He Wakes Every Night at 4:00!

[dallinsmommy]

I'm hoping someone can share some insight. I'm so confused and don't really know what to do-my little guy has me stumped.

He's 4 1/2 months old and goes to bed at 7:30 each night on his own. He sleeps until about 2-2:30 ish when he takes a full feed. Well, for the past couple weeks he's been waking around 4 too! At first I thought it was hunger; so, I tried feeding him, but he won't eat . . . the 2:00 feed is usually a really big one. So, I started sending my husband in and he just screams and screams. He'll only calm if I have him and try nursing him; however, he just bobs on and off the breast until he falls asleep. If I put him back in his crib with PU/PD he screams. I'm completely stumped; he goes down at bedtime and naptime on his own. I wondered if he just didn't need that much sleep and was ready to wake around 4; but he wakes screaming-so, I know he's not happy and ready to go for the day. This morning I walked around the house with him for an hour before he went back to sleep; he then napped another 30 minutes and was up at 5:45 to eat again. He sleeps after the 5-6 feed until about 7:30 when we just get him up for the day. He's never really happy in the morning anymore-maybe it's because he's missing that hour of sleep?

Anyways; any insight would be great. I really don't know what's going on here.

Thanks so much.

[joslil]

Sorry I'm no help but I am going through the same thing with my 3 month old.  Sometimes he goes back to sleep and sometimes I am just too tired to fight and go ahead and get up.  On the positive side, my laundry is all done, my kitchen is spotless and organized...because I am up before anyone else.  Hope your nights get better...I know how you feel.

[sara_derek]

I would suggest choosing a method to try getting him to go back to sleep at that 4AM waking and stick to it for atleast three days.  He will cry because it is different and he is used to nursing, but if you are consistent, you will see results.  PU/PD is hard and there is a lot of crying, but it usually works.  So I guess I'm just trying to say, whatever you try, be consistent with it for a few days.

Best wishes!

[MyHazelnut]

I have the same problem with my 7 month old DD.  We are on our 4th day of implementing the Baby Whisperer method.  ITS AWESOME!!  We are finally getting some decent sleep at night.  However, she's waking at 4 am each morning.  She is consistently asleep by 7:30pm.  We give her a dreamfeed at 11.  She's good then to 4am and then she's awake and either mad, happy or indifferent.  I do pupd until she sleeps which is often an hour.  Between 5am and 7am she's totally restless, waking and sleeping intermittently.  I think she's hungry but I haven't fed her at this time because I thought the book discourages this.  I wait until 7 to feed her.  Will she get the hint and sleep til 7 ??  Or should I feed her at 4?? Any advice??

[Katet]

Around 4am is when babies go into the last deep sleep phase of the night &have a very alert period just before that & if they aren't tired enough to roll over into it then they can wake up being ready to start the day or upset that they are awake. What I have found (by accident) with my ds (5mo) is making sure he is awake by 7am, cutting back the first morning sleep to just over an hour & playing lots with him & giving him lots of stimulation in the first & last awake periods of the day... I used to have a short first awake before the nap... now it is longer & Liam seems to get past that 4am stretch most days.