January 2016 Moms

4 month sleep regression

245

Re: 4 month sleep regression

  • Lasted about a month for us, some nights were worse than others 
  • So. Tired.

    Hopefully there's a light at the end of this sleepless tunnel soon. 
  • Loading the player...
  • m6tonner said:
    So. Tired.

    Hopefully there's a light at the end of this sleepless tunnel soon. 
    I agree. Sooo exhausted today. I can barely keep my eyes open. I just left DH in charge of the baby so I can have a nice hot bath. Fml. Fingers crossed tonights a good night. Slim chances. 
  • l4rkl4rk member
    I'm right here with you ladies. LO has never been a good sleeper, but she was just starting to wake only 2-3 times a night. Now we are back to 5-6. The only saving grace is I can get her back to sleep pretty quickly but waking up every couple hours is still destroying me. So. Tired. Zzzzzz...
  • nackienackie member
    DS just started sleeping through the night a week before this hit.  I had 8 glorious days where he'd sleep from 8-4 and now I'm thrilled if he sleeps for 2 straight hours.  :(
  • So. Tired. Too. I didn't think Freya's sleep could get worse but it did. 
  • kaym6kaym6 member
    Make it stop  :| ugh you guys im still swaddling at night am I the only one?? Idk how to stop if I try to put him to bed with an arm or two out he freaks out and is just swinging them around. I don't swaddle for naps but I'm usually holding him haha 
  • ashleyandjodyashleyandjody member
    edited May 2016
    So I'm not sure if we're going through the 4 month sleep regression or not. DD used to be an awesome napper and starting about 3 weeks ago, we're lucky if she sleeps an hour. Most naps are 30-45 minutes, and she usually wakes up crying/fussy. At night I was only waking once, around 4, but now I wake up around 1:30-2 and then at 4 and finally at 6:30-7. She nurses in the bed and goes back to sleep with no issues. I was under the impression that the 4 month sleep regression would be waking every hour with her not wanting to fall back asleep all while crying. So would this be considered the 4 month sleep regression?

    ETA that she will be 16 weeks this Tuesday 

    OK so last night I woke up every 2 hours because she was wanting to nurse! 


    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Pregnancy Ticker
  • @mamadcb This is what led to us stopping his middle of the night feedings.  Once the regression started, we would continue to feed and then realize shortly after that it was more for comfort that he was up, not due to hunger. We'd feed him a bottle and then he'd be up within an hour afterwards. So one night, DH and I just decided that if he woke, we'd do what we could to get him back down.  After 3-4 trips into his room to soothe and put his pacifier back in, it worked.  He hasn't had a MOTN feeding in over 3 weeks now. 

  • kaym6 said:
    Make it stop  :| ugh you guys im still swaddling at night am I the only one?? Idk how to stop if I try to put him to bed with an arm or two out he freaks out and is just swinging them around. I don't swaddle for naps but I'm usually holding him haha 
    We did okay with 1 arm out for about 2-3 weeks.  Then we moved him to the crib and I felt like it was time to get him out of it.  I ended up buying the Merlin sleep suit.  Not even in hopes it would make him sleep 7-8 hour stretches, but to help with the startle reflex. We also put two receiving blankets under his fitted sheet.  There is one on each side and he lays in between them, in the Merlin suit.  It creates a barrier so that he feels confined and the suit helps a TON with the startle reflex.  I also have heard great things about the Zippadee Zip 
  • kaym6kaym6 member
    @teachmegs817 thanks! I was actually just looking at the zipadee zip but it's like 45$ and won't be here for 7-10 days that just seems so long/pricey  He's already been in his crib for a few weeks. He's been in a sleep sac with arms in but doesn't seem to be able to fall asleep with even one arm out. Maybe I'll just order it ugh lol 
  • @kaym6 I was just talking on FB with the Mom's group that I am in about how much I feel like we've invested on LO's sleep routine. Between the right pacifers, swaddles, sleepers, the Merlin Suit, it's been a lot. I look at it this way, even if he only has it for 3-4 weeks, if it gets him sleeping and it helps during this regression period, SOLD! I am considering a Zippadee Zip once he begins rolling back to belly in the Merlin.  He hasn't even rolled yet, not in the suit, so I do think we have 3-4 more weeks with the Merlin suit. I still worry though that at this point, he's so used to being snug in something, that he won't be able to sleep without some sort of constricting garment lol. 

    The Zipadee though will accommodate to when baby starts rolling and getting more mobile.  If you sign up for their e-mails, often I get "Flash Sale" or select styles for 10-15$ off. I just have yet to order one. 
  • nackienackie member
    @ashleyandjody if you make it through the 4 month regression only having to get up twice night, you're going to make all of us very jealous.  It sounds like it varies a lotto each baby. DS wakes up a ton, but doesn't usually have an issue going back to sleep.  So far we've only had a few night where it took more than an hour to get gifts go back to sleep.
    Of course, now I just jinxed myself.

  • So far my LO wakes up once in the night BUT it takes three hours minimum to get her back down. And then shes up for the day at 5. Shes been so easy to put down for naps and since the regression shes actually gone from 30 min naps to 1-1.5hour naps. But getting her to bed at night and in the middle of the night is agonizing. 
  • @nackie That's why I was wondering if it even was the 4 month sleep regression because it didn't seem too extreme :)


    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Pregnancy Ticker
  • livinslivins member
    We had a week of sleeping through the night, 8-6 was the norm. Then the sleep regression began. She wakes up about every hour starting at 12:30, but only needing the pacifier back in her mouth. I guess I'm lucky. She doesn't eat until about 5:30-6 in the morning. But she's also still swaddled, only rolling belly to back, so while I feel like the sleep regression on our side isn't too bad, I'm going to have a battle when we need to get her out of the swaddle. The sleep regression started as soon as we moved the bassinet out of our room too! She was sleeping in her crib but we hadn't moved the bassinet just in case we needed it. Now I'm just being stubborn and not bringing it back in. Good luck to all! It can't last forever right? We all would sleep through the night if our little ones would let us. 
  • I'm going through the same thing with my son. Getting him to take naps and go down for the night is a nightmare. He screams and cries and fights us. We swaddled but he'd bust out so we've using the Merlin suit but I think I got it too big. So we just ordered the small one. He's a big baby so I thought I needed the bigger one. I bought the N. A. P. S. program book and it has seemed to help but he is still fighting us to go down to sleep.
  • Our LO is now 18 weeks - 4 months, 1 week. About 3 weeks ago I think she was going through a leap when she'd wake twice (sometimes more) through the night and need to be fed (lasted a little over a week). This is very uncharacteristic of her, since she was sleeping 11+ hours uninterrupted since 8-10 weeks old. Now we are in the middle of the 4th month, and the change looks a little different for us. She sleeps through the night fine, but is waking somewhere between 4:30-6:00 (6:00 being her normal wake up time), and 5:00 quickly becoming the norm. I don't know if either instance could be considered a regression, or if that has still yet to come. Who knows? I am feeling worried, though, after reading all these comments. This too shall pass, ladies! Good luck.
  • EmmyMommy123EmmyMommy123 member
    edited May 2016
    I think the one positive thing about my sons consistently bad sleep is that if he has gone through a regression or will go through one, I don't think I'd even notice the difference  :#
  • nackienackie member
    Last night DS slept for two hours and then decided that he wouldn't sleep unless he was being held and bounced.  And sitting was not acceptable.  I was up with him from 10:30 until 5 when I woke my husband up to take over so I could get an hour of sleep before work.  I'm so over this regression
  • We are still swaddling! We have the halo sleep sack, and she loves it because she can hold her own hands. Naps are now a dismal 30 minutes unless I'm holding her, and night time is just a joke. We were up from 12 to 330 on Saturday night, and I had to be up for work at 5. I'm starting to think that I'm a real live zombie. 
  • @EmmyMommy123 lol that's a good way to look at the insanity of this phase!

    I'm over this just like all you ladies. We're at 2-4 wakings the past 4 weeks and she eats at each one for a good bit so im trying to survive through it. Have had a couple nights up every 1.5 hours. I am so ready to rip DH a new one if he doesn't pitch in with rocking and soothing. He's a night owl and comes to get me when LO wakes up, which yea, she's hungry. But dangit, she is so soooo hard to put down and cries the minute I put her down even if she's started to doze when nursing. Help me out since you're up anyways instead of coming to get me 5 minutes after I get back under the comfy covers. There's a reason sleep deprivation is a torture technique....this is ROUGH. 
  • l4rkl4rk member
    @EmmyMommy123 lol that's a good way to look at the insanity of this phase!

    I'm over this just like all you ladies. We're at 2-4 wakings the past 4 weeks and she eats at each one for a good bit so im trying to survive through it. Have had a couple nights up every 1.5 hours. I am so ready to rip DH a new one if he doesn't pitch in with rocking and soothing. He's a night owl and comes to get me when LO wakes up, which yea, she's hungry. But dangit, she is so soooo hard to put down and cries the minute I put her down even if she's started to doze when nursing. Help me out since you're up anyways instead of coming to get me 5 minutes after I get back under the comfy covers. There's a reason sleep deprivation is a torture technique....this is ROUGH. 
    Haha. I feel your pain. When I finally ask SO to help with LO, he will usually stand right beside me while she cries. The whole point in asking for help was so I can sleep, go the f away!
  • @l4rk YES. My thoughts exactly!!!!
  • kaym6kaym6 member
    Last night the baby was sleeping UNTIL the smoke detector in his bedroom decided the batteries were low and it started beeping... At one am. We don't have replacements so we had to take it down... In the middle of the night. If you were wondering if he slept through that the answer is absolutely not so that was fun 
  • Knock on wood my LO has been better the kast few nights. Still waking up but it doesnt take 3 hours to get her back down.. Just one hour ha. The night before last she didnt wake up until 3! It was a miracle. 
  • We are on vacation and it has amped up the sleep regression. LO was going down at 7, dream feed at 10, wake up at 5:30-6 and go back to sleep until 8. We hit the regression and added an extra wake up in the middle of the night which wasn't too bad. Last night, we were up every couple of hours and this mommy is tired. A couple of times I was able to soothe him back to sleep with just some shushing and a tummy rub, but dang I'm tired :(
  • Started the unswaddling process last night and knew it wasn't going to be great, but it at least wasn't worse than I expected....up every two hours all night (which has been happening a couple times a week forever vs his "good nights" of 3 or 4 hours at a time) except for 2-4 where he was mostly awake. However, unless he was crying (he goes from 0-100 with crying) or babbling for a long time I just left him alone and he eventually fell back to sleep. He also went to sleep on his own at the beginning of the night which has NEVER happened....he's a thrasher and was fighting so hard in my arms in this new Swaddle (ergo cocoon vs the woombie we were using, so he has way more arm motion range) that I just put him down and within 5 minute of exorcist-like movements he was asleep! Shocked. 

    Hopefully by the end of the week he will be used to having more arm freedom and then we can take his arms totally out for another week of fresh torture  :/
  • EbiejayEbiejay member
    I'm not sure if we've hit the regression or not. LO is 16 weeks and was going down at 7, feeding at 10 then again at 4 and up at 6-7. Last week he was super fussy and clingy all day (could have been his itchy eczema, or a leap, or regression) and up for an extra feeding at night. The last 2 nights however he has been waking up every couple hours, and once it's past 2am he seriously fights going back down (it's never been a problem at night before). Last night he was actually pretty chilled and happy, just kept shouting out to us from his crib to let us know he was still awake, and wriggling a lot. 

    I don't know if I want this to be the regression or not, I just know I'm so tired. DH has taken a couple days off work to help out but we're still struggling! Another night like this and I think I'm calling the MIL, who is seriously the best help ever and will happily fly up and take some shifts if we ask. 
  • You guys--- i'm in sleep regression HELL! Last night she woke up at 10pm and I fed her hoping it was a fluke (which she never usually does), then 130am and then EVERY HOUR until 430am and then I brought her to my bed then awake for the day at 6am. I was a zombie today and praying tonight is better. I moved her from her Merlin into a sleepsack cause she seems to be getting frustrated trying to roll in the Merlin and can't and makes this horrible straining/frustration grunt. This could either be good or just adding to another horrible night. Lord help us all.
  • nackienackie member
    I think DS might have developed reflux or something on top of everything.  Every time I lay him flat on his back he wakes up screaming like he's in pain.  Changing his diaper is a nightmare now.  But only at night.  During the day he's fine.  Ugh.  So sleepy
  • Not sure if I've hit this early or if it's something else, but LO is a little over 14 weeks and her nighttime sleep has been deteriorating the past few days.  She has never been a good sleeper and still really only gets good naps during the day on me, but a couple weeks ago she was (finally, thank god) sleeping from around 7-8pm until 3-4am, then basically cat napping until being up for the day between 5-6:30.  One time she even made it straight from 7pm to 4:45am!  I nearly cried from happiness, haha.  But now... ugh, now.

    So, she has started being really fitful around bedtime. I've tried earlier, later, same time, doesn't matter.  It used to be about a 30-45 min process.  Now it takes me at least a half hour of feeding and an hour to and hour and a half of rocking to get her out enough to put her down without her immediately waking up.  So, sleep is starting around 9:30 or so.  Fine.  But then her MOTN wake up started creeping back from the 3 or 4:45 days, first to 2:30, then 2, then 1:30 and last night 12:30!  Last night I went to bed at 11, was up with her from 12:30 to 1:30, she was up again at 2,I was up with her until 3 or 3:30, then she woke up for the day at 4:45.  Torture!

    I am not sure if it's because she's putting her hands in her mouth more, or growth spurt or early teething or what, but I had gotten so happily used to that like, week or so where she was sleeping for 6-8 hours in a row.  Going backwards is so awful!  I'm going to talk to our pediatrician about sleep training at 4 months.  I don't feel like she's waking up because she's hungry (one time last night she didn't even want a bottle, just to be rocked back to sleep) I just feel like she's not getting into a deep enough sleep.  Also, she doesn't know how to fall asleep on her own.  Every nap time is tearful because she just doesn't know how to do it.  She cries until I hold her in a cozy enough position while gently shushing her and she finally falls asleep.  I don't know how to teach her how to put herself to sleep.  I haven't looked too much into sleep training yet because I read not to before four months, but I'm definitely going to be researching the hell out of it this weekend because four months is (thankfully) right around the corner!
  • nackienackie member
    @maureenmce ours started around 14 weeks as well, also after a week of great sleep.  I think it's a little on the early side, but I guess our LOs are just advanced or something :).  We plan to talk about sleep training at our 4 month appointment as well.  I'm hoping we're doine with this regression by then.
  • Although as I said here before, babe has always been a crappy sleeper, we too had a week around 13-14 weeks where he suddenly slept 5-6.5 hours straight for 5/7 days and then it all went away and has been back to bad ever since, and often much worse. It's hard for me to pin point a regression or say he really had/is having one because bad is just his norm. Falling asleep on his own or sleep training seems out of the question as he just doesn't settle unless being held and it's not just a little fussing for 5 minutes, it's screaming for an hour even with me trying to comfort him every few minutes (and I just don't agree that screaming like that is ok). Every time he gets close with self soothing it's like he realizes he's falling asleep and then freaks out. I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us, they've got to sleep eventually, right??
  • Krisdee123Krisdee123 member
    edited May 2016
    Although as I said here before, babe has always been a crappy sleeper, we too had a week around 13-14 weeks where he suddenly slept 5-6.5 hours straight for 5/7 days and then it all went away and has been back to bad ever since, and often much worse. It's hard for me to pin point a regression or say he really had/is having one because bad is just his norm. Falling asleep on his own or sleep training seems out of the question as he just doesn't settle unless being held and it's not just a little fussing for 5 minutes, it's screaming for an hour even with me trying to comfort him every few minutes (and I just don't agree that screaming like that is ok). Every time he gets close with self soothing it's like he realizes he's falling asleep and then freaks out. I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us, they've got to sleep eventually, right??
    My baby too, there is no WAY I can sleep train her with all the crying. Everything you just said is exactly what I'm going through. I wonder if they will be sleep trainable or if we'll be bouncing them until they're 16? Does your do the same thing in the car? 
  • My baby too, there is no WAY I can sleep train her with all the crying. Everything you just said is exactly what I'm going through. I wonder if they will be sleep trainable or if we'll be bouncing them until they're 16? Does your do the same thing in the car? 
    If I still have to bounce him at 16 he's going to be on his own  :s

    The car is the same story (will scream forever) unless I'm in the back with him. Thankfully nothing in my city is more than 25 minutes away so when I'm by myself I know it's not going to be screaming for longer than that. He's also gotten A LOT better where it used to be a guaranteed scream fest from door to door, now he's usually fine on his own if he has a toy or two. I've hung up some toys in his view to look at, I give him easily grab-able toys in his seat with him and I play the same cd that we play at home that calms him down (I wish this was Beyoncé or some other mom friendly music but sadly its cheesy lullabys). If he is having a screaming day in the car, he usually doesn't do it door to door anymore, usually only decides to scream 5 or 10 minutes into the drive so depending on where we're going it's not too bad. If I'm in the back with him I can entertain him or actually get him to sleep with some magical tricks (white noise on my phone + swaddling with a blanket over the straps + car seat canopy + sometimes the soother - only time he ever takes it is in the car), but that's still only a 20-30 minute sleep. We actually did a 9 hour car trip the other week and it was really manageable!
  • Woke up multiple times in the night last night, and the only thing that puts her back out is nursing. The problem with this is, one of her wake ups is 3 or later which doesnt leave me enough to pump when I get up for work at 5. Im barely keeping up with her daily intake so im not sure what to do about it. 
  • nackienackie member
    @tgrdance05 thanks for that.  We've had three really bad nights in a row and it's nice to think that someday I might be able to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time again.
  • kimber308kimber308 member
    edited May 2016
    My LO doesn't wake in the night, but the few times that she has, I have my husband hold her while I pump (first). I get what I need, and then nurse her. She never has a problem with getting what she needs after I pump. Try that!
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"