when does the 4 month old sleep regression unregress?

[nukuspot]

After the typical newborn wakefulness, my dd STTN almost every night from about 2.5-4.5 months. It was lovely. I used to have to wake her up in the morning to "milk" me, my breasts were so engorged!

Then at 4.5 months she did the sleep regression thing, went back to a newborn style of sleep. I expected this from my reading. However, she is almost 7 months now and is still in that newborn-ish sleep pattern. I purposely do not sleep with a clock nearby, as I think knowing how often we wake would cause me to have resentment towards her. So I can estimate that she wakes probably every 1-2 hours through the night, or maybe 4-5 times per night.

We have a sidecar crib, so I spend half the night half in the crib and half in our bed so the boob is nearby. If my back hurts from facing that way, I bring her in our bed between me and DH for awhile. When she "wakes" it is not actually waking, it is more like she flails around kicking and rooting. If I instantly insert nipple, she will nurse for a bit and fall back to sleep, with her eyes never have opened through that time. But it is hard for me to get back to sleep all these times, and I can't sleep through nursing, it is impossible for me. It just isn't comfortable. So I wonder if I can expect that she will un-regress at any point to STTN again? I've only heard of the 4mo sleep regression, never anything else past that point...

[echoecho1528]

My DD never "unregressed," unfortunately... She is now nearly 21 mo and averages 2 hour sleep stints all night, everynight. It isn't fun and I have a hard time sleeping through it too. Looking back, at about 7 mo or so, I should have implemented more of what I learned from The No Cry Sleep Solution, but I'm pretty lazy and was never proactive in helping our situation when it could have been helped. Never in a million years would I have thought it would be so bad for so long.

[Louisep]

We're still having a hard time after DS sleep regressed five months ago. NCSS didn't work for us. We've tried everything except CIO. Hope you have better luck.

[calpurnia]

uh, yeah. my dd never unregressed from the 4 months. we had a patch of improvement around 7 months but at 13 months she was still waking up every 1.5 hours (then we nightweaned)

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by calpurnia

uh, yeah. my dd never unregressed from the 4 months. we had a patch of improvement around 7 months but at 13 months she was still waking up every 1.5 hours (then we nightweaned)

Did nightweaning help? DS doesn't nurse every time he wakes so I wonder how much difference it will make for us.

(Sorry to hijack post...)

[etsdtm99]

both my kids un-regressed around 17-18 months .. but they were/are still very unpredictable at that age.. my dd was STTN regularly by 21 months (with some night weaning and no milk due to pregnancy) ..

[calpurnia]

Originally Posted by Louisep

Did nightweaning help? DS doesn't nurse every time he wakes so I wonder how much difference it will make for us.

(Sorry to hijack post...)

yeah, it did help. but dd nursed every time she woke up. we've just got back from a trip away that has disorientated her & she wakes once a night at the moment, but otherwise she sleeps through most nights. but like i say, she always nursed at every wake up.

[mariposamommy]

Wow, I had never heard of the "4 month regression" and just looked up this forum to see if any other moms were having 4 month sleep issues. Low and behold, I am not the only one! I have to say that I am not reassured reading posts from moms with 1-2 year olds who still sleep only 2 hours. It has only been 3 weeks since my babe went from sleeping 6+ hours to 1-2 hour stints. He flails around constantly in the night, and neither of us are getting any sleep. When I put him down for his first morning nap, he is out like a light for ususally 2 hours. This indicates to me that he is really tired, and I want to help him learn how to put himself back to sleep again.

The other piece that is bothering me is when I tell others my son's sleep problems, they say something like, "Just rest during the day." Resting during the day only makes me more tired and makes me feel like a complete slug!

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by mariposamommy

Wow, I had never heard of the "4 month regression" and just looked up this forum to see if any other moms were having 4 month sleep issues. Low and behold, I am not the only one! I have to say that I am not reassured reading posts from moms with 1-2 year olds who still sleep only 2 hours. It has only been 3 weeks since my babe went from sleeping 6+ hours to 1-2 hour stints. He flails around constantly in the night, and neither of us are getting any sleep. When I put him down for his first morning nap, he is out like a light for ususally 2 hours. This indicates to me that he is really tired, and I want to help him learn how to put himself back to sleep again.

The other piece that is bothering me is when I tell others my son's sleep problems, they say something like, "Just rest during the day." Resting during the day only makes me more tired and makes me feel like a complete slug!

For the flailing, have you tried swaddling? I still swaddle my 6mo. She doesn't sleep long, but has restful stretches.