4 Month Old Waking Every Hour Throughout Night! Help!!

[lulu78]

Hi there -

I am desperate for some advice. My 4 month old DS woke last night almost every hour crying from about midnight until 7am (his first feeding of the day). He cried off and on for about 5 minutes then falls back to sleep. This is the second night in the past week that he has done this.

He is on the 4hour EASY and naps very well (one 2 1/2 hour morning nap, one 2 hour afternoon nap and one 30 min. 5pm catnap).  In addition to the 4 feeds during the day (he is formula fed), we do a dreamfeed at 10:30pm. Usually, he goes down well at 7pm and then we do the dreamfeed at 10:30pm. After that, he usually sleeps until 6:30 or 7am.

I think he may be having some early teething as he's always got his hand in his mouth and drools a lot. However, I don't think it's that advanced yet since he's only 4 months. He had a little cold but it's mostly cleared up now. Could it possibly be the dreamfeed that is disturbing his sleep? My other thought is that he's going through a growth spurt, but I don't know. He takes in 6-7 oz per bottle so I feel like he's getting enough food.

Also, he goes to sleep with a pacifier, but it falls out when he drops off to sleep. We usually do not replace it until the morning.

Any advice would be great!!!

[claires mum]

Hmmm...if he's waking every hour then that means he's 'waking up' after each REM sleep cycle.  Which to me would indicate that he's either hungry or in a bit of pain.  If it is a growth spurt...and you feed him at midnight (and he has a good intake of milk)...then he should be able to sleep until 7.00am. 

If you feed him at midnight...and he only has a little milk...and still wakes every hour...then I think it's pain perhaps.  Teething at 4 months is very common.  Teething pain comes and goes as the teeth move up and down again.  It can go on for months and months.  Claire started teething at 5 months..she's 11 months and still no teeth have come through!  The pain tends to last for 3 days at a time. 

So I guess you could go either way:

1)  try a feed at midnight and see if it's a growth spurt/hunger related.
2)  try some pain relief meds at midnight..and see if it's pain related.

It could also just be a wobbly night!  It might pass without you doing anything.  What do you think?

[lulu78]

Thanks for your advice! I think you are right on.. either hunger or pain. I'm going to see how it goes tonight. If it happens again, I will take action!

[*Nicola*]

How did the night go?

Our DD has just had her 4 month growth spurt *i think*!

The first night she was up every hour between 7pm and midnight (so a bit backward  ) and was hungry each time.  She was then still up at 330am hungry again.   

I would definitely be offering a feed on the first wake up, I always do this and then at least I know she has been fed regardless of what happens next.  You could also try offering an extra oz in her day bottles to see if this helps sustain her.  If it is a growth spurt (which is really likely at his age) then you want him to eat the extra during the day and not at night 

 

[lulu78]

Well, he was at it again last night. We just kept going in and sticking the paci in or letting him cry a little. We did give him Tylenol at the 6:30 feeding and the dreamfeed, however, it obviously didn't help! Now I really think he is going through a growth spurt! I will try to bump up his bottles a bit during the day today.   

Nicola - how many nights was DD up at night during the growth spurt? Is she normally a good sleeper?

[*Nicola*]

It really sounds like a growth spurt.

I would feed on the first waking at night and see how he goes.  Up the bottles during the day and see if it makes a difference.  Growth spurts tend to last about 3 days, so see how things go and if you still have the issues after this time we can go back to the drawing board.  If it is a growth spurt you really want to be on the ball and get the calories into him during the day. 

The 3 month growth spurt I think we had about 2 nights of crazy wakings and 4 nights of an extra waking.  Callie slept 7-3 before then and we ended up with a midnight feed after the growth spurt, so we introduced DF to get rid of it.   She was a nightmare at feeds during this time so it was difficult getting her to eat more during the day.  I now know this was undiagnosed reflux.

She is having her 4 month growth spurt now (still i think) and we immediately upped her feeds during the day.  We had one night of crazy wakings before midnight, one of a few wakings after midnight and now we are having tonnes of day feeds more like a 2.5 hour EASY sometimes, and only one night feed at 4am.  Fingers crossed 

[lulu78]

Great news - He slept through the night!!  I think he was just hungry.. poor guy! I upped his daytime bottles and he sucked down 8oz at his dreamfeed! Then we didn't hear a peep until 6:45. I really appreciate all of your advice! This is my first baby so I really didn't know what a growth spurt looked like.

[claires mum]

That's great!!

[elsasmom]

I'm glad to hear you figured out it was a growth spurt, and that things have gone back to normal.  (My son never experienced any problems with a growth spurt...so my guess was going to be the teeth.)

I just wanted to let you know a few of the signs I watch for with my 2 wee ones in regards to teething.  Definitely fingers in the mouth, crying, waking, drooling...  One thing to look for especially since you're bottle feeding is this.....Both my DS and DD had/have problems feeding when a tooth was coming through or irritating them.  What would happen is they would happily take the bottle, we'd stop to burp, and then they would try to take the bottle again, pull back and cry (often hysterically).  I believe it was too painful to latch on again.  The only way we are able to get through feeds is to go straight through w/o stopping....or they wouldn't be able to finish no matter how hungry they were.  We also used Bonjela or Orajel before each feed.

My son's first tooth popped through at 18 weeks.  He didn't show any signs up until that point.  (Tooth #2 followed quickly and was more painful for him.)  My daughter is now 21 weeks and she began teething at 16 weeks...but we have yet to see a tooth.

[magda1461]

gosh it sounds like you wrote this post for me.
ill try and up my LO bottle, however this mornign he refused his bottles and the breast? so teething possibly. will give some panadol when he wakes.
i do think i need to transition Luca to 4hr EASY though as he does 2hr A time easily, and sleeps about 1.5hrs too.
this hourly and two hourly feeding has got to stop!!!

[*Nicola*]

Great news - He slept through the night!!  I think he was just hungry.. poor guy! I upped his daytime bottles and he sucked down 8oz at his dreamfeed! Then we didn't hear a peep until 6:45. I really appreciate all of your advice! This is my first baby so I really didn't know what a growth spurt looked like.

WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Magda,

Callie is always fussy with feeds at GS times

[lulu78]

Thanks for the teething advice. We went to the dr. yesterday and she said he is definitely starting to teeth and his gums are quite swollen. He is sometimes fussy when he eats, exactly like what you described! Lately he won't let us burp in the middle of the bottle (which I like to do b/c he has mild reflux and spits up a lot), so we have to go all the way through without burping and I think it's hard on his tummy. He also sometimes does the pull away and cry. Actually at 3 months he did that a lot and it took us forever to get him to eat a full bottle. We would try everything.. even go and warm the rest up for him again!! But when we switched to the 4 hour EASY he got better. Maybe he was more hungry b/c we increased the time between each feed.

If it's not one thing it's another!