4 month wakeful?

MrsArrow

FTM here! What exactly is the four month wakeful? I've seen people mention it before and I was just wondering what it is. DS seems to be awake all the time now. He takes only 15-45 minute naps throughout the day and then only 2-3 hours at a time from 8a-10a. He is EBF so I know he will eat a little more frequently than if he was on formula. But I am getting really tired...lol...he turned 4 months today. Thanks in advance ladies!

lhotkami

It is the 4 month wakeful period where they don't sleep through the night like they used to.  Their brains are undergoing a lot of new neurological changes and thus it wakes them up.  It is really tough to know why they are awake, are they hungry (we are so used to feeding them whenever they wake prior to this point), are they just awake, are they missing mommy/daddy, are they wet/dirty?!   Who knows!!  It only lasted two weeks for us and now he is back to SSTN!

VPGIRL06

the 4 month wakeful is really a term used to encompass a variety of things

-A mental leap or "wonder week" that occurs around this time (I believe "Events")

-A neurological change in how babies SLEEP and their sleep cycles. they now have more distinct patterns of "waking" and if they are unable to either fall back asleep or help soothe themselves back to sleep, they will wake up more often and need to be soothed back to sleep

-developmental milestones such as rolling can occur during this time

-more alertness and ability to be distracted during this time can lead to a decrease in calories being taken during the day (babies not finishing their bottles, or constantly unlatching during nursing and unable to get the fatty hind milk) so they wake up more at night 

a baby may wake up for one, many or all of these reasons from 14-18 weeks

jlpev

Yea this is exactly what Dd is going through. She used to nap all the time but so much anymore. She's always watching DS and afraid she's gonna miss anything. He's 2.5 years and very busy.