Early sleep regression?

momma2char · January 2016

Just wondering if anyone is going through the 4month sleep regression early? I've been told it can happen anytime between the 3-5month mark. My daughter (14.5 weeks) usually goes down to bed at 7:30/8 until 2am and then is up every 2-3 hours until 7 or 8am. The last couple of nights she has been up every 1-3 hours all night long, and tonight she absolutely would not fall asleep. In fact I have never seen her with so much energy. She usually screams and fights her way through the bed time routine and tonight I had to go through it twice (once at 7pm, again at 10:30pm) and she was laughing and kicking around happily as we did it.. As lovely as that was, she went from being super happy to a full on meltdown and then crashed. I haven't changed any of her naps/routines, she's definitely had enough to eat. I can only assume she's going through the 4 month sleep regression early?

Christa410 · January 2016

I'm not sure but mine is doing the same. 3 months on Sunday and night time has been miserable. He's currently been up since 2:20 - daddy just came in to take over on trying to put him back down. Tonight he went down at 7, up at 11 and then again at 2:20. He's breastfed also and I think 3 mos is a growth spurt. Getting up every 3 hours is what it is... But we are up for so long each time.

vamomtobe · January 2016

LO has been up every 1 - 2.5 hrs for the past few weeks...sleep regression, growth spurt, who knows! She's usually asleep around 7:30, in her crib by 8. I can't get her back to sleep after her 4 or 5 am feeding, so she'll stay up until we leave for daycare. She falls asleep on the way (around 7:30) and will sleep cozy in her carseat until 10:30. Think we're just going to have to wait our sweet babies out - they'll sleep eventually, right? *yawn*

Christa410 · January 2016

@vamomtobe do feed every time your lo wakes up?

SweetnSassy23 · January 2016

My LO has been up a lot lately. Almost every hour, and eats every time. So I figure it's the 4 month wake early or a growth spurt.

lindsay897 · January 2016

My guy started doing something similar. He usually makes it about 4-5 hours, but this weekend he could barely make it 3. He was squirming all night and it seemed like he was fighting sleep. I bought the baby merlins magic sleep suit and we are on our second night with it. First night he went 6.5 hours before I woke him and last night it was almost 8 hours!!! He's never slept this long! So far, I would definitely recommend it.

vamomtobe · January 2016

@Christa410 , I do now. At first I was thinking there's no way she needs to eat this often, and I didn't want to create a dependency there where there was no need. BUT! It took soooo long to get her back to sleep without nursing her that by the time she was back asleep, she'd be up again in no time probably actually hungry. And if she IS going through some sort of growth spurt, she very well may be hungry. For the sake of getting at least 45 min-1 hr of sleep for myself vs. practically none, and for piece of mind that she wasn't missing out on needed nutrition, I just started nursing her back to sleep each time. Don't know if it's the right thing to do, but it's just easier at this point.

momma2char · January 2016

I nurse mine back to sleep each time she wakes up overnight too, otherwise neither of us would sleep and she seems really hungry which made me think it's a growth spurt. She's just also fighting the swaddle like crazy now and she's SO awake! I thought with the growth spurt she would sleep more.. Usually she lasts 60-90 min awake at a time before she naps and now she can go like 3 hours before I put her down... It's insane, just changed that drastically in one day! And she would usually go to sleep between 7/7:30 and now we can't get her to sleep before 9pm

Christa410 · January 2016

@vamomtobe I've been nursing back to sleep too. I used to put him down awake in rock and play and he would go to sleep. We moved to crib and have to make sure he's fully asleep (patting, pacifier, nursing to sleep etc) before leaving the room or he gets so mad he won't go to sleep. Hoping it's a phase and he will soon learn how to sleep again.

And I may be purchasing that merlins Magic suit thing... Anything is worth a try for sleep!!

vamomtobe · January 2016

@Christa410 same here, I usually hold her for at least 45 minutes to be sure she's in a deep sleep before putting her down in the crib. I don't have to do that for naps, just at night. I've heard really amazing things about that merlin thing, let me know what you think if you do try it out! I remember it is kind of pricey but probably well worth some precious, precious sleep.

lindsay897 · January 2016

Just finished the 3rd night with the baby merlins magic sleep suit. Another 8 hours!!! Totally worth $40!!!

trishee13 · January 2016

I ordered the magic Merlin suit and I'm very anxiously awaiting its arrival! I hope it helps

helloaustin123 · January 2016

do yall find the merlin suit to be really warm? my baby tends to always be on the hot side so i worry about it being too thick of a suit

lrichardson11486 · January 2016

I was worried about my baby being hot too. That merlins thing almost looks like a snow suit in the pics lol

lindsay897 · January 2016

I was worried about him getting too hot so I turned the heat down to 68 degrees and he only has a diaper on under the suit. The foot holes and arm holes are open and the neck is low so there is some air getting to him. He doesn't seem to get too hot. He actually felt hotter with footed pj's and a sleep sack. It's pretty silly looking and was hard to hold back laughing.

annibanani0929 · January 2016

I'm totally going through the same things you all are talking about. 3.5 months, and sleep each night gets worse and worse. The naps during the day are better though! He is in the Merlin Magic Sleepsuit, and while it worked initially, he is still getting up. It does prevent him from startling awake and scratching himself though. Do you think there could be a correlation between longer naps during the day and not being able to fall asleep until 1:30am? He was a great sleeper up until now, and I think this lack of sleep is making him cranky throughout the day!

tracij12 · January 2016

annibanani0929 said:
I'm totally going through the same things you all are talking about. 3.5 months, and sleep each night gets worse and worse. The naps during the day are better though! He is in the Merlin Magic Sleepsuit, and while it worked initially, he is still getting up. It does prevent him from startling awake and scratching himself though. Do you think there could be a correlation between longer naps during the day and not being able to fall asleep until 1:30am? He was a great sleeper up until now, and I think this lack of sleep is making him cranky throughout the day!

There is definitely a correlation between daytime sleep and nighttime sleep but for us it's the opposite. When LO naps well she sleeps better at night.

altow1310 · January 2016

My son is almost 15 weeks and we have definitely been going through some type of sleep regression or growth spurt the past week and a half or so. It's harder to put him to bed now and he isn't sleeping through the night anymore. He used to sleep from 9:30-6:00 without waking up and now he's waking up 2-3 times a night. I haven't changed anything in his routine, so I'm hoping this is just a phase and that it will pass soon. Hang in there, mommas!

ERININSYDNEY · January 2016

jadi1215 said:

My son is almost 15 weeks and we have definitely been going through some type of sleep regression or growth spurt the past week and a half or so. It's harder to put him to bed now and he isn't sleeping through the night anymore. He used to sleep from 9:30-6:00 without waking up and now he's waking up 2-3 times a night. I haven't changed anything in his routine, so I'm hoping this is just a phase and that it will pass soon. Hang in there, mommas!

Oh wow, my LO hasn't hit sleep regression yet but your son's waking at 2-3 a night would be considered a really good night for us! My son typically wakes up every 3hours or so, every single night! That should put things in perspective for all of us huh?

Gee, can't wait to see what his sleep regression is like for us...

nianicho777 · February 2016

I thought i was the only one. I EBF so i thought the growth spurt has something to do with it. Hes waking ever 1.5-2 hours and we're exhausted!! Anyone know how long this lasts?

momma2char · February 2016

I'm onto my 3rd week of this I think, although last night was almost back to normal.. Hopefully it doesn't last too much longer!

Rikki_5 · February 2016

going thru the same thing its 4 am here have not slept a wink because my son keeps waking up every hour and a half. I'm bf and my husband has to work early mornings so it's all on me. Haven't had much sleep all week I'm exhausted and honestly starting to feel very depressed, as I'm writing this I'm crying. I've tried everything to get him to sleep, just a month ago he wasn't exactly sleeping thru the night but at least I'd get a 4 hour stretch. Now I just quit going to sleep at night because it's easier to stay awake then fall asleep and then get woken up every hour. I don't know what to do, I haven't had 8 hours of sleep since before he was born in October I just want some sleep

Rikki_5 · February 2016

woah just noticed my ticker says I'm 57 weeks preggo gotta change that LOL god that would suck...
So yeah, finally got him to sleep an hour ago and now it's morning. I ended up having to swaddle him (arms out) and he ended up falling asleep but I'm scared to swaddle him because he's starting to roll over. Guess it won't matter with the arms out though? Maybe I'll try that merlin thing... anyways been doing some research and here is an ideal 4 month old schedule. My son really hates taking naps I'm lucky if I get 2 1 hour naps in a day. I think this might be the problem but I can't force him to sleep? Please look at the schedule below and tell me: Should I wake him up in 1 hour (at 630 a.m.) and try to get him on this schedule? Is anyone up right now? lol here is "ideal" 4 month schedule:

4 months

Babies at this age are still sleeping a lot, about every 1.5 hours during the day. Nightfeedings are still the norm at this age (usually 2) and normally continue until baby is 8/9 months of age.

6:30am - up for the day, nursing/bottle
7:45am - 9:00am - nap#1, nurse/bottle upon wake-up
10:30am - 11:30am - nap#2, nurse/bottle upon wake-up
1:00pm - 2:15pm - nap#3, nurse/bottle upon wake-up
3:45pm - 4:30pm - nap#4, nurse/bottle upon wake-up
-- this nap is often only a 30-45 minute catnap
5:30pm - bedtime routine, nurse/bottle at the beginning
6:15pm - bedtime (baby to be asleep at this time)

SweetnSassy23 · February 2016

@Rikki_5

I would not wake LO but that is just me. We never wake a sleeping baby, and we feed on demand. In our house we follow the baby's schedule instead of enforcing one. I know what it's like to have a LO who won't nap.

And LO likely won't sleep 12 hours. Sleeping through the night is 6 hour stretches at this point. My LO doesn't nap as often as that schedule. The 4 month wake is exhausting. Hang in there!

momma2char · February 2016

I don't follow any schedules really except for bed time being within the same time frame each day (asleep by 7:30pm). My girl has been fighting naps like crazy lately and sometime it'll actually take me 30-45min to get her sleeping but I don't really let her skip naps, otherwise night time sleep will fall apart. I've actually had to go back to her sleeping in the swing for the past week to make sure I get full naps out of her because she wouldn't nap for me. She also only stays awake for an hour/hour and a half (max) at a time during the day before she's down for her next nap.. She seems to get overstimulated easily and needs time to rest and recharge! I found that she was waking up to eat a ton at night because she wasn't eating as much because she's been so distracted with everything going on around her- I've started doing all of her feedings in the rocking chair in the dark in her room with white noise and she does full feedings (and make sure she's not in pain from teething otherwise the sucking motion hurts her mouth and she doesn't eat as much). Now that I have those things set up during the day, night time sleep has really been improving! I was up with her hourly at night for almost a month and now the last 2 nights have been 3x a night max! I'm not sure if any of those suggestions might work for you! It seemed that those changes got us out of the crappy nights

vamomtobe · February 2016

@Rikki_5 I am in the same boat, I hope things get better soon! LO was doing these amazing 5 hour stretches from 8 til 1, sometimes even til 1:30 or 2 at about 2 months old, but at 3 months she stopped and now is up every hour and a half to two hours, sometimes every hour, and sometimes I can't even get her back down and I'm just holding her for hours at night. It feels like it's getting worse instead of better. I'm so exhausted. Plus my son has been getting up at 4 -4:30 am for the past 3 months for some reason, on extra fun days around 3:30. And will not go back to sleep. I love hearing reassuring stories @momma2char , I hope that's us soon!

momma2char · February 2016

@vamomtobe - I think I spoke too soon about not letting my daughter miss naps... Haha! She caught me by surprise when she down right refused to nap yesterday from 11am onwards (one 10 minute nap yesterday) and today she has only napped 10 minutes so far and it's almost noon. I totally thought I was out of the regression but it continues

I did still make sure she had full feedings to the best of my ability yesterday and she ended up having a decent night. I've always said I would cherish each moment and love each phase she's going through- this one is so tough but I'm trying to love on the fact that she's learning so much and is interested in things going on around her

I just really miss her naps!!

Rikki_5 · February 2016

I gave River a bottle of formula last night and he slept from midnight until 5 a.m. I just needed some sleep and the formula seemed to work....I want to continue breastfeeding though. Everyone is telling me to give him Rice Cereal has anyone introduced solids yet?

momma2char · February 2016

I've been considering that but her nights have really improved, I'm just really struggling on nap time the last few days

she turns 4 months old in less than a week and we've been given the go-ahead to try her on oatmeal cereal at that point to see if she is ready! If she is, I'm hoping it helps stretch out night time feedings

SweetnSassy23 · February 2016

@Rikki_5

We won't start solids until 6 months and we are skipping rice cereal. It has no nutritional value and it's just filler. I would prefer baby have breast milk. Even though it doesn't keep baby as full, it has nutrients and antibodies.

Glad you got a good chunk of sleep.

melalinga · February 2016

I have introduced solids of different flavors and textures but in saying that i certainly don't make a meal out of them to fill baby up.

Rikki_5 · February 2016

melalinga said:

I have introduced solids of different flavors and textures but in saying that i certainly don't make a meal out of them to fill baby up.

you've introduced solids of different flavors and textures but don't make meals out of it? so you just are testing the baby's palate? I was wondering if anyone tried Rice Cereal because a lot of older women are telling me that helps get baby to sleep through the night. In fact, every time I turn around all I hear about is women telling me to give him rice cereal. I certainly didn't mean to imply that I would use that as a crutch to fill baby up. In fact, I haven't even tried solids yet because my doc says it's best to wait until 5-6 months.

The past few days has been better. He has been sleeping better. I decided to go with the no schedule suggestion, thanks to whomever suggested it!!

Jessheuv · February 2016

Tough stuff- very similar boat here. ;My LO wakes every 45 min till ten and then every 1-1.5 hours after. I started bringing her to our guest room and sleeping with her on the bed at either 10:30 or midnight. I made it as safe as possible. Basically I made a perimeter around the bed with hard pillows, then set her in the middle of the bed with no blankets. I feed her whenever she wakes up in a side lying position, and then move down near the bottom of the bed to sleep until her next waking. This allows me to get short bursts of sleep and I feel like I can function again. I was feeling like a zombie for a while when trying to keep her in the crib all night. Hope it starts getting better for you soon...hang in there!

MrsN092714 · February 2016

@Rikki_5 isn't it funny how people try to peer pressure you into solids! When they are little everyone says a bottle of formula before bed will help them sleep and now is cereals! I think our babies will sleep however they want, no matter what we do! At our last Drs apt our Dr strongly recommended not starting solids until 6 months and told us, and I quote "don't give into the prefer pressure your going to get, your baby will be eating solids for the rest of his life, no need to rush it". We were also told at 6 months we could skip the cereal all together and move into much more nutritious foods.
My boy is 15 weeks and up until a week ago he was in a pavlik harness. I thought the change in sleep patterns came with his new found freedom as he is kicking around in his sleep and wasn't able to before, however, I think that may have been the first few nights and that it just melted into the start of our regression. I tried a dream feed last night around 1030 and he slept until 2 but then was up every hour until 5 when he got up for the day. He hasn't been napping much at all. 10 mins here, 15 mins there and then every couple days we get a nap in that lasts an hour or longer, but it's usually on my chest and the thought of moving and waking him up isn't worth getting up and getting things done! We are just going to keep powering through. I feel for you mommas who are going through this and back at work! Every phase comes to an end right? I'm sure as soon as we feel like we have got the sleeping thing back under control it'll all go to hell again!

vamomtobe · February 2016

@Jessheuv that's pretty similar to what we've been experiencing. When I "give up" trying to lay her in her crib for the night, usually 11:30 - 12:30, I hold her in the crook of my arm in bed and try to sleep until she wakes from hunger. I've been scared to do it, but after 6 weeks of this I need rest, period. Last night I tried laying her down after holding her from 11:30 til about 1:30 after nursing, and SHE SLEPT IN HER CRIB FROM 2 TIL 5. It was awesome. This won't last forever, but damn it is rough.

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