Has anyone heard of the 4 month sleep regression???

[ctk134]

My wonderful 14 week old little boy was sleeping AWSOME at night, asleep by 8:30 and sleeping until 4am, until the last week or so. I had tried initiating the dreamfeed about 2 weeks ago, but after 3 nights he wouldn't take a drop because he wouldn't stir enough to eat, and was waking around 2 am then, so I stopped this. Around this time, his night sleep started going down hill. He first started waking up at 1:45 for several nights (I tried W2S for this, but it just woke him up fully), then he started waking sooner and sooner, and finally last night woke at 11:45 and slept half of the night on my chest because he was so fidgety. So I started looking on the internet to see if maybe the dreamfeed could have been the culprit behind this and I found info on a 4 month sleep regression (which can happen as early as 3 months and as late as 5 months). So I believe this is where we are at. After last night, I don't think it could get any worse. But I'm wondering why does this happen and if theres light at the end of the tunnel. He's on a great 3.5 hour easy throughout the day. One change I started around the time this horrible sleep started, other than the dreemfeed, was putting him to bed sooner. Instead of going to sleep between 8:30 - 9, he's normally alseep by 8 now, if not sooner because I wanted to get an even 12 hr day/night. Also, I don't know if he's teething and this could be the problem, because he's been drooling like a spicket and chewing on his hands and the bottle. He's young yet for teething, but my DH started teething at 3 months. I just don't know what going on. Just when I thought I had a great sleeper on my hands, things went haywire!

Just looking for some reassurrance that this will pass and hoping for some tips to maybe combat this

[*Ali*]

Yes it is completely natural for babies to start waking at 4mo, that's why lots of mums start wondering if their LO needs solids around this age (I'm not suggesting they do though). If he is hungry you should look to increase his calories in the day by giving him bigger feeds and extending the time between feeds. Are you BF or FF? As Jay3 suggests he may be ready for the 4hr easy, especially if he is a big boy. I found DS got better at night dropping from 2NF to 1NF with the implementation of the 4hr easy and independent sleep (for us it was around 4.5mo). Hopefully if you post your EASY you'll get some advice on how you could change it to begin the transition.
It is also around 4mo that the saliva glands kick in so they start dribbling around this age too. Although teething is genetic so if DH got teeth early your LO may do too.

[ctk134]

I am FF him. I just transitioned to a 3.5 hr easy about 2 weeks ago. I'm all for the 4 hr easy, but at his age (14.5 wks) I don't think he's ready for a 2 hr awake time. He maxes out around 1.5 hrs and really starts to fuss if he doesn't get to sleep. He was eating better last week (about 5 oz per feeding) but in the last several days I'm lucky if he'll take 4 oz. I started a new job and had to work full time orientation, but now that I'm only 2 days a week, I'm going to work on the independent sleep since I have the time. As far as a prop, I didn't think I had one until the last several days. He's been incredibly fussy when going to sleep and demands his paci, so I now think it has become a prop 
Here is his "normal" EASY (though the last two days he's slept until nearly 9 am)

E: 7:30
A: until 9
S: 9-11 ( Sleeps on me to get a good nap – I promise to work on ind sleep now that I’m not working full time!)
E: 11
A: until 12:30
S: 12:30 – 2:30 (Though it’s normally broken into a 45 min nap and 30-45 min nap because he won’t sleep a full 2 hr nap on his own
E: 2:30
A: until 4
S: 4-5/5:30
E: 5/5:30   
A: until 6:30/6:45
S: 30 min nap
A: 7:30 – Bath, bottle, asleep by 8

He used to sleep from 8 until 3:30/4 am, eat a bottle then go back to sleep unitl 7/7:30. Now he's waking at 11:45, 1:30, and 5/5:30. So any advice would be wonderful! 

[ctk134]

A question for Cadie's Mum - I see you said independent sleep came for your lo around 4.5 months. Was this with your help, o didr your lo just settled into this herself?

[*Ali*]

A question for Cadie's Mum - I see you said independent sleep came for your lo around 4.5 months. Was this with your help, o didr your lo just settled into this herself?

Definitely with my help! I'm not sure any LO justs starts self settling without a bit of sleep training.
I used to hold to sleep but then started doing shh/pat with a little bit of pupd when needed for all naps and BT. Cadan took to it really well and according to my EASY diary (sad I know LOL) he took 18mins to settle for the first nap, 6mins for the 2nd and 2mins for BT. We have had some longer sessions since then when OT but he gradually got better and now I pop him in the cot and leave the room normally. It took maybe 2 weeks to get no crying at all when going down but still needed us there for a bit and about 2 months until we could leave the room straight away. We started about 16 weeks.
Good luck.