4mo wakes at 4:30am every night

khendrickszta

I need advice!! I've read through a lot of discussion posts and boards but nothing seems to be relatable to my situation. 

My LO is 4 months old used to sleep from 7:30 to 6:30 until she learned to roll over and we took a trip out of state of two weeks (worst decision of my life).  Now she wakes up crying every single night at 4:30, sometimes 2:30 and 3:30.  She eats plenty before bed (7oz and 2 tablespoons of prepared oatmeal) and we put her down awake but with a pacifier.  We've tried different bed times, sleeping on her back, letting her sleep on her stomach, giving her a pacifier, letting her cry, feeding her (and then she still wakes up 30 minutes later crying).  

It's frustrating because I know she is capable of sleeping through the night, especially since she used to.  

We took her pacifier away from her when she was about 3 months, and I think that got her to sleeping through the night.  From much pressure from my family and others, we gave it back to her.  I don't know if that'll fix it or not.  

P.S. I'm all for crying it out, but I have a persistent little nugget who can cry for a hour plus at nights. 

Thanks in advance! 

flcl

PP's right.  One of the most helpful things that I read from another bumpee is that baby sleep is not linear.  Just because they were doing it before doesn't mean that they'll always be able to do it.  The 4MW is a tough stage, we just got out of it ourselves and LO is definitely not back to sleeping like how he used to.  Before he would wake just once, now it's about 2-3 on a good night.  During the 4MW, he woke almost every hour, sometimes every 45 mins.  If you're dealing with just 1 wakeup, you're in great shape.  

Maqueripe

MY LO will be 6 months in a couple weeks and for the past couple months has been waking up at least once at night. During the 4 month wakeful she woke up a couple times, now she wakes up every night around 430. Last night she woke up even earlier, before two, but went back down until around 630. It was nice when she was STTN, but the way I see it, if she goes to sleep around 930 and wakes up at 430, that's still 7 hours of sleep she gets in, and she goes back for a couple hours after a bottle. Baby sleep patterns change all the time, I can handle the 430 wake up, eventually I know it will even out. I don't really think there are any tricks to making things change, when she wakes up, all you can do is tend to her. The early morning wake ups wont last forever.

mcgeeva

She's most likely hungry. They grow and need more. I would try feeding her and see if that helps. When they learn new things it does disrupt sleep but eventually they get back to norm and that will happen from here on out with kids. 

yeah.

1) it's totally normal for a 4 month old to wake up to eat in the night. So feed your baby.

2) from your "she can cry for an hour" comment, I'll assume you've already let her CIO. NIce parenting.

Peah12

It breaks my heart to think about a 4 month old baby crying for more than an hour. Or crying alone for even 5 minutes. I could never let my 5 month old son cry alone. A baby at that age is trying desperately to communicate something to you the only way they know how. Maybe she is hungry, or has woken herself up and can't soothe herself, or just needs your touch and comfort. (FYI - children really can't "self-soothe" until they are 2-3 years old). For my son, I am the person he loves and trusts most in the world - how could I break that trust by leaving him to cry? He also had a sleep regression starting around 4 months and often wakes somewhere between 3 and 4:30 AM now because he is hungry. So I pull him into bed with me, let him nurse as long as he wants as I dose, and once he's drifted off to a deep sleep, I move him back into his crib. A bit of fussing when he wakes, but no crying. Be responsive to your baby's needs and they will reward you with less crying and greater trust.

jfletcher3113

aditigirl said:

I need advice!! I've read through a lot of discussion posts and boards but nothing seems to be relatable to my situation. 

My LO is 4 months old used to sleep from 7:30 to 6:30 until she learned to roll over and we took a trip out of state of two weeks (worst decision of my life).  Now she wakes up crying every single night at 4:30, sometimes 2:30 and 3:30.  She eats plenty before bed (7oz and 2 tablespoons of prepared oatmeal) and we put her down awake but with a pacifier.  We've tried different bed times, sleeping on her back, letting her sleep on her stomach, giving her a pacifier, letting her cry, feeding her (and then she still wakes up 30 minutes later crying).  

It's frustrating because I know she is capable of sleeping through the night, especially since she used to.  

We took her pacifier away from her when she was about 3 months, and I think that got her to sleeping through the night.  From much pressure from my family and others, we gave it back to her.  I don't know if that'll fix it or not.  

P.S. I'm all for crying it out, but I have a persistent little nugget who can cry for a hour plus at nights. 

Thanks in advance! 

1. CIO is grossly inappropriate at 4 months old. 2. Just because she STTN before doesn't mean that can't change. 3. Google the 4 month wakeful. YW.

This. 

Sscarolynedvx

mcgeeva said:

She's most likely hungry. They grow and need more. I would try feeding her and see if that helps. When they learn new things it does disrupt sleep but eventually they get back to norm and that will happen from here on out with kids. 

This ^
But also wanted to add if you want to do the CIO method do it the proper way, you should not let your LO cry for more than 1 hour, that might be something wrong and you are ignoring?!