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4 Month Sleep Regression

classygal15classygal15 member
in September 2016 Moms
I wanted to reach out and see what other moms have done for sleep regressions. My baby is 4 1/2 months and used to sleep great. For the last couple weeks though he won't go 3 or 4 hours at night without eating. It used to be every hour until the Merlin Sleep Suit gave us a few more between each feeding. Still it's starting to wear us out... I've tried mixing in cereal with breast milk, formula, being very consistent with naps and nap/bedtime routine, giving him lots of playtime during the day and nothing seems to help. I keep reading that by this age he should be sleeping longer at night. Any advice?? Btw he gets about 3 naps during the day and they're about 45 minutes long. Sometimes I get one good 2 hour one! 
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Re: 4 Month Sleep Regression

  • hejo2016hejo2016 member
    That's no fun! Babies seem to like to change things up to keep us on our toes! No advice really, it honestly might be something you need to ride out. I think this age is when they start doing/noticing more things, and that affects the sleep. I have heard that anything you try for "sleep training", stick with for two weeks before giving up if it's not working.
    Hang in there!
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  • hejo2016hejo2016 member
    I just read this, so hilarious! :)
    https://thespinoff.co.nz/parenting/17-01-2017/emily-writes-my-baby-slept-through-the-night-six-times-so-now-im-an-expert-on-getting-your-kid-to-do-that/
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  • jenkar01jenkar01 member
    I have been dealing with this with Xavier. He doesn't wake up wanting to eat more often, he is just wanting to be held or play. He has his good nights and his bad nights. I am just hoping there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm told it is normal and it will get better but lord Momma needs her sleep. So does daddy.
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  • lilaroslilaros member
    I have no advice because my baby started the 4 month sleep regression at birth. I just wanted to say that the article you posted @hejo2016 is hilarious!
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  • classygal15classygal15 member
    Haha thank you ladies! Good to know I'm not alone, and I loved that article!!
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  • BabyBoyH92016BabyBoyH92016 member
    Well I feel like we are back to the newborn stage when it comes to sleep . My LO picked up a stomach bug last week and also got a cold so he was sleeping really poorly. He's doing much better but still isn't 100%. Sleep still really sucks. It's like he's forgotten all his self soothing skills. He used to suck on his hands, or sometimes would start to babble/make sounds until he fell asleep. I'm not sure if he's waking up in pain or just really uncomfortable and just can't self soothe, but this really sucks. 
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  • jennlynn777jennlynn777 member
    Well I do know that when my little guy was suffering with reflux it made him super uncomfortable and really messed up any sleep habits he should have been acquiring. Anytime Luke isn't feeling perfect I see the change of behavior in his sleep patterns before anything else. I'm sure it will get back to normal when he is feeling 100%.

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  • jellybiehnjellybiehn member

    I'm not sure this fits with a sleep regression, but my good little sleeper is gone! She is about 5.5 months old now and used to sleep from 8 until 6 every night. Now she has suddenly decided that 4am is the new wake up time, and it has been 5 days of this so it seems to be sticking around. Nothing in her routine has changed, just taking a bigger bottle at bedtime.

    My question is, what approach should I take to get her to sleep again? Nursing her worked until last night, so I'm not positive that she is really hungry when waking. I change her if needed, keep lights off. Tried to sooth her in the crib and haven't been rocking her back to sleep. Last night nothing worked and I finally let her cry it out and she was asleep again within 5 minutes after trying everything else for over an hour! (soother, nursing, even gave her a bunny that worked for a few minutes...)

    Am I just kinda screwed cause she has been STTN this whole time and now can't self sooth back to sleep? Should I nurse her every time just in case she really is hungry or just suck it up and try to get her back to sleep in her crib even if it takes longer?

    Thanks in advance guys!

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  • BabyBoyH92016BabyBoyH92016 member
    @jellybiehn I know the easy thing to do is nurse (I've done it plenty!) but if she's really not hungry, I think you are going to create a habit of her to continue to wake up at 4. 

    I went through something similar and we ruled out hungry so ultimately we would just soothe or have him self soothe. Not always the easiest option so I think you have to sometimes take it night by night and see how much strength you have or how tired you are. Sometimes it's just not worth the fight. Also ok to let them cry sometimes and try to figure it out (after you've ruled other things out). My LO has different levels of crying. When he's low level crying/fussing I definitely try to let him work it out on his own for 10-15 minutes. If he does his high pitched banshee scream, i come to his aid and help soothe. 
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  • jennlynn777jennlynn777 member
    Up until 3 days ago Luke was still waking up 2 times at night to eat. He would take a full 6 ounces both times. I have never tried to take away night feeds with any of my kids because I believe in feeding on demand. Not to say this is the case for every child but I have some fairly nice size babies with big appetites. My girls didn't start sleeping through the night until they were 6 months old. Luke is drinking 6 ounces every 3 hours from 6 am to 5pm. Before that he was waking at around 10 or 11 and then again around 2 or 3 to eat. He has begun sleeping the full 8 hours on his owe at almost 5 months. Before when he was waking up I would change him, feed him, burp him, and put him straight back to bed. He would sometimes cry and sometimes play himself to sleep. Either way I made him put himself back to sleep. 
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  • hejo2016hejo2016 member
    Has anyone done any sleep "training" (hate that term) for nap time? How did you do it? We'all wait until 6mo, but I'm thinking we might need to try something.
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  • BabyBoyH92016BabyBoyH92016 member
    @hejo2016 We did it for nighttime sleep only and it went pretty well. According to a sleep book I read, day and night sleep is very different and is actually controlled by different parts of the brain. Training for daytime sleep is more difficult than nighttime sleep. I was not up for the challenge especially since my LO loves napping in his swing and will rarely protest when i put him in the swing for nap time. It's just so easy.

    My husband however is starting to suggest more frequently that we put him in the crib for nap time and I'm always the one vetoing the idea. I'm leaving town this weekend, so I have a feeling my husband will attempt to sleep train for naps, since I won't be there to stop it.


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  • hejo2016hejo2016 member
    @BabyBoyH92016 which book was that? 
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  • jellybiehnjellybiehn member
    My little girl is still napping in her swing as well. I tried tansitioning her to the crib for daytime naps but it wasn't going well. She goes down so easily in the swing and sleeps longer stretches. She has no problem going down in the crib at night so I gave up for now and we do the swing for all naps. We will try again in a bit but right now this works best for us. 

    I don't really know the specifics of sleep training but I have been tryin to listen to her more. I will let her cry for a few minute intervals, going back in and putting her soother in. But if I have to do it more than 3 times or if the crying is escalating than I take her out and try again in an hour or so and she goes down much easier. When I was trying to get her on a schedule with naps it just ended up stressing us both out, and has been going much better listening to her and paying less attention to the clock. She goes down 2 hours after waking up and I aim for 4 pm at the latest for her last nap and anything in between is just guided by her crankiness level! 

    Really I'm just making all this up as I go along but it seems to be working for us for now !
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  • BabyBoyH92016BabyBoyH92016 member
    @hejo2016 Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It's the book that advocates for CIO. We did it at 3.5 months and were pretty successful and it honestly wasn't that bad. I left the house for the 3 days we did it, but he only cried for 30minutes max. Not hours like some people experience.

    Its not perfect and we've experienced regressions especially after we had a major illness (stomach flu then bad cold)  So in my experience it's not a one and done type training, but usually we got back on track easily.  Recently instead of retraining I put a stuffed animal in his crib and gave him a little piece of a burp cloth he likes to hold onto and it's helped tremendously. He'll play with the toy and hold on to the cloth for comfort until he falls asleep. I picked a toy that I didn't worry about suffocation, and he doesn't get the whole burp cloth. I think the official recommendation is nothing in the crib for the first year, so I was nervous giving him anything. I still worry a little and plan on talking to his pediatrician about it at his 6 month appointment. 
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  • jennlynn777jennlynn777 member
    edited February 2017
    Yes we did sleep training for naps. I mentioned this in another post a while back actually. Luke was staying awake 3 and 4 hours at a time and after some research I realized that it was really unhealthy for him. He was super fussy during the day to and it just made things that much harder. At 3 month he wasn't supposed to go longer than 1 1/2 hours between naps. So we started putting him down at the 1-2 hour mark and made him put himself to sleep. He cried every single time and it was rough! But we needed to break the habit. We did this for about 2 weeks before his body really started to enjoy and need those naps at the 1-2 hour mark. I also read that it is common for them to take very short naps during the day. Even 15 minutes is considered a nap. So now I just look for the little clues he is sleepy like rubbing his eyes, yawning, irritable, not wanting to play with toys, and etc. Then I just let him put himself to sleep. He makes his own schedule every single day and every day his sleep needs are just a bit different. Some naps are 30 minutes and some naps are 3 hours. As long as I am putting him down when he is tired though he seems to be a happy baby during the day. Hope this helps. :-)
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  • jellybiehnjellybiehn member
    Lol yeah I tried a few times to get her to go down for a longer nap after a 15 min nap in the car. I didn't think I was long enough but I had one angry little girl who refused to go down. I now count those as her nap and she does fine with only 15 minutes, usually just sleeps longer at her next nap.
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  • jenkar01jenkar01 member
    Xavier is the same way with naps. One day he will take 15-30 mins naps and the next day he will take 1-2 hrs naps. It all depends on how well he sleeps during the night. Like you I just watch for his cues. His biggest one is he rubs his nose and eyes when he is tired. Sometimes takes a minute for him to go down because well he likes to be rocked or sang to but I'm okay with that. He goes down easy for the grandparents so I know it is just with us he wants that which I am fine with. It is our special time together.
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  • hejo2016hejo2016 member
    Interestingly, my husband just informed me yesterday that he lets her cry it out on the days he's home with her for nap time. Gee, woulda been nice to know!
    My pediatrician friend actually suggested that book for our son. I'll have to look at it. 
    Thanks!
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