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4 month sleep regression tips!???

My LO is currently sleepin 5hours then is wide awake. I give him the dummy, change his nappy and feed him and hes still awake. I hear at 4months they go through sleep regression.

i dont want to reinforce negative sleep associations but im not sure what the best way isto get him back to sleep Is during this phase.

his schedule is along the following lines

8am wake and chill

9am - feed 7oz

10:15- nap 30 mins

play

11.30 30min nap

play

12.30 feed7oz

1.30 2 hr nap but 30min nap by himself then held for remaining

4.00 - feed 7oz

5.00 nap 30 min

7pm - bedtime routine. Bath feed and in bed by 7.30pm

1pm - wake, change nappy, feed

at times he can go to 4pm other times it takes an hour to settle him bk to sleep. we then put him into our bed in the morning for the remainin of the morning.

i know its a lot of information But just want some advice. 

Any help much appreciated

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Replies

  • Hi there 

    Would just like to shed some light on how we managed the sleep regression. It really depends on if you would let your baby cry it out.

    For us we had a baby who slept well in the day and all night. She is bottle fed so we managed to wean her off night feedings by increasing her day time feeds and gradually decreasing her night time ones. We stopped changing her in the night as this would wake her up more. 

    However once the 4 month sleep regression kicked in she was waking up 3 or 4 times in the night and we had to settle her ourselves with rocking or a dummy. Her naps were a struggle too. Only lasting 30 minutes at a time but she couldn't go longer than 1 and a half hrs awake time so as you can imagine I could get nothing done with the constant rocking and putting the dummy back in.

    So we started sleep training her. We removed her dummy cold turkey as this was a sleep prop which relied on us to come back to her to put the dummy back in for her when she woke and also stopped rocking her to sleep. We put her down when we knew she was due for a nap or bed time watching her cues, and so put her down sleepy but awake. Then we keep everything dark, quiet read a story to relax her and kiss her night night and walk away. It's hard the first few nights because you'll want to give in and cuddle the baby when they cry but it will only make the baby rely on you to get them back to sleep again. Eventually she managed to self settle and now I can put her down  for her naps with minimal fuss, they last longer and bed time she sleeps from 6.30 to 6am.

    Just to mention we did timed intervals when she did cry so the first night we did 3 minutes, 5 minutes then 10 minutes to go to her. We didn't pick her up we just patted her and reassured her we were still here. The next night we increased our intervals. It does work. By day 3 we saw a massive improvement if you be consistant sorry this is so long and hope it helps you in some ways if it's the method for you.

  • How often did u feed in the daytime? my baby is on the 98th percentile already so scared of overfeeding him.

    feeds are 7oz at 9am, 12.30pm, 4pm, 7pm and then usually one at night (altho turning into 2 at night currently) 

    did you remove the dummy during day time too? 

    for the day naps i have to rock then put him down. I assume u carried on doin this in the daytime and focussed more on the night time first and once that got sorted the daytime naps sorted itself out?

    thanks for your help x

  • Hiya

    Yes the night time was priority first so we did that. For naps, we have taken the dummy off her now also but this was after we tackled the night time.

    So when we put her down we make sure she's ready, by rubbing eyes yawning etc we do a similar routine as bed time routine. We leave her in her cot for a maximum of 1 hour and 10 minutes. If she wasn't asleep by then we picked her up took her downstairs for a play for max 20 minutes then try again. I went up in timed intervals for naps too but she went down usually after 20 minutes herself. If she woke up early from a nap I'd give her 10 to 15 minutes to see if she would go back on her own if not I'd get her out no longer than 30 minutes. 

    Il just give you an idea of my routine she is 5 and a half months now

    6am feed 8 oz then play 

    7.30 am first nap usually lasts an hour

    9am feed usually between 6 to 7 oz then play

    10.30 am nap usually 2 hours

    12pm feed 6 to 7 oz and she has pureed veg then play

    1.30pm nap usually an hour sometimes less sometimes longer

    3 pm feed 7 oz

    4.30pm last nap which is a cat nap of 30 mins if it's long we move bed time routine further up

    5pm play

    5.30pm bath 

    5.45pm bottle she always has a bigger feed before bed so 8oz 

    6 pm story time then bed by 6.15pm

    So she has a total of 5 feeds in the day only. Between 6 and 8 oz. I found that I was waking her up for her last bottle and decided that this was her bed time so I shifted the times accordingly. Just means that she has her first feed at 6 am. She eats every 3 hours sometimes more sometimes less but she let's me know when she's full and then just means by her next feed she will have more.

    It's not set in stone but it's a guide I try to stick to so she can get to grips with it and helps set her body clock. It will all change again im sure and then il adjust to her needs for then. Good luck if there's anything else you need to ask I'd be happy to help

  • Great! Thats useful! Ye im gonna keep his dummy on daytime naps n start off tonight with the nightime without dummy. Dont wanna change too much all at once! Ill let ya know how the first night goes 🙈

    want to get him into a good routine with no sleep associations. So nightime no dummy and let him cry for a bit before goin in and just sushing. What if he doesnt calm down after the sushing! Do u ever pick him up?

  • He will don't worry. The first night will be hard because it seems like a lifetime I think first night it took us 1 hour to get her to go to sleep 2nd night 20 minutes and third night I think it was around 10 you will notice an improvement I've heard it can take up to a week so you and your partner need to pick a good time preferably the weekend and have a good solid plan.

    So on the 1st night we timed it at 3 mins then went in then 5 mins then after that 10 minutes. And then continue going in every 10 minutes even if they stop crying and they're are fussing or still awake go to him to reassure him. 2nd night we started off at 5 then 10 then 12 minutes and if still not asleep continue wirh every 12 minutes and third increased the time again you'll be amazed but it's the consistency that works. And it's horrible to hear you LOL cry but it's only because they have only learnt how to get to sleep from you. Try to stay with him for no more than a minute during your checks because if he's like mine it will probably make him cry more as to why your not picking him up. Fingers crossed!

  • Apologies for my poor English! I was very distracted ha

  • Lol! Dont worry I understood every word! i thought since im takin his dummy away at night, im gonna take him out the merlin sleepsuit too! Hes too strong for it and feels restrained! 

    good job i have nothing planned tomorrow! 

  • First night down and im feelin better than ever!

    he moaned a few times but soothed himself before the 3minutes so i didnt need to go in! Went in once to pat n sush and once for a feed at 2.30am! Its great!!! Dont know why i didnt do this sooner! 

    ThanksMUM2TB

  • That is amazing! Wow what a good boy well done to you! 

  • I knew it was too good to be true 🙈 Is the second night meant to be worse???

    he started the night well, had a moan and settled himself. It then got ton1030 and he was crying so waited 3 mins then went into pat and sush. He did not calm down and got himself even more worked up, which meant i had to pick him up in the end.

    the night then carried on with him waking every hour, i left it 5 minutes then same went to sush and pat. 

    Im still goving him his dummy to nap in day time, when did you stop this part?

    very tired mummy today 😔

  • I know it's horrible to hear him cry but when you pick him up or give him a dummy it will mean when he wakes up again he will cry until you give it to him. Same with my little girl she got in a right state one day and I gave in and cuddled her and had to start back to the beginning. You did what you felt you had to do though and comforted him. Usually if they don't need feeding, aren't uncomfortable, need a nappy change or in pain he wants help to get to sleep from mummy. And he must learn to do that on his own for both happy mummy and baby. Honestly though it's not for everyone but I was so tired this was the only way and she's such a different baby now she's so happy less grumpy in the day.

    Day 1 she took ages to go down herself but then when she woke in the night we still timed it and took turns to shush and pat for no more than a minute she cried more when we were there and left but we kept at it. In the middle of the night it seems like forever if you stick at it and the first few days you will lose sleep from doing it but it's worth it in the long run. We started at the weekend so we could catch up on any lost sleep. He knows your there he just wants help to sleep. 

    He seems to go down well at first? Is he being rocked to sleep when you put him down? The key for us was to put her down awake but obviously a time when she was tired. Overtired Ness made it harder for her to self settle but we still stuck at it as we didn't want to confuse her.

  • That might be my problem, i pat n sush till he calms down instead of a minute and leave. I will try that tonight.

    we ave the same routine at 7, we bath feed and then hold him till hes drowsy then put him down awake. He then falls asleep himself without the dummy. I could tell he was over tired last night, as he wanted to sleep at 6, but i didnt wanna give him a nap so close to bedtime. its selfish but didnt want to put him down so early either because daddy wants some time with him after work.

    another go tonight, no picking up and pat n sush for a minute then leave. If he carries on then time him again.

    he only naps 30minutes 4 times a day. Compared to ur LO thats not alot... 

  • I stopped the dummy for naps 2 weeks later because it's a different kind of sleep I really wanted her to be rested from nights but it's entirely up to you I know people have tackled them both at the same time. 

  • Oh she was exactly the same! 4 naps at 30 minutes each that's why I kept going back in to give her a dummy but she just wouldn't go back to sleep then. But since taking her dummy she's having longer sleeps. 

    That's really good for the routine I found though that when they are overtired they wake up more in the night. I'm exactly the same with husband coming in when she goes to bed. However last night she had a nap till 5.15 and still went down at 6.30 and slept through so don't be frightened of a later nap it just means bed time will bed easier. 

    The other day though she completely dropped her nap in the afternoon so I had to do the bedtime routine at 5 so she went down at half 5 it sounds ridiculous but she still woke up same time for the morning at 6. I jut didn't want her overtired 

  • Thats great to know! At what point did u remove the dummy for day time naps? I dont think i can do that yet if hes playing up at night. 

    so does ur LO not have a dummy at all Even during the day?

  • No I didn't think it would work but it has. I still keep her dummy for if we are out and about and she's cranky but other than that she knows she won't have it when she's in her cot. I removed her dummy when I knew she was having a solid 11 to 12 hrs of sleep in the night and it was around 2 weeks later i started to do it but i could have started sooner. The reason i did it because she was only having 30 minute naps and I got a bit worried she would have got confused but her night time wasn't affected whilst she still had her dummy for naps and not night. It jut got annoying her being cranky between naps and me having to constantly try and get her back by putting her dummy back in 

  • Hi Newmummylove

    I'm Kathryn, I gave birth to a sleep thief and to cut a long story short I am now a Family Sleep Consultant. How many weeks is your LO right now? What times is he sleeping from and until at night?

  • Hi Mumtosleepthief

    well last night he slept 730-130. he was then in and out of sleep till 2.45, i then fed him and he slept til 545 this morning. At this time i always put him into my bed for a cuddle and he sleeps till 8ish with me 

  • Oh i forgot to add he is 17weeks

  • Well that sounds like a better night, if only they were like that every night hey! What gestation week was he born? What do you know about the 4month sleep regression?

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