(this also explains why there are so many habitual 4am wakings right around the 4 month developmental milestone explosion)
Sahria was sleeping thru the night from 11pm till 7am 1 week ago and then she all of a sudden started waking at 4am for a bottle at 4mths 
please explain, as although she drains a bottle at this time I'm pretty positive that its habital rather than her actually waking thru hunger 
hi Michaela,
4 months is a big age for milestones. sometimes they are physical (rolling, hand moving, etc.), but there are a lot of mental ones that we cannot necessarily see. as with all new skills, most babies tend to prefer to practice their new skills instead of sleeping. a tired baby may go to sleep fairly easily at night, but that 'need' (want!) to practice their new stuff is still there. however, around 4am, when the sleep cycles are short & shallow (because of lots of REM) it's easier for their need to practice to just wake them up, and then they start practicing.
with my kids, they wanted to practice talking. i would wake, and there they'd be, babbling away - sometimes for what seemed like hours! with jaina, i just let her be, and she did eventually end up going back to sleep on her own. with luke, however, he would just go, and go, and go, and then the touchy side came out & he'd have problems going back to sleep. wake to sleep worked very well with him in that case.
