Author Topic: 4 month sleep regression?  (Read 2412 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline AbbaG

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 30
  • Location:
4 month sleep regression?
« on: August 25, 2013, 09:03:58 am »
Hi.
My little guy is almost 19 weeks old (born 38+3).
From around week 13.5 for near to 2 weeks he slept through the night (7 till somewhere from 5 to 7).
He then got a cold, regressed a little, slept through twice more and regressed again. Since this second regression he has woken either once or twice a night (in the last week he's woken twice a night - always between 10 and 12 and 2 and 4, both times I feed him as he won't settle otherwise) - this has been just over 4 weeks.
He is fed roughly at 7, 10, 1, 3.30 and 6.15 and put down around 6.45 (after a story or 2).
During the day he sleeps at around 8.30, 11, 1.30 and 4 - more often than not these are 40 minute cat naps, occasionally they are 1 hour or 1.5 hours.
He has been self settling since 4 weeks.
Does this new pattern sound like a 4 month sleep regression?

Finally, in the past month or so he has been waking after his first sleep cycle at night (or a little later) very upset - and cannot settle without a little shush pat from his dad. ** update tonight he woke just before 8.40, after going to sleep just after 7, and after reading about mantra cry on this site he was clearly doing this, after a few minutes he went right back to sleep! This is a win for us as nights have been quite trying for the past month.

Do you think we should just wait this out?
« Last Edit: August 25, 2013, 10:52:39 am by Abbagough »

Offline AbbaG

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 30
  • Location:
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2013, 10:37:21 am »
Just making sure I've included all information requested...

How old is your child? 4.5 months
What’s his/her daily routine? As above
What’s nap routine? As above
How long are naps? As above
What's bedtime routine? Time? Bath every second day, pjs (onesie), feed, story, bed
Do you bottle or breastfed?? Breastfeeding (was topping up with 50 Mls of ebm but didn't help, also tried formula twice, also didn't help)
How much? or how long? He is feeding for much shorter period over past 4 weeks, looks around a lot, listens to dad or whoever is talking - have to work hard for him to spend longer than 5-6 minutes on each side
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed) both sides each feed
How many wakes per night? 2
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? Can't be settled without feeding, feeds around 11-12 mins (total) back to bed... Mostly goes right back to sleep, around 25 to 40(ish) % of the time cries a little before being back to sleep
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? I don't believe it's a mantra cry, we do try to leave him, but doesn't seem to be able to put himself back to sleep
What have you tried to settle?? Shhh pat, and shh pat on side (he loves sleeping on his side)
What do you do for A time and how long is it? Generally 1.5 hours (but this includes feeding) - practice rolling, tummy time, lying on mat playing with toys, sitting with mum or dad
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? Perhaps teething - but can't see any coming through but is chewing everything, dribbling. Is keen to be rolling, really wants to sit up - cant yet do. Seems to have developed a lot in the past month or so
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months) not at this stage
Do they have a prop? If so what is it? No paci etc
Do they have a lovie? Has a taggie comforter

Thanks!!
« Last Edit: August 25, 2013, 10:44:43 am by Abbagough »

Offline PaulsMom

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 41
  • Posts: 1799
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2013, 11:48:32 am »
Hi there!

Hugs for the nw's.  there is something called a 4 mo sleep regression when babies tend to wake more often and generally sleep more poorly than before.  This is due to developmental things and their overall awareness of self and things around them.  This will pass in time but during this phase, try not to introduce props that you will have to wean later.

There is also a 4 mo gs so his nw's to eat are likely due to this (especially since he's eating and settling right after).  So, in the short term, feed him if its once or twice per night but in the longer term, I think his routine needs to be tweaked so he's eating more during the day.  His A is on the low end so I'm thinking he needs another 15 min or so.  For future reference, here are the average A times Average A times- BOOKMARK ME! .  The longer A times may make him more ready for a nap and thus sleep a bit longer at nap time.  I'm also thinking that he's ready to transition to a longer easy.  So to 3.5 hrs and then on to a 4 hr easy.  Here's some info on that
Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY
3-4hr EASY Transition – In 5 Minute Increments
As the last reference recommends, just add 5 min or so onto his A so that he doesn't get OT. 

By extending out his A, we will try to prevent him from "snacking" and instead taking full feeds during the day and this hopefully eat less during the night.

Wrt teeth, he may very well be teething.  I couple of things that I've noted with my kids....  Some kids are bothered by the teeth moving in the gums vs others are more bothered by the cutting.  If your DS is the former, you may not know why he's fussy because you can't really see the tooth right under the gum.  In a few weeks though, you may realize what the problem was a few weeks back!  Also, sometimes teething will make eating more painful so he won't take full feeds whereas other babies find bf to be soothing so may wake and take a good feed.  If dr oks it, and you are comfortable, you can give Tylenol (acetominophen or parencetamol in the UK) and see if that helps.

HTH

Offline AbbaG

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 30
  • Location:
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2013, 10:59:38 am »
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it!

We're just about to head off on our first family holiday - 4.5 hours in a plane tomorrow and a 2 hour time difference at our destination (somewhat scared!) so think l'll play it by ear a little for the next little while, but when we return in a week will definitely imement your suggestions. Today we tried a longer awake time - worked well, had a 1 hour, 1.5 hour and 40 minute nap. Also fed more spread out which helped too.

Thanks again! I'll be sure to report back (and its possible I may have a question or 2!)

Offline PaulsMom

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 41
  • Posts: 1799
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2013, 12:46:15 pm »
I'm glad yesterday went better for you.  Good luck on your trip.  Def follo your LOs cues.  Wrt the plane, try not to stress about no naps/short naps or crying (have btdt).

Offline AbbaG

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 30
  • Location:
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2013, 07:37:09 am »
I've managed to stretch his A time to 1.45 to 2 hours and are feeding mostly 3.5 or 4 hourly - although not quite in line with any routine due to our holidays.
It's crazy but extending out the gap between feeds hasn't made him much, if any more interested in feeding - there's too much exciting stuff going on!

Thanks agin for the advice re A time - we'd always been told to put him down the first sign of tiredness which I guess by 4 months + becomes too early!

Hoping i can ask a couple of quick questions...

For the past few months I've been doing his last feed of the day at around 6.15 (any later and he cracks it - no matter how recent his last feed was) he then has a nappy change (pjs are put on before feed), story (or 2) and lights off around 6.40 - 6.45. Can this work into your recommended routines?

We've just kicked off solids - do u have any recommended routines for when we r fully in the swing of things?

Finally, everyone always talks about the last nap being a short cat nap... If my son shows signs of wanting to sleep beyond one cycle (most if the time he wakes from this nap in tears, so I think it's unlikely!) should we go and get him up before he gets into another sleep cycle? If so, would this send mixed messages as we'd expect his other sleeps to be longer (I hope this makes sense!)

Thanks again! So far your advice has been amazing - just the tip we needed it seems (he's currently asleep and has been for nearly 1.5 hours!)

Will report back once we're home and on your suggested easy routine...
« Last Edit: August 30, 2013, 07:56:26 am by Abbagough »

Offline AbbaG

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 30
  • Location:
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2013, 00:00:31 am »
Hi.

Have been home for a week now.

So we've extended A time to between 1.45 and 2 hours. Initially this assisted in extending daytime naps, in the past couple of days daytime naps have slipped back to more regularly being 40 minutes, with the occasional 1 hour stretch. Any thoughts?

I have also moved him to a 3.5 / 4 hour EASY. This assisted with snacking, and he is now much more interested in feeding. However, this doesn't work terribly well with sleeps of just 40 minutes duration.

For the most part night time feeds have been reduced to just 1 (2 last night however) and we had 1 night STTN. He is however waking generally around 4 or 5 and / or 6 am. He may grizzle for 10 - 15 minutes before going back to sleep. Will these night time wakings reduce/ disappear?

Thanks!


Offline PaulsMom

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 41
  • Posts: 1799
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2013, 00:31:57 am »
Glad things are getting better.  The nw's will disappear over time. 

Wrt short naps, to a certain degree, these may be developmental so your easy may look more like EASAE.  Don't worry too much about this.  Try to extend naps if you can.  The more he gets used to sleeping through sleep cycles, the better he will be at handling these transitions on his own. 

Offline AbbaG

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 30
  • Location:
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2013, 05:01:39 am »
Thanks PaulsMum.

I'm a bit disappointed actually, he slept really well during the day for near on 2 weeks - then it progressively went back to catnaps.

He was waking and resettling without any crying etc, he's now back to waking crying.

I was watching him on the monitor today after he woke - after a little cry, sucking his hand etc he would try to put himself back to sleep, but 30 secs later he is crying again. This morning he succeeded after 4 or so attempts. This afternoon no luck after 4 or so attempts. He doesn't get any closer to resettling if I use shh + pat - in fact it seems to upset him more.

Do you think I'm best to just leave him as I did today and perhaps through time he'll resettle quicker and without the multiple attempts?

Anything else I should be doing to assist him in developing in this?

TIA.


Offline PaulsMom

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 41
  • Posts: 1799
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Re: 4 month sleep regression?
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2013, 10:29:42 am »
He might be ready for another increase in A.  May be just another 10-15 min.  At this age, their As just increase gradually so every few weeks they need another bump.  some can handle bigger increases than others. 

Also, as you say, it is more important to take a bit of a step back now to see if he can do it himself.  Of course, if its a full blown cry then go to him and pu.  Good luck!