Author Topic: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles  (Read 4136 times)

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Offline CaraAnneM

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Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« on: July 09, 2019, 13:57:44 pm »
My boy is 4 months old and is having major trouble transitioning sleep cycles on his own. I have moved him onto a four hour routine so his naps should be 2 hrs each at this point. He is sleeping two hours but not on his own. He stirs and starts to cry a bit at the end of each 40 min cycle. I go in and roll him in his side, shush pat, put the pacifier in and he goes right back to sleep. I know he has the skills to transition cycles because when he was in a three hour routine he would do it occasionally. Around 2 and 1/2 months he was consistently sleeping an hour and half on his own for first nap but then would wake at the end of first cycle for 2nd and 3rd nap. Then around 3 months he started waking at first nap, still at second nap but then would sleep an hour and a half on his own consistently for third nap. Now that he is four months and he has been put on a 4 hour routine, he hasn’t made it through any naps on his own. I've tried PU/PD, tweaking his A times, W2S, sitting next to him throughout the nap in an effort to extend the nap before he fully wakes. I've tried leaving him in the crib as he stirs and is fussing but not yet crying to see if he’ll fall back asleep on his own. Nothing is working to help him transition sleep cycles on his own. I’ve had him on the 4 hour routine for about a week now. I have tried wake to sleep again (as I hadn’t tried it in over a month) with minimal success. It’s basically been over two months of “helping” him transition sleep cycles and though he’s capable of doing it on his own, he just isn’t doing it. Why?? Please help!!
« Last Edit: July 10, 2019, 18:15:13 pm by CaraAnneM »

Offline Katet

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2019, 22:03:59 pm »
It can be developmental at this age, just something you have to keep doing small tweaks.
Although possiblity a 3.5 hour could help.
BUT if he is sleeping well at night then I'd say you are doing ok as most babies don't fall into perfect routines and (despite what books say ) some babies don't connect sleep cycles until 6 months.
A few things to try - slightly longer or shorter A time,  lots of fresh air before naps, lots of tummy time, to physically tired him.
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05

Offline Aimi

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2019, 19:20:26 pm »
Just wondering about the pacifier, you say you put it in and he goes back to sleep, could it have become a prop? Both my girls had that problem and started connecting sleepcycles after we removed them, one was 3 months and the other 4.

Offline AshGop

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2019, 07:53:36 am »
Hi aimi hope it’s ok to ask here as I know this isn’t my posting but how did you remove the dummy? Did you just stop giving it? I also use it to help soothe lo to sleep and also to help him back to sleep if he wakes ... is it a case of taking it away and starting again with self soothing?

Offline Aimi

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2019, 12:38:24 pm »
Hi, yes we just removed them and after a few days it seemed they had forgotten about them since they were so young. They did learn to self soothe, one with a lovie and one with her thumb and it was hard the first day but it was over so fadt and so worth it!

Offline AshGop

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2019, 13:15:52 pm »
Thanks for replying aimi. Were your girls already good sleepers when u took the dummy away? Or did they sleep better after you took it?
As my boy doesn’t sleep great.  I’m combinfeeding and his last feed is on me around 630/7pm and then bed time around 730 or 8pm. He will then usually sleep and we give UK a dream feed around 1030 or 11. Then he will start waking around 2pm ish and then will be in and out of sleep for attests 2 or 3 hours and I have to put dummy back multiple times. I know he isn’t hungry and I still do a feed around 4am anyway. And then he will go back down but again sometimes will wake and I have to give dummy to settle him again until 7am ish when we get yo for the day,...

His day naps are still not great either often waking after 30 or 40 minutes. Occasionally an hour. Sometimes I can settle him back to sleep but it can take half an hour so then am eating into his next a time if he does go back to sleep...

he’s 4 months old now

Any thoughts at all??

Offline Aimi

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2019, 18:32:52 pm »
No they were horrible sleepers! That's why we took the dummy away 🙂 and it got so much better so fast! So when we started sleeptraining our youngest I noticed the same problem with the pacifier and removed it straight away since it worked so well with DD1 and it worked just as well. I really am no expert on this I just know it worked for us and they both slept longer both at night and for naps.

Hth

Offline AshGop

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2019, 08:22:35 am »
Thanks aimi. How did you sleep train them? Keen to try everything as I’m not getting any sleep at night or rest in the day... he woke at 1am last night and just seemed restless, in and out of sleep until I fed him at 4am and then still restless after that so no idea what was keeping him up... even when I would put dummy back he would spit straight out so would have to do this a few times before he would settle back to sleep!

Offline Aimi

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Re: Please help!! 4 Month old not transitioning sleep cycles
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2019, 11:06:31 am »
We did shhpat with both and later pupd due to some accidental parenting 😏 both methods worked really well for us. Also we made sure they're A-times were long enough cause you can't make a baby sleep when they're not tired we discovered 🙂