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Working Moms
How do you do it? First post on this board
Advice is greatly appreciated! My 4 month old has slept through the night since about 7 weeks in his swing. Last month we transitioned him to his crib. He has been waking up in the middle of the night for the last 2 weeks! I am trying to do everything to have him STTN again. He is not getting a paci when he goes to sleep, no music is playing and he is awake but drowsy. My last resort has been feeding him, BUT he is 19 lbs! I dont want to keep feeding him in the middle of the night. I work full-time in the healthcare field. DH and I are so exhausted. How do you do it? Get little sleep, then wake up and function at a job that requires lifting, paperwork etc.
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Re: How do you do it? First post on this board
Every baby is different so you're going to have to figure out what works for your's to get him to sleep, but be aware that sleeping through the night at 4 months is really young. Most babies still need a middle of the night feed at that age to get through the night.
Have you spoken with your pediatrician about your concerns about feeding him in the middle of the night?
Try the pacifier, music and comforting sounds to him. Unfortunately your baby may not sleep through the night for a while and you'll just have to figure out how to get yourself through the day until he does.
I was a walking zombie for the first 10 months - and i also do surgery working full time in healthcare. K woke up literally every hour for something to eat until then. I had to break her from the habit of awakening and getting a bottle - first started changing bottles to water (which she refused) then she slept better. She also slept in a swing until that point when she got really pissed off that she couldn't roll over and that would wake her up as well.
Like PP said, your LO is young still, probably will continue to go through phases of not STTN for a while, but they may just be really hungry I agree with talking to your ped before you change anything.
K also went through an awakening period around 4-5 months where she would wake up and get excited by everything and THAT would keep her up as well. Good luck!
At his age, we used a paci and a sound machine/white noise machine...he sleeps great! I will worry about breaking the paci habit later, my ped isn't worried about it at all. We don't use the sleep machine for white noise anymore, but its got a cool projector and plays nursery music which he likes. Occassionally I will use the white noise during his nap so that it masks the dog barking, lawn mower, etc.
DS STTN from 6 weeks until 4 months then not again until he was.... let's see... 16 months? Maybe older? DD was a better sleeper but didn't start STTN unti she was 14 mos old. (She typically had less get-ups per night)
At any rate, it's pretty rare that babies that age STTN. They are legitimately hungry and not ready to STTN. We coslept at that age (with a bedside co-sleeper) so I didn't have to make a big deal out of getting out of bed. Co-sleeping certainly isn't for everyone, but it worked well for us until DD and DS were sleeping better. Neither had any problem transitioning to their own crib. We were able to wait until DD only woke once per night to put her in her crib.
quotes Michelle likes
It's totally normal for babies to sleep much better at 2-4 months than they do after 4 months.
How often is he waking?
DD gets up 0-3 times/night at 8 months (depends on whether she's teething, going through a growth spurt, etc.) and averages probably once/night. It's just something you learn to navigate. DH gets her for me, I nurse her and put her back to bed. I'd prefer a solid 8 hours, but it's certainly manageable.
Oh, and definitely feed him if he seems hungry. Four months is teeny tiny to go all night without food. I think some new moms believe that because their baby HAS been STTN means they'll continue to do so/don't need to eat and that's just not true.
Like everyone said, 4 mos. is pretty young and he probably still needs that middle of the night feed.
My kids STTN pretty early on - #1 at 3 mos. and #2 at 4 months - but I did a dream feed around 10 or 11 pm. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but it worked for us - maybe try that?
My DS2 sleeps in bed with us - that's how I do it. My babies are just simply not those magical sleeping babies that some people have. I wasn't either according to my mother - so maybe it's genetic.
I don't even attempt to have DS1 sleep in his crib through the night because, at this point, he's sleeping, I'm sleeping and DH is sleeping. He goes down at 8 pm and then wakes up at around 11. From that point on, he's in our bed. He wakes up to eat in the middle of the night (he's bf) but whatever. We'll deall with it when we think it's necessary.
My DS1 was a horrible sleeper (much much worse than my DS2). He did not like co-sleeping so that wasn't an option for us. I was a zombie for a year. Seriously - it was very hard. I'm an attorney so I had to be on my game in the office and there were some seriously rough days. But - you just do what you have to do. Coffee is a good friend.
What ultimately worked for my DS1 was modified ferber. It's not for everyone, but after reading the book, we decided it was the best course of action for my DS1. He just simply wasn't getting enough sleep. Your LO is too young for Ferber at this point, but something to think about as he gets older.
Hang in there.
DS STTN maybe twice before 4 months old. He started STTN consistently around 4 months, and when I say consistently I just mean "more than 50% of the time." He didn't wake up the past 2 nights, but he was up 3 nights ago. By now we can recognize when he wakes up hungry or if he just needs some cuddles to fall asleep again. Even though he eats 30 oz of formula a day, plus 2 meals of solids, he still sometimes wakes up hungry in the middle of the night, though it's only been about twice for the past couple of months.
We put him to bed with a pacifier and warm blanket, run the humidifier all night (for his sinuses as well as for the white noise), and have a lullaby playing while he falls asleep, which shuts itself off after a few minutes. DH and I don't officially take turns getting up, but whoever is awake first gets up with DS.
My job requires sitting at a computer in a room by myself, where the lights turn themselves off if you are too still. Caffeine is my BFF.