Have you tried not letting him fall back asleep so quickly? I would be inclined to sit up in bed, turn a dull light on, feed him and if he dozes off again before he has really fed, wake him up again. Tickle his feet, his jaw (just under his ear), unwrap him slightly, talk to him. Anything to gently rouse him enough to take a decent feed. Change his bum, then offer the other side and resettle him off to sleep then. You can also try dream feeding him before he wakes, this worked between about 4-7 months with DD1, pushed out her waking another couple of hours.
All 4 month olds certainly do not sleep through the night! I think there is a sleep regression phase around the 4 month mark, hopefully that's all it is and he settles back into his 9 hour one wake up routine again soon. Big , it can be so hard but hang in there!
Sounds like the dreaded four month sleep regression. It hit us really hard.
Do you think he definitely wants to feed when he wakes? Ignore me if you've already tried, but would it be worth giving other settling methods a crack first before offering boob? Cuddles, rocking, bouncing, singing - or get Dad on the job, so little man doesn't smell your milk? For the last six weeks I was feeding DD every two hours overnight but realised that we'd both got into the habit of doing it; I started stretching the night feeds out again and try other techniques first if she wakes under the three-hour mark.
Ignore the 'solids make them sleep longer' idjits.
I'm sorry Charlotte, it's really rough - especially with two. I hope his sleep settles down again soon hon.
I'm not sure if it's an option, but we put our DD's cot directly next to our bed, with the side off so she was sleeping abit further away from me. (We had the cot against the wall, the side next to our bed off, then our bed right against the cot) that way if/when she woke i still had easy access and didn't have to get up to feed her, etc. it seemed to work in that i think she couldn't smell the milk as much so it didn't wake her, and i wasn't right against her when she fell asleep, ITMS? she was next to me, but not against me, so i wasn't waking her when i moved during the night, or she wasn't startled when she woke and wasn't against me, and the smell of my milk wasn't waking her as much.
It does get better. Promise.
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