4mo waking every hour through the night. Help!!!

[kitcameron07]

Hiya,

This isn't actually my baby but a friends.

Her ds is almost 4mo and has never been a good sleeper at night. He used to co sleep with her for at least 2 months if not longer but now sleeps in his own cot in his own room, I think. I think my friend is sleeping in his room with him though.

Since birth she has has very few nights where he has slept for more than 2 hours at a time. She has tried feeding him more during the day, I think he's on a fairly good easy routine, she's now giving him formula at bedtime to give him extra calories (does that work???) he's been EBF I think up until now, although regularly with expressed milk from a bottle as she's quite unconfident about bf in public. Personally I think his room is a bit warm 21 degrees ish, but she has brought it down from 25 so he's used to hot temperatures. Also the boiler is in his room and that's what's keeping it warm, she says she can't get it cooler but I don't know if she's tried opening windows during the day or not. I did wonder if the boiler made noise at night and woke him but he woke  often in her room too.

She seems quite confident in some things but this is wearing her out and getting her really down, I wouldn't say depressed yet but I'm worried it might get that way.

What can I suggest to her?

[SDER]

Hiya!

First of all, let me just say that 4 months is a notoriously difficult period sleep-wise.  There's a GS that hits as well as a wonder week (which is also known as the 4 month sleep regression).  4 months is usually the time when our LOs have trouble going through sleep cycles on their own.

A few questions:
- Do you think you could ask your friend to log a 24h easy period and post it here?  Sometimes, seeing what is going on can help.
- Is it just nighttime sleep that is affected, or are naps going badly as well?
- How does her DS fall asleep?
- Does she do a DF?

*Hugs* to your friend (and to you for coming on and trying to get some help for her).

I honestly don't know if the formula will contribute to giving more calories for the night, perhaps someone else would have more insight on this matter.

[kitcameron07]

7.30 wake up, no feed
9.00 feed

45 min nap sometime after

12.00 feed

1.5 hr nap

15.00 feed

30 min nap

18.00 feed
21.00 feed and bed
22.00 feed
00.00 wakes but settles with dummy
01.00 formula feed
03.00 feed
05.30 feed
07.30 get up

So he feeds pretty regularly through the day. He's not exactly on an easy routine. I suggested feeding at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and bath and bed at 7pm but she said she'd tried that and it made his nights even worse. I don't know if she tried it for long enough for him to get used to it though or whether his nights may have been worse cos of the transition period. She's tried putting him to bed earlier but she says he still wakes every 1.5 hrs and gets into same routine once he gets to 10pm.

I wonder whether he just reached his 4 month regression early, although think he's been like this from about 2 months which would be very early lol.

He did have a better night last night. He fed at 9pm, woke at midnight and she gave him water, slept til 4am when she fed him again, had water again at 5.30. Up at 7.30. I think the 5.30 thing is just habitual, how does she train him out of it? Apparently he stirred at 3am as well but settled himself then.

Thanks for your help and hugs

[katie80]

It looks to me like he's probably pretty OT at BT and that's encouraging several wakes.  It also looks like he's got a bit of a prop issue, either by being fed or giving the dummy.  I'd suggest she start trying to shh/pat more to sleep and also at NWs.  Do you know how he goes to sleep during the day?

I wouldn't give water at this age, but rather find a different way of settling him.  I also would suggest she work in extending the feeds during the day, so he's feeding more on a 3.5/3hr routine and hopefully taking bigger feeds.  And, we always suggest to not feed more often at night than during the day, so settling at NWs that are closer than 3.5-4hr apart.  As for the FF before bed, it's a decently common practice I think to try to help LOs sleep longer at night.  Breast milk actually has more calories per ounce than formula, but I think it takes longer for formula to be digested so babies stay fuller a bit longer on it. But, if it's not a hunger issue, it won't really solve anything anyway, yk?

It might be helpful to show her some sample EASYs to help her get a routine sorted (although as SDER said, this is a difficult age for naps and EASY).  And, it's always important to keep an average A in mind.  Here are some helpful links... chronological EASY samples, 4-6 months, Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

[kitcameron07]

Thanks, I wondered if he might be OT too. I'll pass this on to her and recommend if she try changing thins to stick with t cos I'm not sure if he gives him long enough to get used to changes.

I'll try and pop back in a week or do and let you know what's happening.

[katie80]

Sounds good!