Author Topic: night wakings suddenly starting at 3 and half months  (Read 916 times)

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Offline Laoise25

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night wakings suddenly starting at 3 and half months
« on: September 23, 2014, 11:57:50 am »
Hi I baby is 4 and a half months old. Up until 3 and a half months she slept through the night ( 10 to 12 hours) but wasn't in much of a routine during the day, often only having cat naps of a half hour every so often. Then her night time sleep suddenly changed. she has started to wake now 2 to 3 times during the night. If I feed her, she goes straight back asleep after only about 3 mins of a feed and sleep for another 3-5 hours. I tried experimenting with a dummy for 3 nights and she slept through the night with it but I am reluctant to start giving it to her now when she's never had to rely on it before. I dont really mind being her dummy as I'm usually back in bed within 5 mins but would not like for this to get any worse. Is there anything I can do to help her get back to sleeping a full night again? I am implementing the 4hour easy routine during the day- this is day 2 of it. Although its very hard to her to go 4 hours between feeds, its usually 3 hours for her. She can go to sleep on her own if she's not overtired but if i miss the signs then I need to feed her to help her become drowsy - I then try to put her into cot just as her eyes are closing. She sleeps in the own cot, in her own room, and there was no changes to her bedtime or daytime routine around the time of her sleep schedule changing. I have been breastfeeding since the was born and have not introduced solids yet.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Offline Kellyjs

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Re: night wakings suddenly starting at 3 and half months
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2014, 11:43:40 am »
Hi and welcome to BW! I'm so sorry but that sounds like the dreaded 4mo sleep regression!

I think if she's only feeding for 3 or so mins now she's genuinely not hungry and is starting to use you as a prop. Do you use ssh/pat to settle her at all?

Would you mind posting your easy too to see if something stands out wrt day time sleep? I really wouldn't worry about the 3-hourly feeds, many bf lo's can't go much longer than that and that's perfectly normal. Tbh, I would keep those feeds as they are to ensure she's getting enough during the day (which it sounds like she is) so she doesn't then wake up in the night hungry. I think until you wean the short bf at night prop, it might not be worth making too many changes to her eating routine during the day iykwim?



Offline jessmum46

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Re: night wakings suddenly starting at 3 and half months
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2014, 12:15:18 pm »
Posting in solidarity!  In much the same situation here, only DS always goes down fully awake for naps and BT (feed before bed but wide awake, not drowsy).  Now waking 2-3 times a night, actually seems to feed reasonably well most of the time and also feeding well in the day.  Does your LO cry properly when she wakes?  DS just fusses, shouts and gradually gets louder and louder, sucks his thumb intermittently as if trying to settle but never gets there.  Will be interested to see how you get on/share successes if you don't mind?

Kelly how would you go about dealing with the feeds at this age given some NFs would still be normal?  Only feed if it's been more than 3.5-4h, otherwise try to settle by other means?
« Last Edit: September 24, 2014, 13:19:43 pm by jessmum46 »

Offline Kellyjs

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Re: night wakings suddenly starting at 3 and half months
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2014, 14:47:22 pm »
Exactly that Katherine, I would pick 2 x during the night as you both aren't doing a DF and don't feed the other times. Problem is, if they are offered more BF during the night, they won't take as much during the day and the cycle continues IMO. (Unless it's a GS of course). I got into a bit of a pickle with this with DD when she was 3mo.

I fully quit BFing at 4mo though, so might be worth checking the bf board too?

I hated the 4mo SR, but it did pass reasonable quickly for us (around 2wks I think), but this may be because I had to settle by other means because I had stopped BFing. It just vanished as quickly as it came, so there's hope  :)