sleep problem

[dingading]

My daughter is now 4 months old. Recently she?s started to be as a new born at night again, awake every two hours. We have good bedtime routine and it?s never been a problem. As a 2 months old she?s been sleeping almost through the night just waking up for one feed. I have no idea what?s going on, what might be the reason??? any advice would be greatly received.

Many thanks

[snowboarder]

Oh dear...see here

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,318428,318428#msg-318428

and here:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,340234,340303#msg-340303

Mine did the same. Lulled us into a false sense of security!

Sadly he's now 5.5 months and still bad - I have all the books (although too tired to read/act on!), we have a bedtime bath feed sleep routine...it seems to me it's just luck whether they sleep or not after the obvious. I was in despair about it but actually I'm now finding the 3/4 wakes (or every half hour as was one night last week!) easier to deal with mostly because I'm just accepting that it's 'normal' and he's not doing it to irritate me...

I do like the no cry sleep solution and if you and your partner have the energy think there is useful advice there.

Sorry no real help. Good luck and I'll be thinking of you as I sit and feed baby snowboarder at 3am! x

[dingading]

Thanks for that Snowboarder.

Hope it's just one of the phases babies are going through...

All the best for you!!!

[lorraineliyanage]

I had something similar with my daughter around 5 months, she stopped sleeping through. It got a bit better when she was weaned, we would stuff her full of stodgy foods like potato and bread for dinner, then give her a 'dream feed' bottle around 9pm, then again at 11 or midnight to keep her going for a bit longer. She's a year and wakes up once, or every now and then sleeps through.

[Pickle]

I'm pretty sure there's a growth spurt that happens around 4 months - I remember both of my kids started waking for extra feeds around that age. I was one of the lucky ones, and after a couple of weeks they both settled back down to their usual routines again. So you may be lucky... ride it out for a couple of weeks and normal service may be resumed!

[hpsaucey]

Yes - the usual I'm afraid. Babies do change their sleep patterns (usually when you just thought you'd got it sussed)!

Teething/ growth spurt/ needing more milk or starting to think about solids but I guess the previous posts have it covered!

Good luck!!!

[intexasatthe moment]

Article in Independant on getting your child to sleep ,not using controlled crying.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/how-to-help-your-baby-sleep-1791130.html

[The Nappy Lady]

There is definitely a trend here, very interesting. 2nd time around, having now got to 11 months the 4 month phase was without doubt the hardest bit, bad sleep, very demanding, wanting to sit up, not quite able to, frustrated baby, tired Mummy etc. etc. I called in both my Mum and my Mother-in-Law for help and somehow got through it, but I do remember feeling at my wits end for a few weeks.....

Good luck, you have my sympathy.

Molly

[snowboarder]

I did hope that it was a phase - indeed there were signs of improvement - however it's proving to not to be - really hope it is for you dingading- but OH that independent article - 15 MONTHS??? No, please (weakly)...

We already pretty much do all it suggests. Sigh.

Edited to say SORRY will really try to stop moaning about sleep...

[crystal7]

My thoughts exactly snowboarder- 15 MONTHS! I'm only halfway there!

I remember 4 months being very hard 1-2 hourly wakings etc. and it has settled down to 3-4 wake-ups per night which is manageable- just! Like snowboarder I think acceptance is key, I've come to the conclusion that baby C7 just isn't a great sleeper and hope that eventually our bath, story, feed, sleep routine and (mostly) 2 hours of naps each day will pay off! At least she is a happy little thing during the day!

Having said that she did sleep through for the first time on Monday night (or 10-6 anyway!) But last night we were back to 3 wake ups and a 5.30 start today- urgh!

Hopefully this is just a short phase for you dingading! Good luck!

[BellendenBear]

My 8 month old did the same thing. Slept through from about 9-10 weeks then started waking again at 4 1/2 months. This was around the time that breast feeding became a wrestling match as she became distracted, wriggly and annoying. I wanted to avoid early weaning if possible. The thing that seemed to work was stretching out her milk feeds to 4 hours apart (8 overnight). She was then hungry, took big feeds, was much less distracted and slept through again. Bliss.

What has happened at 8 months as I have gone back to work is a totally different story and one for which I have not found an answer. Grrrrrr.

[frump]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_0_32?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=solve+your+child%27s+sleep+problems&sprefix=solve+your+child%27s+sleep+problem

Dr Richard Ferber solved all our sleep problems...14 and 17 year olds both sleeping through the night nicely!

Seriously, the book really helped when they were tiny and I had matchsticks holding my eyes open at work.

[verds]

Oh yeah, the 4 month growth spurt that no-one tells you about...

Feed, feed, feed in the evening. The more milk they drink, the more you make. We had two weeks of constant feeding, which seems a nightmare at the time. Then all of a sudden they go into another phase.

[KateMontero]

Mine therefore had a growth spurt for 4 months as he also went from being a fairly good sleeper at this stage to sleeping like a newborn and waking at 5am. He is now 9 months and we still have frequent insanely bad nights. Although sometimes he sleeps through as well. Still wakes at 5am though. I think I tried everything in the world to remedy his sleep problems and literally nothing worked. I could have saved myself a lot of frustration by accepting it and napping in the afternoon ;)

[dingading]

Thanks for help everyone.

Definitely it?s much better when you just accept it how it is. Just hope it won?t take as long as 15 months ;)

[Fuschia]

http://www.askmoxie.org/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

http://www.askmoxie.org/2008/01/wonder-weeks-li.html

4 month "sleep regression" is caused by a developmental leap.