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Tell me about 4 month wakeful please
So I think DS has hit the 4 month wakeful period. He wants to nurse and eat like crazy at night (last night it was practically non-stop from 7-10pm) and then he wakes up every 2-3 hours all.night.long. last night his longest stretch was 4 hours and the night before the longest was 3. about a month ago he was doing great with only waking up once or twice during the night and getting 5-6 hour stretches of sleep.
how long does this last?? and do you just ride it out, or is there anything I should/could be doing to have less night wakings?
TIA!
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Re: Tell me about 4 month wakeful please
At 4 months on the dot, LO started waking up every 2-3 hours and eating voraciously each time. He's now 5+ months and is still waking up 3 times a night. It is really draining. And he also had been sleeping great from 2-4 months - only waking up once a night and sleeping 6-7 hour stretches. I miss those days.
At this point, we are just living with it, and preparing to ferberize. Last night he only woke up twice, so I am hoping it's a good sign.
It's a combination of a change in sleep cycles, inability to put themselves back to sleep on their own, growth spurt, and learning new things (rolling over, etc.). It's like the perfect storm at 4 months. Let him cluster feed before bed if he wants to (it sounds like you're already doing that). This is the time when many parents try to teach their babies to self-soothe, but that doesn't necessarily mean "cry it out." Their sleep cycles start to change around 4 months, so they're waking up multiple times each night and can't put themselves back to sleep without being rocked, held, nursed, etc. We didn't really go through a 4-month wakeful -- we had a 5-month wakeful. We just rolled with it and were exhausted for about a month, and then we Ferbered at 6 months.
we didn't do much b/c you really can't...we just dealt with it; DD's 4mo wakeful was really wakeful, she'd wake up and just be really awake and want to play and interact.
If possible, try to keep him on the breast instead of giving him a bottle of milk, even if you pump at the same time. Nursing is supposed to stimulate milk production better than pumping. I know it's easier said than done when you have a screaming baby and you just want to make him happy. Hang in there, it does get easier!
TTC #1 Cycle 14 - IUI#1=BFN, IUI#2=BFP | TTC #2 Cycle 8=BFP!!
That sounds exactly like both my kids at four months. I never figured out how to get less wake-ups, or wake-ups without having to feed them, and neither took a bottle. Luckily, they usually went back to sleep pretty easily so I didn't get TOO sleep-deprived from the four-times-a-night wakings. With DD, I was definitely frustrated at the whole thing. When DS started doing the exact same pattern, I begrudgingly accepted it and made it through somehow. Both of my kids were ready to sleep train between 6-7 months, and when we did a mild version of Ferber, it worked like a charm. Both have been awesome sleepers since. So I have no idea how you can bring about less wakings, but be reassured that there probably is a light at the end of the tunnel if you ride it out.