4 month old waking again at night

[sunshine88]

My baby started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks.  She got her first cold 2 weeks ago and spent a couple of nights waking up a lot.  I was hoping this would stop when she felt better.  But ever since, she's been waking up around 1:30am and 4:30am every night to eat.  I try the soother first but if she doesn't settle down I will feed her and she'll go back to sleep.

I feel like I'm training her to wake up.  I'm not sure what to do - I don't want her screaming at night as I have a 3 year old sleeping in the bedroom next to her.

Part of me wonders if she may actually be hungry.  She's a big baby and she seems hungry to me but we have allergies in the family and I don't want to start solids until 6 months.

Also , what time do you put your babies down for bed?  I still hold her at night and feed her to sleep - she is usually up until 9-10pm.  Should I be putting her in her crib earlier?

Thanks!

[Windsurfer's mum]

maybe that she is used to being feed to sleep. try feeding then putting in cot awake/tired. this way she will learn to falll asleep in her cot
good luck
clare

[Lucysmom]

I would say that putting her to bed earlier would be a good idea.  She may be overtired by the end of the day and this can disrupt night sleep.  At 4 months, we were putting Lucy to bed no later than 8.  Now she is usually in bed by 7:15-7:30 and if we have had a bad nap day I have been known to put her to bed at 6:30 or even 6:15!!!  And she does not wake up any earlier in the morning. Another thought I have is that if her nightwakings are always the exact same time (like you could set an alarm to them), then they are likely habitual nightwakings.  Tracy's wake to sleep method could possibly help with that.

Hope that helps a bit and that your nights improve very soon!