake the once for a feed, others I'm getting up at least one other time to shshsh and reassure, but now I read that I can see it's actually not that bad at all. Maybe my system is kind of working.

DD was such a creature of habit that I've developed the mindset that if I let DS feed several times a night now he'll want to for years! It took a fair bit of work getting DD into good habits which has rather got me on the balls of my feet with DS and good habits. Today I am simply too tired to have any judgment whatsoever as I had a late night and then fed DS each time he woke last night (twice) as we were staying at my parents and I just couldn't brazen out 15 mins of crying. He's being a pain about napping today and suddenly sleep is looming large. I think I'm wondering if it's worth carrying on sticking to the one feed a night, or if what I'm doing isn't having an effect. I don't know why I expect anyone here to know how my DS is reacting!

Ha ha! I've tried a sleep routine and it did stop DD waking every 2 hours til she got her (I think) 6 month growth spurt and now a cold and I haven't got the guts to do it again cos I didn't enjoy doing it. The changes I made to her room helped a lot by not stimulating her and making it pretty boring...she usually goes down for naps quite well. I think as long as she's feeding well at each night feed I'll just leave it, the reason I started the training was cos she wasn't really wanting it every time...deffo going to try it once this cold has gone cos I'm not a happy girl at mo.
The shushing doesn't work for DD, she either stops crying and giggles or screams so it's either a feed or just let her scream...

aaaah, chulita, i do feel for you re the cat. much as i feel like they're conspiring against me, i'm not ready to get rid just yet. they didn't ask me to get a baby, but the stink!!!!!!

I meant to do blw, but the imperative to get solids into him has taken over, so we are having great, messy fun. or should i say, anyone else that happens to want to have a go is having great fun, am great abdicator of that responsibility.

we're all going on holiday next week, so am looking forward to family time and giving dh a really good go at night feeds, day to day responsibility, and catching up on a few naps myself......famous last words!!!

staines if you're interested I've got some stuff 'urinoff' (great name) but it claims to neutralise cat pee smells. I used it in our dining room and it seems to have worked. I've got some left that we obviously won't be using, I'd be happy to dig it out and send it to you if you want, saves us finding it in 15 years time and wondering whether we should have binned it sooner...

ooooooooooooooooooooooh chulita, you are very kind. email me on [email protected] and we'll arrange details. mwah! mwah!!

just emailed you

Hi all. Haven't had time to write as MIL has been staying (plenty of useful tips.....). But have been keeping an eye on your posts.

I too will be moving on to the 6 month thread in 2 weeks. Things have improved with baby smurf though and if I'm lucky, he only wants 1 feed during the night. Last week we had 1 night where he had a DF at 11pm, feed at 3am then slept til 7.30am.....bliss!!! Sadly, the 2 hourly awakenings the following night made up for it . I'm wondering of he's teething as he's shown that he can go 4-5 hours without a feed.

On the whole though, we're having 2 feeds a night now and going straight back to sleep after so I really shouldn't complain when I see the kind of nights you're having with the playing/screaming sessions.

I try to leave him to grumble for a while if he's fed within 2 hours but with MIL in the next room, I was jumping before he cranked up too much. I'm hoping he's not got used to it!

He has been taking solids with gusto and is scoffing loads (I have taken the mush route) and I am now ff as well as bf. So far, all his night feeds are bf so I'm wondering if sending DP to him with a bottle will make a difference to his night wakings . I still feel that some of them are more comfort/habit.

staines you're not being a whingebag! When I have an exceptionally good/bad night, I analyse everything I did/ate/said/wore to either see if I can replicate the good night or work out where I went wrong for the bad night!

Can I join you? DD is 16 weeks and we have a mixed bag of sleep patterns. Last night she went to sleep at 7.30pm but woke at 9pm and wouldn't settle until I fed her. She then managed to last until 1.20am (though I may have bounced her back to sleep in her hammock during that time - can't remember).

So far so good but at 3am she woke because of a leaky nappy so I had to change her completely and sort her bed out by which time she was wide awake and wanting to play with her feet until 4.14am. Up for the day at 5.20am but DH got up with her.

I am exhausted today - the late to sleep/early rising is happening everyday now.

Do I sound like a suitable joinee?

Hi Hulla. You definitely qualify. I love your note of the time - 4.14am! It really is that painful, isn't it.....

Was reminded by a friend yesterday of the HV's advice that it's time to wean when they stop sleeping through the night..........what if he never started????

Sil is taking ds this afternoon so I can have a kip. Love her very much!
smurf - am completely at a loss to analyse what i do from one day to the next at the moment - i don't know if I'm coming or going....the thing that scares me most is that I'll have to end up going down the cc route after all these months of co sleeping and bfing on demand - and it'll work! does that make sense to anyone????

Oh Lol! I am truely not that anal - I meant 4.15am! I used to write the times down so I could see improvements and feel better but the improvements never came and it just depressed me so I gave up. Much happier now!

I've had the weaning advice too and top up with formula (must be my milk not satisfying her). That's why I can't moan about her sleep in RL!

I know what you mean about cc, my dd has just cried in my arms before her nap (always, always does unless she's hungry too and then she'll feed to sleep). I just thought, what's the difference between this and cio or cc?

My friend had come to visit and was holding DD who'd started yawning. She said "If she's tired shall I just put her in her cot?". Oh, how I laughed!

Oooh, new people. Hello Hulla and Mrs HD

Guess what? I had a night where I only had to feed DS once between 7pm and 6.30! He still woke up and needed to be shushed a bit two or three times but he had one big feed at 2.30 and that was it.

However, I think there's a bit more to this than just him sleeping by himself. I was so knackered yesterday that I burnt my hand really badly whilst cooking and, to numb the pain, took 2 co-codamol which my GP prescribed post-epesiotomy. When my hand was still bloody agony after 4 hours, I phoned NHS Direct and they said I shouldn't take cocodamol when breast-feeding as it'll make DS sleepy. So I've got a horrible feeling that I drugged him to sleep last night!

Chulita re. what you said about getting them to feed more during the day. I was told that too by a BF counseller, so I've been offering DS boob every couple of hours. Yesterday a BF peer supporter from the same group told me to go back to feeding strictly on demand so as to make sure that he takes a really full feed every time. I tried it today and DS has literally only taken two full feeds and done a bit of snacking. My guess is that he is going to now spend all night feeding.

I'm too chicken to do full on sleep training yet. I'm waiting until he's a bit older because then he'll be eating more solids and definitely won't be hungry at night. I'm a teacher and I need to be sleeping properly by September!

Hey Feralgirl, we've bumped into eachother before (LuLuLulabelle) .

My DD hardly fed on Monday, I'm not sure why but I was feeling engorged by lunchtime and dreading her playing catch up at night. It didn't seem to make a difference.

Having said that, we had a busy day (swimming & baby massage) so perhaps she was too worn out to be hungry. No idea.

Ooh co-codamol....theres a thought!

Hello everyone,
Mind if I post my own list of woes here? It's been a while.
Anyway, we've had a absolutely awful week here. DS was struck with a nasty viral infection which aside from necessitating a night in hospital (suspected meningitis, but thankfully we're OK on that front...) also turned an already appalling sleep situation into something truly dire. I'd type the details out, but fear that seeing it all in black and white might just send me over the edge...

Oh Superd that's awful. You must have been frantic and I can't even begin to imagine how scary it must have been. I'm so sorry for you and your family but glad it wasn't meningitis. Are you all going to be OK now you're back home?

Hulla, I did wonder if it was you...!

Hello again all, just read this which Starlight posted on another thread for MrsHD. It made me think about how a few of us have said that our DCs aren't feeding brilliantly during the day at the moment...

Morning everyone. Superd, so sorry for you and baby superd, would hate to have to deal with that. Hope everything is a bit better for you now.

Here in stainesworld we are full of the joys of spring. only two wakings last night (that I remember) and they were brief - i think! and then he allowed me the luxury of sleeping til 6. little poppet.

i think it's cause he knows today we are driving from the suburbs of west london to east london at peak time. yay.

Chulita - cat peeing has already reduced, no idea why, and have found a mouse run in the bathroom behind some boxed in pipes. that'll be why they all want to pee in there then!! looking forward to getting urinoff all over it!

Thanks for that fg, I often think "I know you can go 8 hours without feeding, why don't you??????" I've got the most painful blocked duct at the mo cos yesterday we went out shopping and DD fed at 6:30 and then wasn't bothered til 2pm, and I've been a bit run down haven't we all!! and it's all backed up and clogged my boob...ow ow ow. Still, that was 8 hours without feeding and then she was up 3 times feeding last night...argh!! Don't blame her though, the shops were fascinating, I wouldn't have wanted to stare at my boobs either given the choice!!

Morning everyone,

FG, your post inspired me to do some searching this morning and found this site (apologies if its already been mentioned - I haven't read all the posts). Its interesting to read other peoples experiences and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Looks like at 16 weeks I haven't hit the tough weeks yet (wk 19 apparently).

[[http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2007/10/4-month-olds.html 4 month old sleep]

superd, that sounds like a terrible experience. So glad its not meningitis but I can't imagine handling a situation like that on a full nights sleep nevermind sleep deprived.

My night was a bit like yours Staines, 2 wakings (1.40am & 4am) but there was a fair bit of Amby bouncing inbetween and then DD was up for the day at 5.15am (DH did the honours).

New mattress arrived this morning so I think we'll be back to co-sleeping after 1st waking and see if she sleeps longer.... Has anyone else done that?

oops

4 month old sleep

God it's such a relief to find this thread and see I am not alone with my nocturnal DD2 (coming up to 6mths). I only seem to meet smug mums whose babies have been sleeping through since 2 weeks old while i'm too ashamed to admit that my 5 month old still wakes up every 2 hours looking for a feed. I feel I am doing everything wrong and am being totally inconsistent by sometimes responding with a feed straight away; sometimes only after 15 mins of crying and sometimes i let her cry it out without a feed at all. I know i'm going to have to do proper controlled crying soon, but keep using the excuse of DD1 and DH (who works shifts) getting woken up by 2 hours of crying. I did it with DD1 and it worked like magic. DD2 slept 8 hours both ways on plane recently so I tried white noise machine last night to simulate aeroplane noise! Made b**gr all difference. Also spent hours and ££ on attempts to block out hideous 5am sunrise-induced waking but again no luck. Worse thing is, being so knackered from DD2's nighttime waking all the time makes me grumpy with DD1, who sleeps like an angel. (The lady with the 5am 4-yr old niece - have they tried the fabulous Bunny Clock?)

And for all those sleep experts - yes I do have a consistent bedtime routine and put her down sleepy-but-awake, and she gets herself to sleep with nary a grumble, so how come she can't do the same thing at 10pm, 1am, 4am, 5am, 630am??????

Hey girls,
Thanks loads for the support. We had another miserable night (up every 2 hours, HOWLING) but realised this morning after yet another trip to the hospital that poor little tot had a perforated eardrum due to an infection . Anyway, a course of anti-b's should clear it up and then hopefully we'll return to our good old pattern of 3 hourly wakings... .
nessa, welcome to the thread. You won't find a smug mother here... we're all exhausted, unshowered and desperate. Make yourself at home .

Hulla, I always feed ds in bed with me at night, sometimes i remember to put him back in his cot, most (80% of the time) he sleeps with me.......i can't say that it makes a jot of difference to his sleep either way - but i'm certain it makes my night better...does that help?!

Superd poor, poor baby superd. really hope you see a swift improvement now.

Hi Nessa, your dd sounds exactly the same as ds, such a good boy at bedtime, we just can't seem to replicate that behaviour the rest of the time. I have decided I just don't believe anyone who says their dc sleep through. Lalalalalalala.