Sleep Help Needed - long

pkw

I realize that we are probably still in the 4 month regression, but I am still attempting to maintain SOME semblance of control here.

EJ is still waiting every 1-3 hours, all night, we had 8 wakeups last night, I am one tired as heck momma.

I get that I may not be able to change how many times he is waking up right now but I want to see what I can do about his eating....maybe that can help the wakeups. He used to only need to eat 2-3 times a night and now he is eating everytime he wakes up...anywhere between .5 oz to 4 oz, usually 1 oz.  

I have tried to delay his feedings and tried soothing him back to sleep without eating (in hopes that the next wakeup he would eat more, so he could work towards going back to his previous nocturnal eating habits).

Nothing seems to be helping.

I am starting to reach the end of my sanity...I am lucky if I sleep 4 hours a night because as soon as I get him back to bed and me comfortable in bed and just about to doze off he is up again.  DH is no help 4 nights a week because he has to be up at 4am for work.  So I am flying solo most nights (and even the 3 nights he can help, he mostly just does one or two wakeups and then gets up in the morning with him, which believe me helps sooooo much, but it still means I am primary).

Anyone go through something like this?  Is it something that they just naturally change or is there something you did that helped? 

Of course keeping in mind his age, he is not ready for true sleep training, and I am not ready for it either...I just feel like I need to be doing something to try and help both of us sleep and feel better.  

In case you wanted to know, his daytime napping is fabulous, he transitioned from 4 naps to 3 and they last 1-1.5 hours for each.  He is pro at daytime now and he is a very happy thriving child when awake, our only problem area is wakeups (he goes down for bed well and he goes back to sleep easily at night, but he wakes up many many times, yes I do know the difference between his fussing and him screaming for me, I allow him to fuss around because usually when he fusses he goes back to sleep on his own). 

alyssa7

Sorry, I'm the last person who should be giving sleep advice, just wanted to say I'm sorry you are up so much. You must be exhausted. I'm jealous of his naps though - C is still a 30 min cat napper unless he sleeps ON me which is fine but my butt is then glued to the couch for 1-2 hours. Hope you get some good advice!

soon2Bkranz

Our boys sound very much alike..good during the day...rough at night. Per the advice of my pedi I gave him Tylenol with one of the earlier wake-ups to try and push a longer sleep cycle (eating more etc..)

Also giving more solids during the day has helped tremondosly. At night he takes a bottle around 5:30-6. Then solids around 6:30. Bath and more bottle if he will take it and bed at 7:30 when I nurse again. I just try and fill him up in the hours before bed.

But really we go back and forth between 2 wake-ups a night and loads like you are going thru. I dont know that there is much that can be done....

HUGSSSS

futrkingsley

I tried lots of things to get C to stretch his night time sleep.  None of it worked.  At that stage I thought I'd die from all the nightwakings, but somehow we survived to fight over it another day. 

Rather than fight him on it, I decided periodically to just give him what he wanted so that we could get back to sleep as quickly as possible.  That seemed to get me the most sleep. 

 

soon2Bkranz

oh also I cut the naps to be shorter...1hour in morning...aas long as he wants mid day 45-1 hour evening...that helped TONS

Lesley423

We had a similar issue happen around 4 months for us.  After a week of no sleep (or hardly any) we decided to sleep train. It was hard but in the end it was really beneficial.  L then started sleeping so much better at night and only woke up once to feed.

MrsEmm

plus hes probably hitting the 4 mo wakeful?? time helped us.

MrsEmm

this may be helpful:

https://pregnant.thebump.com/new-mom-new-dad/newborn-basics/qa/4-month-wakeful-period.aspx

 

Re: I've heard that babies can have a wakeful period at around four months, where a baby who's been sleeping fine all of a sudden starts waking during the month. Why does this happen, and how should I deal with it?It's not uncommon for babies to start having sleep difficulties around their four-month birthday. This ages marks a huge cognitive and emotional turning point for babies, as they become much more aware of -- and interested in -- the world around them. It can also mean they'll sometimes want to play during the night. This is actually a good sign, because it means baby is bonding with you and having a good time during the day. However, it's challenging to cater to his desire to be with you around the clock.So, that's why the wakeful period happens. Now, what can you do about it? If you're up for sleep training, now is a good time to start. Pick an approach that you and your partner both believe in so that you can support each other through the sleep teaching process. Start when your baby is healthy and when he'll be sleeping at home for a couple of weeks.If you're not interested in sleep training or just not ready yet, our advice is to be minimally invasive at night. When you go in, try to soothe your baby without picking him up. If you feel your baby needs to be fed, give him enough to satisfy him but not fill up his entire stomach. While these things may not get him to sleep straight through the night, they are good baby steps toward encouraging him to become an independent sleeper.

 Conner Herman and Kira Ryan | May 15 , 2009 5:10 PM 

pkw

Lesley423:

We had a similar issue happen around 4 months for us.  After a week of no sleep (or hardly any) we decided to sleep train. It was hard but in the end it was really beneficial.  L then started sleeping so much better at night and only woke up once to feed.

Can I ask what you did?

 

EmmieB

I'll bring you a book tomorrow that my pedi recommended. I found it helpful.

green3000

We recently sleep trained DS and he's now sleeping through the night (from 7 pm - 6:30).   I can't say it was easy and it was certainly a long time coming.  At 4 months he was still waking at least 2 times a night, if not 3. This went on until about a few weeks ago.  The key factors for successful sleep training were:

*early bedtime - DS goes to bed every night between 6:30-7pm.   He also dropped his third nap about a month ago, which makes him much more tired in the evening. 

*eliminating night feedings -- we gradually stopped feeding him at night. 

*Increasing food intake before bedtime - DS is a huge baby like yours (24 lbs at 6 months!) and eats A LOT!   We found that giving him more food in the evening hours really helps keep him going through the night.

*Cry it out.  As controversial as it is, this was the only method that worked for us.  We used the Ferber method of increasing the time between responding to your baby.    It worked after only a few days.  

 *stomach sleeping.   DS started turning himself around about a month ago. At first he (and I!) would panic and I would go in and turn him around.   I stopped turning him around once I realized he sleeps much better and deeper while on his tummy.   My pedi thinks it's totally fine that he sleeps on his stomach given his age and weight.  

 Good luck!  Sleep issues are SO hard.   Be patient though -- your DS will start sleeping better soon!  

 -green