Night Wakings
My DD is up A LOT at night. I think some of it has to do with the 4 month wakefulness and some with the fact that since I have been back to work, DD wants to nurse more at night. How often are your LOs waking at night to nurse? Our pedi said she can easily start sleeping through the night now (DD is almost 5m), but this really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me since BM digests so quickly. When DD is up she (most of the time) wants to nurse (sometimes just to cuddle). So my questions are:
1) How often is your LO up? Age?
2) Will she EVER STTN? I have had mommas tell me that they are lucky if their toddlers STTN. Scares me a wee bit!!
3) When does 4 month wakefulness end? Or does it?
4) Did moving LO to their own room help at all? I have considered this but honestly don't think it is going to help. In fact, I am considering bed sharing instead!!
Thank you ladies!!
Re: Night Wakings
My baby-girls are 12 weeks now, and they are both just starting to regularly STTN. I transitioned them to their own room about 2 weeks ago, and it helped a ton. I noted one started STTN almost immediately, and now the other is starting to do the same. They may have a night where they don't, but they do more often than not. This is just my experience, though. I have not hit the 4 month mark yet, so I don't know what that will bring.
Note: if they do wake up, it's for one feeding somewhere in the middle of their long nightly sleep time.
Yet, my 21 year old daughter was sleeping 8 hours per night @ 8 weeks of age, and never went through a 4 month wakefulness period. She was a sleeping rock-star!
Maybe she is going through a growth spurt and requires more feedings around the clock? I just read an article the other day on Cluster Feedings that was interesting. My girls definitely do that...cluster feed from the time I get home to work until 9-10 pm at night. And since I have two, I feel like I am always feeding someone with maybe a meal for myself squeezed in. But I also noticed the cluster feeding began at the same time they began to STTN.
Maybe her vision is starting to really click for her, so she is seeing the world in a new and different/better way? That usually happens around the 4 months mark, and it can cause overstimulation. Then babies may feel the need to nurse/feed more for comfort to help them settle down. If that's the case, that should eventually pass when baby is used to the sights and sounds, etc. all over again.
Anyway, I don't know if I am being of any help at all. I'm sure there are many ladies on here that can also chime in and offer differing views. I wish you and your little one all the best. HUGS
1) At 4mo, I think DD was up every 1.5-2hrs. Partly 4month wakeful, partly she just always has liked to nurse often. At 23mo, now, she nurses once MOTN, but that's because we've partially night weaned, and after that one MOTN nursing, she doesn't get to nurse again until 7am. She does, however, wake up one or two (occasionally three!) other times when her diaper gets wet.
She was waking up so frequently at 15mo (or so), that I decided to try partial night weaning so both of us could sleep more than 3 hours at a time (I kid you not). It took some time, but I started with her being allowed to nurse twice after going to sleep, and only more recently moved it down to once.
I agree with you, just because a 5mo *could* go 12-14 hours without eating doesn't mean it's a good idea. And I also agree that it could be reverse cycling since you've started back to work. If that's the case, some of it may just require patience on your part.
2) Sorry, personal pet peeve, but I hate the "won't ever sleep through the night" statement. 'Cause it's plainly a silly statement. But probably one you've gotten from other people. My response to it? "Well, if she's not sleeping through the night when she goes off to college, it's her roommate's problem."
Seriously, I know of few toddlers (in real life) who don't wake up at 2am or 3am or whatever, pee, and then get into their parents bed, where everyone continues sleeping (sometimes less successfully for the parents...
). Some? Sure. Many? No. But as far as I can tell, it's at least partially because the parents would rather just keep sleeping and stay in bed than enforce the child going back into their own bed.
There's plenty of anthropological reason to believe that a young child (including toddler) *should* want to be with their parents. At least until the child is old enough to be responsible for themselves in the case of an emergency.
3) I think the 4-month wakefulness is a bit of a misnomer. It's not like they're going to go back to the sleep they were getting before. It's simply one of the first big changes in sleep. Every growth spurt, there's some variety of regression/change (including, often, more nursing!!). But they're starting to wake up to their world more at 4mo, so sleep starts significantly changing. The only guarantee is that it will continue changing, with some nights being better, some nights being worse.
4) Can't say for us - we still bedshare. And if your LO is reverse cycling and wants to nurse often, I would totally recommend bedsharing so you don't have to get up at all to nurse. It will definitely help you get more sleep!
All i can say is my 7 1/2 month old has been up 4-10 times a night most nights of his life. He's only woken 3 times or less four times. And he's currently boycotting napping!
We've tried everything, done everything. Things work some nights and they don't others.
I give up. He may never sleep, and hell, it seems like I may never sleep either, but after doing everything I could think of, reading over 5 sleep books, talking to doctors, specialists, etc, I am coming to peace with it.
Most babies seems to be up really frequently during the 4mw, and luckily, most of them snap out of it and start sleeping after. Chances are your baby will be sleeping normally again soon too.
Good luck!