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Author Topic: Changes at 4 months  (Read 1230 times)

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Offline j9lovesbella

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Changes at 4 months
« on: January 11, 2006, 04:35:09 am »
My daughter is 4 months old and it appears that she is a changed baby!  She has been up to this point a grade A angel baby!  She was feeding twice at night between 7pm-7am which I thought was great considering she started off nights for days and feeding every 2 hours because she was so tiny. 

Is twice a night between 7-7 normal at 4 months or should she be sleeping longer stretches and feeding only once?

Also, why is it that she now screams every time we put her down for her naps?  She naps pretty regularly (8-9:30am, 11-1pm, 3-5pm and bed between 6-7pm)and doesn't require any shh/pat, pupd, or feeding to sleep.  We ferberized her at 3 months.  But then 4 months came.  I've given into feeding her almost to sleep for naps the past few days.  It's almost as if she knows she has to take a nap now and that's not what she wants to do so she's going to scream!  She's not doing too bad at night and I've been able to put her down with minimal crying.

Is 4 months a common age for there to be changes in sleep patterns (more or less sleep)? Does my child seem overtired  She naps so much that I feel like all she does is sleep and I don't want her to miss out on important learning and stimulation.
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Offline violet41

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Changes at 4 months
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2006, 08:12:01 am »
You're so lucky! My five month old hasn't had naps as that long on a regular basis since she was about three months old - and before then her long naps were not that regular anyway.

But, like your dd, mine started protesting against naps in the biggest way about a month ago.  I think it's that at four months babies realise how much fun they're having and don't want to miss anything.
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Offline JennŠ

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Changes at 4 months
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2006, 08:38:28 am »
If I remember right, there is also a 4 month growth spurt.  Those can throw everything out of wack.  What happens if you put her down for the nap a bit earlier?  She could just be over tired.
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Offline Jaime

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Changes at 4 months
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2006, 21:56:09 pm »
4 months is a generally a time for developmental milestones, which usually does throw sleeping out of whack until they get the hang of their new skills. 

i know it's hard, but if you try to avoid introducing accidental parenting at this point, you won't have props to wean them off of later on.  you might want to check out the sleep interview (at the top of this forum) for tips on how to promote self-soothing.  it's also not too early to introduce a lovey, to help cue her in that it's time to sleep.
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Offline j9lovesbella

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Changes at 4 months
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2006, 01:45:10 am »
Thanks for all the advice.  I especially like the idea of giving her a "lovey" to prepare her for sleep.  I'm going to try that.  Today wasn't too bad actually.  She got up at 8:00 and went down for her morning nap from 9:30-11:00.  Then she took a short afternoon nap from 12:30-1:30.  It's now 5:40 and she's been down for her evening nap since 2:40.  Now this is more like my girl!  She didn't require being fed to sleep and stayed awake through her feeds to get sufficient calories for longer sleep.  She never requires any rocking (actually dislikes snuggling and rocking) and today she went back to her self-soothing hand suckling and talking to get herself down.  I truly think we were having some major milestones all occuring at once!  Teething, growth spurts, realization that mom and dad are way more fun than sleeping!!!  Thanks again!

One last question that no one got to was is 2 feeds at night considered good or bad at 4 months??  Should she be sleeping longer than 5-7 hour stretches and maybe only feeding once at night?  Any experiences you've had would be helpful to let me know I'm on the right track.
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Offline Gage and Sophie's Mom

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Changes at 4 months
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2006, 02:18:36 am »
Hi jplovesbella!

Dont feel bad, you have described my son to the T (including the feed to sleep :oops: ). You mentioned teething, I have also suspected my son of teething, but have not seen any "teeth". What symptoms does your lo have? I spoke to my ped, and he didnt seem all that interested in it. He made some reccomendations of teething rings etc., and said that he did not like to push teething meds this early though. What are you doing for lo?

Also, how many hours of day sleep is your lo getting. I figured out my son is getting too much and that is what is contributing to the night wakings. He was getting 6-8 hrs, and he is supposed to have 5ish. I also think he is eating too much at night because his day time feeds are much smaller. I need to ask the eating board what to do. Are you experiencing the same thing.
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