Early 4mo digression?

[springbride]

DD is 14 wks. From week 9 - 13 she would fall asleep between 6:30-7:30pm, wake around 10pm for a feeding, then sleep until somewhere between 2:30-4am, feed and sleep through until 7:30/8am.

It was wonderful, I felt like a real human being and was so needed as I am working about 3/4 time.

For the last week or so she wakes every 1.5-2 hours sometimes as soon as 45min! This so isn't working for me! When she wakes she wants to nurse back to sleep and I am not noticing that she is nursing less during the day

What happened to my baby!?? I am exhausted and my mom keeps telling me that if I stop co-sleeping and do CIO it will make her sleep through the night.

[moonglowmama]

sounds like a growth spurt. If it is, it'll look like lots of nursing for a few days, then she'll settle into deeper sleep and get a new routine.

Whatever it is, my experience tells me that it will be temporary, so hang in there mama and keep meeting her needs. You'll look back shortly and figure out some cause (maybe?!) and you'll get more sleep again, then your sanity will be restored.

Till then, try and rest when she does during the day to get what your body needs.

[sapphire_chan]

Have you figured out side-lying nursing yet? It can make a huge difference during growth spurts to not have to wake up for every baby meal.

[LadyCatherine185]

that is actually a pretty normal sleep pattern for a lot of babies. My 14 mo still wakes every 1-2 hours at night.

I second learning how to nurse laying down, and making sure you are as comfortable as possible so you can sleep through some of the feedings.

[Jayray]

This happened to us around the same time and is still going on to a degree with some nights better than others. I also thought about moving the babe out of our room (he sleeps 50/50 in a side-carred crib and in our bed), but I just couldn't get motivated to experiment with it. I really don't want to have to leave my room to tend to him in the night.

What we do is DH gets him back to sleep during the times when I don't think he's hungry (if he wakes less than 2-3 hours after the last waking). I've also realized that I stopped really observing him during the day and think I'm feeding him too often. He's not hungry as often during the day, so I've started stretching that out a little (while remembering that around 4 mos. they often forget to eat because they're so into everything). I've read on other websites that this can help with nightwaking. I know some people here would disagree with this, but feeding him more often during the day (which is also advice for nightwaking around this age) did not help. But I wouldn't do either of these things until you're sure the babe is out of the growth spurt.

[NaturalMindedMomma]

Oh hunny I hear your pain. It sounds like a growth spurt to me... They cluster feed when they are growing.

I sleep shirtless and Anna and I side lay nurse. She has learned to pretty much find them herself (she is 12 weeks).

CIO will not help (maybe send your mom an informational link on CIO and ask her to either encourage you or just maybe not say anything at all).

((((HUGS)))))

[springbride]

Thank you for the encouragement!
Sometimes it feels like it will never be over. We do do side laying nursing sometimes, but havn't figured out the groove of sleeping like that all night.
Maybe we should work on.
I think she may be teething -she is constantly a puddle of drool- does that effect nightwaking?

[sapphire_chan]

Yes, teething makes for crazy crazy nights. Sorry, should've asked you about that first thing.