please help! 4.5 month old waking like a newborn!!

[eogan0622]

Hi All,

My DD is 4.5 months old and we have had a pretty rough 6 weeks with sleep.  She used to (weeks 10-12)  sleep 9-5 and it was glorious.  Then things changed and she started waking up a lot.  Well, with lots of work and energy and reading and researching we chalked it up to a) 4 month sleep regression b) growth spurt and c) lots of transitions between vacation and moving to a new home.  Phew.  OK so a couple weeks ago, we weaned pacifier at night and that was fine.  She did great.  We transitioned into sleeping in crib at night and that was fine, she did great again.  At this point, she was getting up 1-2x/night to eat, which was OK even though we were trying to get it down to 1.  2 weeks ago, I realized that she was really hungry and wondered if my supply was low at night (she is EBF).  So I pumped a big bottle and she took 7 oz (!) and only woke up once at night.  Yay! So this went on for about a week or 10 days.  Then she rolled over from back to stomach so we had to quickly start swaddle transition.  I read the boards and took advice and started with her non dominant arm out of swaddle for naps and nighttime (she uses a convertible woombie). So this was going ok for a couple nights- but now she's been waking up EVERY 3 HOURS ALL NIGHT!  Our routine has stayed the same, she is still getting a big bottle before bed and sometimes even breastfeeding in addition to bottle if she finishes and is still hungry. 

Her naps have been OK- one day she will have good 1.5 hr naps x 2 and one catnap and the next she takes all 30 min naps without being able to extend them.  I just feel like everything is so inconsistent despite me being consistent with EASY and my routines! Ugh!  PLEASE ANY ADVICE??!?  I want to say this is just a growth spurt but it's going on FOREVER......

Thanks!!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Hi there, sorry to hear you're having a rough time.  What does her day look like at the moment? Many LOs also need a routine shake up as a result of the 4 month growth spurt so it could be that.

Do you think any of it is related to weaning the woombie? Did the 3hrly wakings start after you started weaning it?  Or was she doing it anyway?

Finally, how are you dealing with the nws? At what point do you go in and what do you do once you're in with her?

Sorry for all the questions but it'll help me to build a picture of what's going on

[eogan0622]

Thanks for the response.  Here's a sample EASY (from today- even though I feel like lately there is NOOOO consistency)

615: WU for the day
7:15: E
615-830: A
830: E (I know this goes against EASY but the past few days she has been STARVING before naps)
840-10: S (30 min wake up, resettled, able to extend to 10)
10-11:50: A
1150-12: E
12-1230: A
12:30-2:00: S (30 MIN WU AT 1- TRIED FOR 60 MINS TO EXTEND- WOULD SLEEP ON/OFF 10 MINS AT A TIME UNTIL FINALLY I GOT HER UP AT 2)
2:00-4:00: A
4:00-4:10: E
4:10-430: S
4:30-6:00: A
6:00-6:30: BT ROUTINE (BATH/SONGS/LOTION/ETC)
6:30: E (GIVE A 6-7OZ BOTTLE + BREAST IF SHE WANTS)
7-6: S (WU 930, 1230, 4, 545)

To answer your questions- I'm not sure if it's in response to the woombie transition- I looked back over the past 2 weeks and she has *consistently* gotten up between 11-1 and again between 2-430 EVERY NIGHT.  She seemed like she was finally getting sleep down before she started rolling so that could be throwing her off. 

I'm dealing with it by going in and trying to resettle her but she's always giving me hunger cues and she ends up eating EVERY TIME and having a decent feed!

Any help or suggestions appreciated.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

I'm wondering if it's a combination of two things. The 30 minute wake ups into nap time and resettles indicate a little bit of OT to me, and I wonder if she's developing a feed / sleep association.  That could be why she's giving you hunger cues before naps - it could be that she associates feeding with going to sleep  (as part of her routine, if not as a way of going to sleep), and is wanting the feed part of her wind down to hurry on to sleep, if that makes sense? Is she ending those feeds awake or asleep? If awake, is she then going to sleep independently?

For the OT, I would try putting her down 10-15 minutes earlier  (so asleep after 2hrs A) to see if that helps. What do you do for a wind down for naps? Short naps / wake ups can also indicate OS, which is why I ask.

The last option is that she genuinely is hungry, either cos of a growth spurt  (the 4 month one is a really big one), or cos she's just a hungry baby. I'm not great at feeding routines - I can't remember much - but I'd probably do that first feed earlier, like at 6.30 / straight after WU, and if she's genuinely hungry before her first nap I'd do a top up at 8, well away from nap time.  I wouldn't have *thought* she'd be hungry only 1.5hrs after a feed though, if she's taking a full feed each time? I think more likely she's using it for comfort when she's tired / associating it with sleep time.  I had the same with my daughter if I remember correctly. It's easily done - at around 4 months many babies get wise to these things 

[eogan0622]

Hi,

Thank you for your response! I wanted to update you on our status.  I have been able to stop nursing her to sleep for naps (I was really only doing it for about 3-5 days in an effort to get her to sleep longer).  Now I feed her about 20-30 minutes prior to nap.  I've also started winding down before a nap 20-30 minutes prior, which seems to have helped a lot!  I haven't been able to go much longer than 2 hrs, even though I know A time for 5 month old (she will be 5 months next week) says 2.5....

So updates- naps have greatly improved and I feel good about them.  However night wakings are still haunting us.  She is up ALL THE TIME.  And I really don't know what to do.  MOST nights, she is up 1-2x between 7-11, and then 2x-3x between 11-6.  I don't feed her every time, some times she can just be shush-patted back to sleep in her crib.  But we are so tired and feel like her sleep has been so off for 10 weeks now.  I really am at a loss.  I feel like I'm trying to do everything right and nothing works. Here is a sample of a typical day now:

6:30: WU/A
7:15: E
8:15-9:45: S
10:00: E
10:00-12:00: A
12:00-1:30: S
2:00: E
1:30-3:45: A
3:45-4:30-S
4:30: E
5:30: E
6:30: bedtime routine/bathtime
6:45: E (BOTTLE SINCE BF SUPPLY LOWER IN EVENINGS)- eats 5-6 oz
6:45: S
NW: 11/2:30/5:30

Last night, however, night wakings were: 8pm/1040pm/1:40pm/2:30/3:30/4:45

What do I do during nightwakings that frequent??  I fed her at 10:40 and 1:40 and again at 4:45.  I changed her, shush patted, tried everything!  I am at such a loss....and so desperate for sleep!  Could it be that I need to do bedtime earlier and feed her more since she does get very drowsy during that feeding?  Or something different during the day???

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Firstly, well done on the naps, her day looks really good and she's getting some lovely naps there  I can't see anything obvious I'd change there tbh.

Have you tried a dream feed in the evening?  If you did something at 10ish I'm thinking it might pre-empt the 11pm WU  and allow you to deal with the other nws  (except one more feed perhaps) consistently.  How do you usually resettle her now when you don't feed? Does she use a paci? I'm wondering if she's waking cos she needs help to get back to sleep rather than it being routine related or anything else?  Also, is she teething at all? Have you tried giving meds to see if that helps?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to get a full picture so I can hopefully help