4 month old still not sleeping through night

[mama of four]

Hey Everyone!
I am getting desperate here with my 4 month old. He has never slept well at night and on bad nights gets up every hour from 2 or 3 am on. I thought it was hunger so I tried feeding him for a few weeks but he would still get up every hour. It seems like it's gas but I really don't know how to solve the gas problem. We do gas drops when needed and I've also tried giving gas drops before the DF, but he still wakes every hour from 3 on (sometimes it's 2). I am doing the dream feed around 10:30 so I really don't think he's hungry. Currently I have upped my milk supply by pumping 10 minutes after every feed just to make sure he is getting enough milk during the day, so I really don't think hunger is a problem. If it was a growth spurt wouldn't it just last a few days? He's been doing this forever it seems. I have also wondered about reflux but he is an angel baby during the day and so happy...never fusses during the day just at night. My husband is going crazy and I kept telling him babies just get up in the night, but now I'm agreeing with him completely as he approaches the 4 month mark next weekend! Here is our schedule and if anyone has any tips, ideas or tweeks I would greatly apprciate it! Oh yeah, he is exclusively breastfed. I have also tried pumping and using a bottle for the DF to see if it made a difference with gas  but it didn't.

Wakes between 6 and 6:30 and Feed
N @ 8:15- 10
E @ 10
N @ 11:45-1:30
E @ 1:30
N @ 3-4:30
E @ 4:30
sometimes cat nap around 6 for 15 minutes
top off @ 7:30 and bed after (sleepy but awake)
DF @ 10:30
Wakes from 2/3 am on until I feed him at 6:30

I am swaddling him and using a paci. The paci is the only thing that settles him in the night. Last week one night I did the DF at 10:30 and he slept until 6 without making a peep. He didn't have his paci in his mouth either as he went to sleep without it the night previous. He also had one arm out. There was nothing different about that night then the rest and I repeated the exact routine the next day and he still got up every hour.
PLEASE HELP! What's going on wrong here?

[jessmum46]

Usually wakings that frequently at night are either discomfort, hunger or prop issues.  Have you ever tried missing out the dream feed?  Some mums find that rather than helping it actually disturbs LOs sleep rhythms, and if gas is also an issue it may be better to try without the DF and just feed when he wakes up.  Reflux could also be a possibility - it can often look like bad gas Reflux 101 - General reflux information. Have you seen a doctor about it or ever tried any meds?

Routine wise he may be in need of a little push in A time and a slightly shorter day - generally we aim for a 12h day so if WU is 6-6.30am, BT should be 6-6.30pm.  At four months an average A time is about 2h and generally we aim for two solid naps of 1.5-2h and a catnap of 30-40 mins to see you through to BT.  If he is only having 15 mins or sometimes no sleep between 4.30pm and 7.30pm he is probably OT when he goes to bed and that can also cause disturbed nights, but may be UT from the day as a whole as he is having three long naps and a catnap.  A 'standard' 4h EASY with a 6.30am WU would look like:

WU 6.30
Nap 8.30-10.30
Nap 12.30-2.30
CN 4.30 for 30-40 mins
BT 6.30pm

What do you think?

[mama of four]

Thanks for the reply!  I like the routine you suggested, the only thing is that I just moved him to 3.5 hours between feeds a week ago so I don't think he's quite ready for the 4 hour routine just yet. I guess that's why he's still doing 3 naps because I don't know how to fit only 2 naps into the 3.5 hour schedule...it's tricky. So last night he slept from the dream feed until 5:30 am! I couldn't believe it. Here's the other thing- my LO only poops once a week. He's done this since he was born and the doctor says that is completely normal and that's what some breastfed babies do. When he does go its a big blow out and now I'm seing a link between that and sleep. Yesterday he pooped and he slept, last week when he slept until 6 am he had a blow out that day. Those are the only 2 times he has slept through the night. So now I'm wondering if I should be looking into getting him to poop more and maybe that alone would solve the problem! lol I bet that's where all his tummy problems are stemming from.

I also like the idea of dropping the dream feed and see how that goes. A lot of times he will wake up for that feed, but maybe he's just waking out of being OT like you said. I have tried to drop the dream feed before and he woke at midnight. So if I dropped the dream feed and he woke up should I feed him? You think he could go all the way from that nighttime feed at 7:30 until 6:30 am? I know Tracy says they can go 10-12 hours at 4 months but I don't think he could go that long but who knows- maybe the DF is the problem.

Well thanks for the ideas. I will tweek some things and see how it goes

[jessmum46]

Totally agree with your doctor about bf baby poop - my DDs record was over two weeks!!

If he can't manage 4h between feeds that's fine.  What many mums do is offer a feed at the start of A time, then a short top up feed an hour later (EAEAS) which is totally fine, as long as you avoid feeding to sleep

Sorry if I confused you about the night feeds - I don't mean that he should go BT to morning with no feeds at all.  At his age if he wakes at night and it has been more than 4h since his last feed, I would go ahead and feed him.  Use shh pat to settle other wakings