is it 4 months regression?

[gidmos44]

Hello!! last 2 days, my LO keep waking up every 2 hours.

7:30pm bedtime. slept in her crib for 2hours

& then wakes up 10:30pm, (i'll bring her next to me to feed side lying) then she goes back to sleep after 10 mins and then wake up again at 12:30am, 2:30am, 4am, then 5:30am or 6am for wake up time.

She is not fussy or crying, just keep waking up. day time naps are okay. we contact nap so she can stay asleep for an hour or 2. last week i remember she's giving us 6hours straight, just nurse a little bit then go back again to sleep for another 3 hours. hubby & i so happy as we can get rest. but these couple of days. ughh. it's hard.

dont know how long this is gonna last, i feel so so tired w/ the broken sleep. =( husband can't do much as im EBF.

did this happen to you? how long it lasted?

edit to add ~ MY LO will be 4 mos in 2 days..

 

[aardverk]

@gidmos44 Its typically called the 4 month sleep regression but really it's a maturation of sleep cycles that all babies go through between 3-5 months. It's a permanent shift in how they sleep; though the frequent wakes aren't permanent thankfully.

When they are newborns they have 2 sleep stages; deep sleep and active sleep. And they just kinda cycle between those 2 stages repeatedly until something wakes them (like hunger).

Around 4 months, they develop more sleep stages including light sleep. Each sleep cycle now lasts 2 hours and at the end, they fully wake up.

We do the same as adults but we put ourselves back to sleep so fast that we may not even notice we woke up.

Their ability to quickly put themselves back to sleep after each cycle is a developmental milestone that every baby will reach in their own time. Some will do it right away, and some won't do it until they're 18+ months old. My baby is now 9 months and still wakes every 2 hours most nights! But I know loads of babies who it only lasted a week or two. Babies are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get

 

[gidmos44]

@aardverk OH my, i love reading your reply! Thankyou so so much! so helpful

 

[wethepeople]

@gidmos44 It definitely sounds like the regression. We had the same bit he did fuss a bit since he wanted to sleep but couldn’t. It is so tough! But you will get through it. This is one of the first huge developmental leaps which will morph your baby into a little human! It’s all worth it even though it can feel like the most challenging nights of your life. For us this lasted until my baby was around 7.5 mos. I know it sounds like forever but we got through it!

 

[mom3222]

@gidmos44 Sounds exactly like what happened with my baby. We used to get 7-8 hr stretches But the waking every 2 hours started at 3.5 months and still going strong at 6 months. No advice just solidarity lol

 

[barnabasp]

@gidmos44 Sounds like the regression to me. My baby did the same, 4 hour stretch, wake to feed, another 4 hours. Turned 3.5 months to the day and bam - only slept 45 min at a time. Now her best stretch will be 3 hours which she will do once a night, not every night. She’s 8 months old.

 

[adddddddd]

@gidmos44 Currently going through this we are 5.5 months now and still every 1.5-2hrs waking up. I’m so tired of being tired.

 

[gidmos44]

@adddddddd Im sorry… i guess we just have to accept & just looking forward for the best days coming…

PS- i didn't know my body would be able to cope up with waking up 5/6x a night

 

[adddddddd]

@gidmos44 I know it slightly helps to just accept it for what it is and I keep telling myself it’s just a phase but whew it’s rough. My first was sleeping through the night at this point so it’s just crazy how different babies can be.

 

[adddddddd]

@gidmos44 I have also coined this phase Baby Sleep Hell lol

 

[speedkr7911]

@gidmos44 This has been happening with us too, LO is 3 months. It started a couple of weeks ago, prior to this could sleep the whole night, sleeping through all of her night feedings.

I’m up often feeding her anyway because she’s in the 6th percentile and needs the extra night calories. Nursing settles her and puts her right back to sleep. So it’s really no different than before for me . I figure it’s a regression of some sort.

 

[ovlov90]

@gidmos44 No advice, just solidarity. LO is 8 m (6.5 m adjusted) and we are still going through this. On good nights we can get around a 3 hour stretch but last couple of days has been every 2 hours if not less. Exhausted with so little sleep and just getting by. Can't even get anything done during her naps- LO always needs contact both for naps and bedtime. For those parents already past this phase- when does it get better?

 

[ianhulett]

@gidmos44 My daughter is 13 weeks and we’re on night 4 of this. I guess sleep regression came to us early. Wakes up basically every 1-1.5 hours, doesn’t cry but just starts wiggling around until she’s awake. I nurse her back to sleep then an hour later she wiggles herself awake again. So frustrating since she just started sleeping through the night and now this

 

[gidmos44]

@ianhulett ughhh same SAME SAME! wiggling so much & kicking. i hope it'll end soon. today she wakes up at 5:30am & dont wanna go back to sleep. ahhhhhh im soo tired

 

[ianhulett]

@gidmos44 Last night was by far the worst night we had with her She woke 5 times between 8 pm and 1 am, I stopped counting after that. She was then awake at 4:51 am. This never happened before, she always slept till 7-8 o’clock. I’m at my wits end

 

[gidmos44]

@ianhulett ohhhhh i feel you how's her naps? my lo currently napping right now & i want to nap too. but i really cant! ughhh

 

[ianhulett]

@gidmos44 She nurses to nap, her naps have been pretty good but these last few days she won’t let go of my nipple so I can’t nap either I’m over it

 

[thebrave]

@gidmos44 Sounds exactly like that sleep regression. My LO hit the regression around 3 months waking every 1-1.5 hours. She is now six months and I’m here to say there is light at the end of the tunnel. 2 weeks ago I was about to hit breaking point with hourly wakes and feeling helpless that my husband couldn’t assist overnight due to her being EBF and only settling with a feed.

Remember that your little one is still so young and going through so many developmental changes that impact their sleep. For me it helped to reframe it that my baby was not a bad sleeper, she just needed a bit of extra support to sleep with all the changes going on. Your baby may pass this quickly or it might last a little longer.

Ask your husband to try settling bub if it’s only been a short time since her last wake/feed. This is what we’ve been doing in the last 2 weeks which has improved things for me dramatically.

 

[stujames32]

@gidmos44 I’m going through almost the same thing with my LO. It all started when she showed signs of rolling. Just last week she was sleeping through the night and now she’s up every couple of hours. I feel your pain. It’s exhausting especially being EBF. My husband took her last night when she woke up at 11 and played with her until like 1am. He must have really tired her out because she finally slept from 1:30-6am. It’s the most uninterrupted sleep I’ve gotten all week!