4 month sleep regression

swise22 · December 2014

So DS has been a unicorn baby with sleep pretty much since he was born. Around 2 months old he started STTN and has always been great about putting himself to sleep/staying asleep in his pack n play. The past few nights though, he has been going to sleep like normal but waking up every hour starting at midnight. He wakes up cooing/talking but will keep doing this loudly for up to an hour. I've tried giving him a bottle and a pacifier which he doesn't want at all. The only thing he seems to want is for me to pull him into bed with me so he can lay next to me and he goes right back to sleep. He's about 3 and a half months old now and I was wondering if this was the start of the dreaded sleep regression and how long it typically lasts for? Of course this has to start right as I'm getting ready to go back to work! Anyone out there with advice or STMs who have gone through this before? Running on only 2 hours of sleep the past few nights is exhausting!

TheOtherJacobsons · December 2014

This post scares me

bumpuser10309732 · December 2014

I got nuthin. We were up every two hours last night!

vrj0522 · December 2014

It might be the start of a sleep regression and those can last up to 2-3 of weeks (or they can be a few days only too). The only advice I can give is to do what you want to train your baby to do. I know bringing him to bed is easiest but he might be old enough that if you do that every night, he will continue to expect it. Then again, once you do sleep training (if you do) you can untrain him on this, but it might be a little more work. Hang in there, it will pass. Sleep regressions suck when you are in the middle of them but usually don't last very long.

swise22 · December 2014

@vrj0522‌ that's what I was afraid of. It's so easy to just pull him to bed with me since he goes right back to sleep but I'm worried he's getting used to that now. Especially since he doesn't wake up wanting anything else. I guess I just have to ride this out

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victoria+james · December 2014

I'm going through sleep regression too. M wakes up around 2am to eat but after that no amount of rocking, co-sleeping, or really anything else will convince him to sleep more than 45 minutes at a time.

I'm tired and bitchy and FIL is about to see a really special side of me.

swise22 · December 2014

@Pinkie78 Thanks for the info! It's so hard because I'm just not used to it. He is typically such a great sleeper so I feel like I'm starting bad habits trying to keep him that way

Since he's not actually crying at night and more just making cooing noises I'm just going to try to ignore it for however long he does it or until he starts to cry and see if he puts himself back to sleep. Thanks so much for all of the advice.

swise22 · December 2014

Pinkie78 said:

@swise22‌ your sig photo is hilarious! I know there is some awkward photo challenge - yours is too much!

Why thank you! I couldn't pass that one up. Way too awkward and funny

Klavanga74 · December 2014

@swise22‌ ...I second the sig photo, but I can't separate it from you now..

How dark is the room? It seems that our LO has gotten SUPER sensitive to light. We now have her room as pitch black as possible - even covering up the little green indicator light on her monitor and sound machine. She's also in her own room, so not sure if that helps, but I think that it does because we don't respond so quickly when she's a little restless. Of course, she's not as old as your LO, so I will probably be eating all of my words in a few weeks!

swise22 · December 2014

@klavanga74 You caught me! It's me and DH pre DS ;;)

The room is pretty dark. We have grey curtains that block out all light and the only light we have in there is a night light so I can see him in the MOTN (I'm slightly paranoid about checking on him). We do have a sound machine in there to help too. I'm starting to wonder if him laying next to me is making him restless even though he's in his own bed. I do let him fuss a bit if he wakes up to see if he'll put himself back to sleep but it seems like he just knows I'm close to him and will make noise until I grab him. It's just so hard because everything that worked previously isn't working anymore. I'm sure as soon as I figure out this sleep strike, he'll switch things up on me again though! I miss my unicorn baby! I'm hoping that he's just out of sorts from all of the Christmas stimulation and this isn't his new norm. So far tonight he's taken an hour and half to get to bed when it usually takes 5 minutes. Should be another interesting night of sleep for me! Thankfully I have a massage to look forward to tomorrow and DH is on Christmas break so I get to look forward to a nap in the morning!

Klavanga74 · December 2014

I knew it! Love the shawl, can I borrow it?

Hang in there and I'm hoping for a good night of sleep for you. Does he take a pacifier? Our LO does, but I have to yank it out before she's totally asleep or she'll wake up when it falls out. So tonight, for example, she went to sleep pretty easily but woke herself up sneezing about an hour later. I went in, laid a hand on her, stuck the paci in and shushed her (she REALLY likes to be shushed and my older two think it's hysterical) but I yanked that thing out while she was still sucking but pretty settled. Hand still on her. THen took my hand away. She's been down ever since. Of course, if LO doesn't take a paci, none of this applies. I think that sometimes simple things are the biggest fixes...maybe he really is in tune to the fact that you're there and he's waking and wanting interaction with you? Is he on your side of the bed? If you're not ready to have him out of the room, maybe try moving him to DH's side or just away and see if that works? Hoping tomorrow's post is that you got your unicorn back!

swise22 · December 2014

You can definitely borrow it! I'll even throw in the hair bows.

He does take the pacifier and we do the same thing you do with pulling it before he gets into a deep sleep. He also goes BSC when it falls out on its own. He does sleep on my side of the bed so maybe a simple switch to DHs side may be the key for now. He loves DH but seems extremely attached to me recently so I think that may have something to do with it. Thanks for the advice and hopefully I can give a good update about a unicorn baby again tomorrow (except for the fact that now he is screaming in the room again as I type this

swise22 · December 2014

Well after 2 and a half hours of trying to get him to sleep last night he finally passed out. I switched him to DHs side of the bed and turned off the night light. He woke up cooing twice but we ignored it and he only did it for 10 minutes each time and put himself back to sleep. Fingers crossed we're moving in the right direction again. Thanks for all of the suggestions ladies!

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