What could turn my good sleeper bad?

[penstamon]

I am no newbie to sleep problems- DS1 was a once an hour or more waker for over 1.5 yrs so I have btdt.  BUT, DS1 was always a bad sleeper.  DS2 has been a great sleeper- can do 8+ hour stretches and was usually only waking 1-2x a night.  Since he turned 4 mo he started waking once a night to have a 2 hour giggle/talk fest.  Fair enough, it sucks but it will pass and he was sleeping OK the rest of the night.  Now for the last 4 nights he is up 4-6x a night screaming and inconsolable unless he gets boob and then 30 min of patting/rocking/shushing. Then he is up for the day between 5:30-6:30.

I was literally in tears this morning at 5:30 because I realized that I had just fallen back to sleep from the 4:30-5 wake up.  The best sleep I had all night was 1.5 hours where only DS1 briefly woke.  I had no milk for the baby but a sip and my nips are killing me from this hard all night nursing.  DH takes care of DS1 at night so he can't really help here.  What gives? He is a happy baby during the day, takes regular naps, plays & giggles, etc. Both kids have been happy spitters and DS2 had been getting better recently.  He doesn't seem to have gas.  He has always been a steady gainer- 99% for h &w.  He is on track with milestones.  There is no evidence of teeth yet.

I know many moms go through this torture and I hate it.  Any thoughts on what has caused this new trend?  Should I stop feeding him every time and try to get him to except other comfort?  I am so scared to repeating all the sleep problems of DS1- we have blamed ourselves and second guessing every choice after years of bad sleep deprivation.  Especially the reliance on nursing or hours of patting/rocking to sleep.  DS2 had been able to put himself to sleep when tired and I was so happy and kept encouraging it. 

I just can't function right now and my whole family suffers.  I can barely listen to my toddler without wincing because my head is splitting, let alone entertain and enjoy these two.

[iheartwren]

It could still be teething. I felt like we would get the sleepless nights for weeks before new teeth were showed up.  It might be worth trying a dose of tylenol (if you use tylenol) to see if it helps.

[Blanca78]

Oh, huge hugs. We had a night like that a couple weeks ago--she was up every 25 minutes from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., then every 45 min till 4 a.m., then finally slept for 4 hours. I was coming down with a cold and I don't know how I survived that night. No advice, because it passed--two nights later she had a great night and it's been up and down since then. My only theory is that around this age (DD was just about 5 months when this hell night happened) they just have a lot going on. It was her worst night ever, even worse than when she was a newborn--so I took her to the doctor to rule out ear infection or something, and he said nothing was wrong with her. So all I can do is shrug and say there's no pressing reason, just something she had to work through. I hope yours gets back to calmer sleep soon.

[dejagerw]

It's the age. The 4 month sleep regression. It will get better, and then worse again. Usually around 8 or 9 months they have another regression.

[~Adorkable~]

i dont get what these regressions are, just that everything that does not have a clear cause seems to be blamed on them. can someone please point to to any solid reading on them?

[Blanca78]

AskMoxie.org has a lot of info on regressions, based on the Wonder Weeks book by Dutch researchers. http://www.askmoxie.org/2009/03/a-reminder-about-sleep-regressions.html?cid=6a00d8341c4f3153ef0112793a4ea828a4