My 4 month old still only sleeps 2 hours at a time at night...strange?
CopperT0p
member
From all the posts I've been reading with all these babies STTN or only waking up once, I'm starting to wonder what I'm doing wrong... L wakes up every 2 hours at night, usually to eat, once in a while he just stirs and cannot get himself back to sleep without me soothing him. He will go right back to sleep once he's eaten or after just a couple minutes of soothing. If I leave him on his own when I hear him stir, he will eventually start crying. I feel he is too young to CIO, so I always go to him. He will not take a paci, but does sometimes suck on his fingers to self soothe during the day, however he will not do this at night to put himself back to sleep.
During the day he eats every 2-3 hours typically (demand feeding) and I EBF. I rarely pump, but when I do after 2 hours I usually get 4oz total. I'm wondering now if he's eating and waking so often because of there not being enough milk for him to last longer? When he was 4-6 weeks old he would sleep for up to 5 hours at a time, but that ended too quickly. He has 3 naps during the day, at least 1 hour each. Am I doing something wrong that is hampering his ability to STTN or at least sleep for longer stretches?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Re: My 4 month old still only sleeps 2 hours at a time at night...strange?
is he sleeping in his crib? How's he doing weight-wise? Is he swaddled?
Have you read any of the sleep books? I learned a lot of great tips from the No-Cry Sleep Solution. It's also helped stretch out her naps a little bit too.
might be the 4 month wakeful all you can do is ride it out kellymom talks more about it though
https://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html
He sleeps in his crib, which is in our bedroom. He is a long and lean baby, I'm not sure where he is in his percentiles (his pedi appt is on Monday). We weighed him with our Wii 2 weeks ago and he was 13lbs (but who knows how accurate that is), and he measures 24 inches long. He doesn't look skinny, but he doesn't have huge rolls. He was 8lb3oz and 20 inches long at birth.
I am half way through Happy Baby, Healthy Sleep Habits. I have tried putting him down when he's showing signs of being drowsy, but he just squirms and within 10-15 minutes he will be full out crying. Perhaps I will try to No-Cry Sleep Solution as well.
ETA: We haven't swaddled since he was a couple weeks old. He cries like crazy when you swaddle him up tight. When he was that young we did sleep sacks. He is a hot baby now, so he just wears a sleeper to at night. Anymore and he gets all sweaty, even with a thin receiving blanket and it's 18-20C in here.
Thanks for the link. He's been like this since about 6 weeks, so I don't think it's the 4 month wakeful period.
My ebf DS only sleeps for 2-3 hour stretches at night. Some times less. I'm a zombie. He will only fall back asleep after nursing and refuses a bottle.
Sorry I'm no help, but you are not alone.
Thank you for this thread! This makes so much sense. Very helpful.
I could have written this. Went for our 4 month appt yesterday, and Pedi said that his sleep habits sound pretty normal for a breast-fed baby. All babies are different. Mine just likes to eat about 2-3 ounces at a time, and eats about every 2 hours. Around the clock. Just the way it is, and I won't be letting him cry, because I know he is hungry.
Sounds like your LO is the same way, just likes to eat often. I know it is tough, I'm there with you. We will get sleep eventually
Good luck.
My almost 5 month old sleep on average only 2-3 hours at a time at night. And when I try to not nurse her in the middle of the night, it just pisses her off more.
Not everyone has a kid that is STTN already. You aren't alone.
This is us exactly as well.
I know how the OP feels, it's so easy to wonder what's going wrong when you read so many post about the babies who sleep through the night.(and have everyone you talk to IRL tell you about their babies STTN starting at 6 weeks or something) It's hard, really hard after this length of time but my baby is healthy and happy - and I'l have many years of full nights of sleep in my future, just not now.
As a personal choice I decided not to use any formula with Lincoln, and will hopefully be able to BF him until he's ready for cow milk at a year. Perhaps when he starts some cereal in a couple months it will help his sleep.
yep same thing here.
At least for me, at four months I just had hoped it would be better, becasuse how long can you really go without sleep? Dylan goes down pretty early, around 6pm. I nurse him and then offer him 2oz of formula in a bottle to "top" him off. It works, he does a much longer first strech which helps.
If you don't want to do formula. What about pumping for his last feeding? You could offer him an extra large bottle and see if he would sleep longer.
So far not true for us. lol We started oatmeal at 4 months and just started some fruits and veggies too. She still wakes up every 2-3 hours. I put her down at 7pm and she's always up between 9-10 to eat. I keep telling myself it's a growth spurt, but this growth spurt has been going on for the longest time! lol
Because he eats every 2 hours during the day, I never pump because I don't get a break and wouldn't have enough there really to make a difference. I've tried pumping an hour after a feeding and barely got a total of an ounce.
Have you tried swaddling since he was a couple weeks? DD "hated" it too, but we re-tried at 3 months and she slept that night for 7 hrs straight and fell asleep on her own. We swaddled from 3-6 months for her.
Try it again! And try the escape proof "genius" swaddle method, seen in siggy.
According to lactation consultants, doulas and other moms I've spoken to, this is NORMAL!
DS also eats every ?2.5 hours in the day and wakes to eat at least every 3 hours in the night, not to mention waking for his pacifier a few times a night. All together, he probably wakes up 5-6 times a night.
He is nearly 5 months old, weighs 19 pounds and while he is breastfed, he also takes formula sometimes, and it doesn't make a difference to the frequency of feedings.
This for us too.