4 month sleep regression

Hi Ladies,

Hoping someone may be able to offer some advice. My DD had been sleeping really well since 9 weeks of age - bed between 7 and 8pm, dreamfeed at 11pm, wakes for a feed at 5.30am then back to sleep for another hour or two. However the last week has been a nightmare. She still goes down between 7 and 8pm and has her dreamfeed at 11pm however every night she is waking at 3.30am for a feed and refuses to go back to sleep. She falls asleep in my arms no problem but will wake after 10 or 20 minutes for the rest of the night until I finally get her up in the morning. It doesn't matter if I feed her to sleep, rock/bounce to sleep or even bring her into bed with me - she just can't seem to let herself fall asleep. She's so exhausted that even her day naps are out. She was never a good day napper - usually only having 40 mins, occassionally longer but I didn't mind so much as she was sleeping so well at night.

Anyway my questions are - has anyone else experience this 4 month sleep regression, and if so, how long did it last and did you actively do anything to help your bub through it or did it just work itself out with time. I'm thinking I should probably start to get DD to self settle as she has always been helped to sleep but it was never a problem until now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as these sleepless nights are driving me insane!

TIA!

i think u will find 90% of us went through the same sorta thing at 4 months. Mia's lasted for a couple weeks but seems to be starting again *sigh* theres nothing u can really do that ur not already doing, just go with the flow, hopefully it will be over sooner rather than later.

we had the same thing here at about 4 months...and again at 6 and 7 months!! Every time she would be about to learn something new her sleep would go out the window...waking in the night for two-three hours! or up every two hours!! lasted a few weeks or untill she had mastered the new skill...be it waving, sitting, crawling, clapping etc .
I have no advice on how to make her sleep more or change it, we just went with it and hoped it would end soon....which it did, she slept from 6pm till 6.30am with one quick wake and feed at 1pm!
I feed or rock DD to sleep for every sleep (day and night) at times when she was waking lots and i was tired i convinced my self that she was having all these problems because i was feeding her to sleep and that she needed to self settle, but now...with more sleep under my belt im dont mind haveing to help her to sleep, i can see that its not because she doesnt self settle that she was waking lots.

Big hugs for the sleeplessness....i just keep telling my self ''it will all change again soon'' but then that is true also when you are sleeping well, i always remind myself to enjoy the good long sleeps im getting at the mo because ''it will all change again soon''!! lol :)

Thanks Hollye and Beckoes it's nice to know that it only lasted a few weeks for both of you. Last night was particularly bad - waking every half hour from 10.30pm. I'm praying tonight is a little bit better. I can't even manage to grab a nap in the day as she's not sleeping well there either. Oh well, hopefully only another week or so...

Hollye is right, most of us have been through it.

If you google "4 month sleep regression" you will see its a very common phenomenon. Sad, but true! We just rode it out. We thought he was a bit young to really do much "sleep training", so we just had to tough it out. The worst of Peter's bad sleeps lasted for maybe 3 weeks or so. But it would be like, a few bad nights and then just when you thought you might go crazy, a good night thrown in.

Hoping for a good night for you!!

BTW, be warned. It happens again at between 8-10 months. We've had a very bad day....

Aw, Claire, I'm very sorry. We had a regression at 4 months too, but it wasn't as bad as what you're experiencing. I really hope she gets through this patch soon and gives you some decent rest before too long.
Have you got any family or friends who can help you out by looking after her for a couple of hours during the day so you can have a nap?

Thanks for the reply Jessica - I don't plan on doing anything harsh like CC but some gentle methods to get Belle to self settle. I have the No Cry Sleep Solution book so hoping something from there may work. I just think in the long run it will be better for Belle as she's so overtired all the time and miserable. She wants to sleep but it's like her body won't let her - poor thing.

Thanks Snacks unfortunately no family close by and friends all work so not really an option. Three weeks seems so far away now! Had another shocking night last night and have been holding DD in my arms for all her sleeps today so she can atleast get some rest. Here's hoping it will pass soon!

Hi Claire

Did that sleep regression thing finally sort itself out? I am just realising we're having the same problem, I couldn't understand why DD wasn't sleeping anymore, when she's been a great sleeper since 5 wks. I didn't know what I was doing wrong - was she too hot? too cold? wrapped too tight? not tight enough? hungry? Has been doing my head in. This 4-month sleep regression would explain a lot... however she'll be 5 months old next week. How much longer can it possibly last? I need sleep!

Oh I feel for you Bonniesmum. I hate to tell you this but after 6 or 8 weeks of terrible sleep (ie waking every half hour or so) I couldn't take it anymore and booked into sleep school. Because I had been putting Belle to sleep in my arms she just couldn't put herself back to sleep when she woke in the night. As hard and horrible as sleep school was it really did help us and Belle's sleep has improved dramatically. The most she wakes now is once a night and her day sleeps have improved heaps too (as long as shes not teething lol!). I know it's not for everyone and I honestly never thought I'd resort to sleep school as I considered myself a 'gentle parent', but I just couldn't take it anymore. I'd tried all the gentle parenting techniques and they just didn't work for us. Belle is so much happier now that she gets some decent sleep -she was so grizzly all the time which I now realise was because she was cronically (sp?) overtired.

I know others have gotten through the sleep regression without having to resort to something as drastic as sleep school so I hope you're one of them. Good luck hun and I really hope things improve for you soon.