Four month sleep regression - how long did yours last?

[EmmyVonN]

Well, your baby's. I don't imagine you remember yours.

Last night DS2 was awake for a total of 4.5 hours. The same as the night before. It's difficult to resettle him, even after a feed (EBF). He wakes easily 4-6 times between 11pm and 7am and it's been like this for the last month.

I'm not sure if I should feed him or try to withold feeds if less than 3 hours because it could be that he is uncomfortable with all that milk shwooshing about inside. He has reflux - I don't know if this is a contributing factor.

I know I'm not the only one. If you've survived the four month sleep regression, please cheer me up and say it sorts itself out quickly enough. If you're suffering through it, tell me your tricks.

Withhold, I meant. Though actually, after a month of sleeping in 30 min to 2 hour snatches (if lucky), I'm surprised I make any sense at all.

I do make sense, don't I?

Mine lasted until I took to feeding my dd during the day in a darkened room, without anyone else around, not watching TV or even reading a book. Then she was finally focused enough to have decent feeds during the day and as a result wasn't having to top up so much in the quiet of the night. She went from waking every 1 1/2 hours to going to 3 or 4 hours.

Accoring to my friend who is a La Leche League breast feeding counsellor, the "being too distracted to feed during the day" business is very common and one of the main reasons why babies go bananas at night at around 4 months. Of course, it may be something else for your baby, but might be worth a try?

Good luck. It WILL end.

Most of the day feeds are in quiet, darkish room with only my phone for company. Until DS1 comes home and gets involved with the feeds. I see how that can be distracting.

My baby will be 5 months this week and I think (bangs vigorously on every available wooden surface)the 4-month regression is passing gradually.

Having always been a baby who woke for one feed only in the night and self-settled easily, at four months she pulled a whole repetoire of tricks out of the bag: waking up crying every couple of hours, not settling after a feed, cluster feeding from 3am onwards, getting up for the day at 4.30am...! Every night was a new adventure.

We generally shush/patted her back to sleep, or picked her up for a cuddle, or I fed her, or (after 4.30am) we put her in our bed. Not very consistent!

Then she stopped waking up crying so much, cut down the mad cluster feeding etc. She was still up at the crack of dawn and "needed" settling a couple of times each night on top of one or two feeds though.

Now it seems she may be coming out of it naturally (bangs wood again). But last night, after reading the Baby Whisperer, I did try something different: if she stirred before 3 hours had passed since a feed, I left her and just observed what she did for a few minutes. It wasn't controlled crying as she never got to the full-on crying stage. But I did let her shout a little bit (no tears) and hey presto, she went back to sleep on her own without any shushing or cuddling. I think we'd been going to her too quickly.

She fed at 11pm, woke and self-settled at 1.15am, woke and fed at 3am, woke and self-settled at 5.15am. Got up for the day at 6.40am- a very respectable time I'd say.

Hope things get better for you soon- I'm sure they will!

Oh, also, the distraction thing was definitely an issue. Until a couple of days ago she wasn't feeding well in the day. Now I make sure there are no distractions (including the phone)

I tried cutting out distractions yesterday, but it's tricky with a toddler who wants to be part of the action.

I agree Bosoms, that I've probably been going to him too quickly. He sleeps in a cot beside the bed, so I tend to just pick him up as soon as he makes any noise.

Last night was better - only two wake ups. An hour long each, but that's better than 4-6 times a night. But, on the down side, I started putting him to bed at 7pm, and he only went to sleep at 11. That's a bit mad, isn't it? I offered several feeds, but he couldn't settle. In the end, I gave him a top-up of formula with baby Gaviscon and he went to sleep about an hour after that. I wonder if the formula helped him sleep better - I always thought not, but at this point I'm desperate enough to introduce it as the 10pm feed, if he needs one.

Thanks for the ideas. Hope yours are continuing the upward trend.

11pm- ouch!

Have you tried Pick Up Put Down? I tried it last night when lo wouldn't settle at 7pm. You pick them up but put them down as soon as they are calm (not asleep). It's a technique from Baby Whisperer. The book warns that you might have to do it dozens of times but they eventually get message. The idea is that they know you are there if they are upset, but are not relying on you to get them back to sleep.

Like a miracle, she went down after two pick-ups from me. She then cried at 9pm and my dp did it twice and she was sparko again.

Seems to work a treat!

Sorry am bit of a Baby Whisperer fan these last couple of days.

Good luck tonight. And great news that things are getting better! Two night wake-ups is not bad at all.

I thought he'd be a bit young for PUPD? Worth a try, I suppose.

I know that he would fall asleep quicker if I cuddled him to sleep. But I think that's part of the problem with the night wake-up so I've been trying to resist. Also, the trouble with cuddling is that he wakes as soon as I put him in the cot. And it seems like a short term solution which doesn't really help in the long run.

Tbh, don't know what's worse, cuddling him to sleep or having him grizzle and unable to sleep. I've introduced a blankie and hold his hand, and this seems to help.

Must get a copy of BW.

Ours lasted a few weeks but I think we were getting out of it around 5 months. It will partly depend on whether your baby was born early or late - if early, the regressions will happen slightly later. If they were born early, they'll hit them sooner.

We didn't have too many problems with being awake for long periods in the night, but DS did wake predictably 45 mins after going to bed for ages. Then one day he just stopped doing that. Apart from that, during the regression I'd be up with him 3 or 4 times a night instead of the previous once or twice.

I didn't do anything different, just kept on feeding him every time he woke up (except the first waking after 45 mins when I could often shush pat him back off). But at some point it just went back to once or twice.

He wasn't a distractible baby during daytime feeds so feeding wasn't an issue. However, and here. Kellymom]] recommends giving extra feeds on demand during a sleep regression/growth spurt.

For more info on the 4 month regression, see here, here, and here.

Sorry, dodgy link there - should have read 'Kellymom', not 'and here'.

To reply to your other question, what helped me was to put DS on a single mattress on the floor by my bed so I could feed him lying down. That way I could doze through the extra feeds rather than having to pick him up, and I could go back to sleep much faster afterwards than if I'd had to get up properly.

Thanks for the links - am looking at them now. I cannot feed lying down. I've tried so many times and he just keeps popping off.

One of the problems is that he gets really bad wind and then can't resettle so I don't want to feed with a less than perfect latch.

Ahhhhh, it's the 19 week spurt. Very interesting links. Thanks AngelDog.

I feel your pain. My DS was never a good sleeper bug naps had been improving and the first wake up of the night had been getting later. But now it's like he's forgotten how to sleep in the day and has been up every hour for the last two nights and is a nightmare to settle. It's driving me crazy! Not sure I can take a month of this. I've thought about PUPD but he doesn't really cry- he's just awake or a not moany, and I'd assumed that it only worked whrn they were crying?