4 month sleep regression - venting

mattandlora · October 2013

Ugh. DS is 4 months and 1 week. He came pretty darn close to SSTN around 2 months old. We were ready to move him to his own room once he got through the peak of SIDS risk (2-4months). But since about 3.5 months, his sleep has gotten progressively worse. We always put him to bed around 7pm. He used to sleep til 5am, eat, and go back down until 8am. It slowly fell apart over the last 3 weeks. It started with fussing for paci at 3am. Now, he wakes to eat at 1am, 3am, 5am, and then gets up for the day at 8am. But when I say he gets 'up for the day,' i mean he gets up to eat & play for 30 minutes, fuss for 30 minutes, nap for 30 minutes, and repeat. All friggin day.

I know it is a phase. I know he is reaching new developmental milestones and a growth spurt at the same time. I know he'll outgrow it and I'll have my happy baby back. But I just wanted to vent! Feel free to vent too if you're going through the same thing!

prigurgel · October 2013

Have to vent as well... My LO was waking up every three hrs to eat(it would take about one hr to feed and put her back to sleep) so i was always very tired. My DH said babies can't be spoil( he read something about it). Let's try bed sharing(we did this a couple of days the first week she was home)for a couple of days so u can rest( she got to sleep a good 4 -4 1/2hrs, which had never happened before..) the thing is now it seems she hates her crib, every time i put her down she wakes up( if she was already sleeping after i finished feeding her) or start to cry with 2 seconds ... What do i do if i don't think letting my baby cry to sleep is the best solution but i also don't want to do bedsharing anymore???!?

taraleanne · October 2013

Yes, similar things going on here! Babies are notorious for catnaps at this age. I think my guy is slowly getting over this now, he just turned 4 months today but showed the regression signs weeks ago!

Do you nurse him to sleep at night? If you are, then that's another reason why you need to feed him every time he wakes up because that's the only way he knows how to fall asleep. If you start training him to fall asleep on his own now, and are very patient and persistent, he will learn to get through the sleep cycle transitions on his own. My LO will sleep 12 hours at night if I let him. He sucks his thumb back to sleep when he wakes though.... he found that trick on his own so I'm fairly lucky. But I also don't nurse him to sleep at night. He actually decided on his own that he would not nurse to sleep anymore, when he was about 2.5 months old so I had no choice but to teach him to fall asleep on his own. Now adays, the best way for me to get him to sleep on his own is to leave the room! It started with me sitting by him, holding a paci and stroking his head, shushing until he was fast asleep. White noise, always. Over the last month and a half we've worked on me just leaving him and coming back now and again to reassure him. Might be some picking up and putting down and hushing and stroking his temples or offering a paci. Now he just knows what to expect and most times goes asleep on his own, even when I've left him in there "wide awake". I never EVER let him cry it out. I let him fuss a bit but never cry. It took weeks and it took a lot of patience but it worked!

Good luck!!

sarbieb · October 2013

Ugh same here!!! I even dream fed her at 11pm and she still woke at 1,3,5,7 ahhhhh!!! I just shhhed and jiggled at 1 and 5 bc I knew she wasn't hungry. Just waking! It is awful!!

MrsArrow · October 2013

Ditto ladies! My Liam is finally getting back into his routine he had going when he was 3 months.The week before he turned 4 months he started the regression. He turned 4mo On October 6. It is now October 14 and he is doing much better....So it was only about 3 weeks for the 10pm, 12am, 1:30, 4a, 5, and then up for the day at 7am with only 20 minute naps sporadically throughout the day, but now he goes to bed about 9pm, wakes up at 4a and then sleeps til 8-9a and has one good nap in the afternoon (2-3 hours). Hopefully we will drop the 4a soon!

Needless to say hang in there ladies it will get better soon!

mattandlora · October 2013

OP here - I've put him to bed drowsy, in his own crib, dark, white noise, etc, since he was 2 months old. He puts himself to sleep for bed and for naps. But around 3.5 months, his daytime feeds started getting crappy because there were too many other exciting, distracting things. Then at night, he wakes hungry, and it is dark and quiet. He finally gets some good meals. Despite all the night wakings, he was still a grouchy catnapper during the day too. He kept getting over-stimulated

He turned 4 months on October 6th. Over this past weekend, he had some major poo-splosions, started medication for an ear infection, and we switched laundry detergents back to Dreft (and cured his rash). He is a new baby this week, and back to his happy self who sleeps from 7pm - 5am. I don't know if it is because the 4-month sleep regression mess is over, or if his ear feels better, or his rash feels better, or his bowels feel better, or some combination of everything. But the whole house is happier again!

Also, he finally rolls over now instead of thrashing from side to side and getting pissed about it.

carriec1111 · October 2013

I am so glad I am not the only one! My baby is 17 weeks and was sleeping pretty well in her crib until lately....Last night was the worst. Put her down at 7:30pm and she was up and crying at 9:30pm and then we calmed her down and she fussed here and there all night! I was up and kept checking on her. We gave her a bottle at 2:30 am...but she was going through the night without a feeding...very confusing but glad to hear it is temporary. Hang in there everyone!

mattandlora · October 2013

After a few good nights, we're back to wake-ups at midnight, 3am, and 6am. And 20-minute naps during the day. Ugh.

crystalreteguiz · October 2013

I've been dealing with this problem for 22 days but hey who's counting!

lynsien · October 2013

My little miss was pretty much STTN since 2 months old (super lucky, I know) but now the last 3 nights she's been waking up around 3am to eat, plus fusses for hours in the night (so she may be sort of sleeping but I'm not). She just turned 4months last Monday. I really didn't know what was going on, why this change?! ... hopefully it'll pass soon because it sure was nice STTN.

Lil Kate · October 2013

My twins were STTN since 2 months about 10 hrs. Now they are both waking 2+ times per night.... Some nights I never lay down in bed

Naps are a horror too.

GalLaura · October 2013

taraleanne said:
Yes, similar things going on here! Babies are notorious for catnaps at this age. I think my guy is slowly getting over this now, he just turned 4 months today but showed the regression signs weeks ago!

Do you nurse him to sleep at night? If you are, then that's another reason why you need to feed him every time he wakes up because that's the only way he knows how to fall asleep. If you start training him to fall asleep on his own now, and are very patient and persistent, he will learn to get through the sleep cycle transitions on his own. My LO will sleep 12 hours at night if I let him. He sucks his thumb back to sleep when he wakes though.... he found that trick on his own so I'm fairly lucky. But I also don't nurse him to sleep at night. He actually decided on his own that he would not nurse to sleep anymore, when he was about 2.5 months old so I had no choice but to teach him to fall asleep on his own. Now adays, the best way for me to get him to sleep on his own is to leave the room! It started with me sitting by him, holding a paci and stroking his head, shushing until he was fast asleep. White noise, always. Over the last month and a half we've worked on me just leaving him and coming back now and again to reassure him. Might be some picking up and putting down and hushing and stroking his temples or offering a paci. Now he just knows what to expect and most times goes asleep on his own, even when I've left him in there "wide awake". I never EVER let him cry it out. I let him fuss a bit but never cry. It took weeks and it took a lot of patience but it worked!

Good luck!!

I've been trying to break the association of sleep with nursing. It's very hard to do especially since my lo is exhausted but won't sleep . I like that you didn't let your baby cry it out. It's what I've wanted to do. Any other tips?

How long has the sleep regression lasted for most of you? Ours has been about a week. Before he went to bed at 7, ate at 3 and would sleep 3-4 more hours. I'm so missing those days.

mattandlora · October 2013

In retrospect, ours lasted 3 weeks. But only the last week was total hell. The first 2 were just waking for a pacifier 1-2x per night and back to sleep in a couple minutes. But that last week, OMG.

beckymason1988 · October 2013

I didn't kno about 4 month regression but I guess that's my daughters issue I want my happy baby back

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