4 month wakeful ... a real thing?

ayersfam20

I had never heard of this until recently and after searching the internet, it seems it is a real thing.

I felt like I had a newborn again last night.  C woke up at 11:45pm, 1am, 2:15am was awake from 3-5:30am, and then woke up for good at 7:30 this morning.  We never picked him up, just gave him a paci and patted him back to sleep - but it took a looong time for him to get back to sleep.

He had been sleeping straight through from 8pm until 7 or 7:30am for a long time now.  Sometimes he would wake up and cry and we'd go put a paci in and he'd go right back to sleep within seconds.

We tried to let him cry last night, but after 15 minutes he was still crying so we went in there and gave him his paci.  He would sleep until it fell out and then he was up crying again.

This may be a dumb question - but should I feed him if this happens again?  He hasn't eaten overnight since he was 6 weeks old.  I don't know if getting him used to eating at night is a good idea?  Google seems to be pretty much 50/50 let him cry vs. feed him. 

Anyone else deal with this?

TexasSmith

Definitely very real. DD went through it BAD. She was waking literally every 45 minutes. I was a complete zombie. We did CIO, and ditched the paci at the same time. She woke a few times the first night, twice the second night, and STTN the third night. She eventually picked back up one night feeding, which I was OK with.

If you have not read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, I very highly recommend it.

ayersfam20

Thank you for the suggestion!  I just downloaded it to the Kindle and will read it ASAP.  It's so tough to go from them sleeping well to all of a sudden not.  I feel like I can't function today!

SigmundsGirl

Yes, it is very real and it sucks! Evan had only been sleeping through the night for about 3 weeks when it started. It lasted about a month for him and we did 1 overnight feeding which he dropped again when he was about 5 months old. We still deal with sleep issues from week to week, but on average, he is soooo much better and we don't actually have to go in when he wakes up now, he fusses for a few minutes and puts himself back to sleep. If it wasn't for the monitor we would never know that he sometimes wakes during the night.

Good luck! I hope this ends soon and you are able to get sleep again.

Katieraye09

Unfortunately, it's true.  It doesn't happen to every baby but it happened to DS.  Started around 4 months and didn't end until 7ish months.  I was a walking zombie and have no idea how I functioned at work most days.  I probably didn't help the situation by going into DS's room and nursing him back to sleep but I was desperate and it was the fasted way to get him to go back to sleep. 

Do you have a sound machine?  If not, you might consider getting one....it worked wonders and even though DS still woke up, he woke up less when his "crack machine" was on. 

Good luck!  I know it's hard but the good news is that it eventually goes away.

ETA: DS is a fabulous sleeper now.  Once we got over the 4 month wakeful, he was consistently sleeping 8-10 hours and now sleeps 11-12 without waking.  (Other than a few instances that had to do with teething.)

alliwalton

Ours happened at 6.5 months and lasted 2 weeks.  I ended up feeding her, she was only waking up once during the night and then her usual 5:45-6.  Now she sleeps through the night.

I could not function either, it makes me wonder how did I make it through the newborn period??

ayersfam20

We have a Sleep Sheep and this soother.  We usually put him down for the night awake and turn both on and he puts himself to sleep.  The sleep sheep only runs for 45 minutes though.  Last night at 3am I turned them on and he just layed there awake staring at them and would cry when they turned off.  I was like, it's 3am!  They are supposed to make you sleepy!  Go to sleep! 

It's good to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel ... at least until teething starts, lol.  It's a good thing these little ones are cute!

kat.in.the.hat

Eliza was STTN at six weeks as well until she hit 4 months.  We don't do CIO and since there are growrh spurts during this time, I've always fed her.  She's a week away from being 5 months and has gone back to STTN.

There is also a growth spurt at 22.5 weeks & another at 26 weeks, so I expect we'll be up a lot more nights until she's into 7 months

ayersfam20

DH, DD and I all have sore throats and some congestion and I thing DS now has a little bit of it too.  I didn't want him to be crying if his little throat might be hurting so when he woke up at 4am last night I went ahead and fed him.  He was still awake when I put him back down but he went back to sleep and woke up again at 8am.

I guess he was just hungry!  Hopefully the trend won't continue for long.  Thank you for all of the advice!