4 month-old, co-sleeping and nursing every 2 hours at night!

mamansolo · 10-10-2009, 08:38 AM

Ack!

From what I am reading... it could be just a stage?

My mom keeps on thinking I am waking her up or that she is taking advantage of the proximity with the "goods".

But she's hungry! She's nursing like the little piggie she is!

My mom also thinks it might just be time for a tiny bit of cereals to help with hunger...

I have been BF her on demand since the day she was born. She used to sleep 5-7 hours straight at night! Pure bliss!

I read somewhere that it might be something that has to do with them not nursing enough during the day because they are too distracted. Has anybody tried nursing them during the day in a non-distracting setting to encourage them to drink more? Although mine is distracted by constantly trying to smile and "talk" with me.

She's adorable!!

How did you all survive this stage?

I am not going for more caffeine

as I am 100% caffeine-free now.

LadyCatherine185 · 10-10-2009, 08:49 AM

Totally normal!

4 months is a common sleep regression age, and sleep progression is never linear. There will be lots of regressions along the way... around 8 months is another, and then once molars start working their way through, forget about getting any sleep.

Just do what you can to maximize your sleep (for most this is cosleeping). And actually I would kill for a night of only waking every 2 hours.. my 13 month old is up hourly or more most nights (working on molars).

Smithie · 10-10-2009, 09:49 AM

ITA agree that this is a normal 4-month-old pattern - my 5-month-old is on the same pattern right now, and it's not something that concerns me and I don't think that giving cereal would change it.

But. BUT. When my first child was on this pattern, it led to me getting way less than enough sleep and made me really, really ill, physically and mentally. (For some reason this wasn't an issue at all with my next two babies - I guess my sleep patterns changed.) If you are seriously exhausted, make a change from your current model and see if you can get some relief. You might:

1. Put baby to sleep in a Pack n Play in your bedroom instead of bedsharing.

2. Nurse baby for a long time in a dark room with no distractions before you put her down for her first sleep session of the night - some mamas call this "tanking up" and swear that it makes that first sleep session noticeably longer.

3. Have somebody else (partner, mom, good friend) offer a bottle of expressed milk or formula at the 3 a.m. waking for a few nights in a row so you can get a little caught up on sleep before the downward spiral starts. In retrospect, I think this is the measure that would have helped me not to get so sick with my first baby.

If your baby truly needs to nurse every two hours all night long, then these kind of things won't alter her waking pattern. But if your mother may indeed be correct that "close proximity to the goods" is causing her to wake up more frequently, then why not move the goods slightly farther away and test her theory?

RedPony · 10-10-2009, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyCatherine185

Totally normal!

4 months is a common sleep regression age, and sleep progression is never linear. There will be lots of regressions along the way... around 8 months is another, and then once molars start working their way through, forget about getting any sleep.

Just do what you can to maximize your sleep (for most this is cosleeping). And actually I would kill for a night of only waking every 2 hours.. my 13 month old is up hourly or more most nights (working on molars).

ITA w/ this post. This has been me with my current 5 mo and my oldest DD.

Cereals = empty calories, completely unnecessary, imo. Niether of my babies sleep/slept well further away from me, we always do/did better at this age in the same bed.

My first, I never had more than a 2 hour stretch for 18 to 24 months.

My youngest, she used to also give us 5 or so hour stretches. No longer!

mamansolo · 10-10-2009, 12:01 PM

She has her own bed and all and she sleeps easily in it too... but not for long bouts.

Same as when she's with me!

I also do the "tanking up" sessions at night before bedtime.

She'll drink every hour!

I must add that my mom is very pro-BF, co-sleeping etc. etc...

But she is a bit tougher then I am! I am going through a very stressful situation with my separation/custody fight and all that jazz so obviously, I am in no position to hold my ground for anything. Not that there is much to hold my ground on anyway.

She's so young and adorable

My mom proudly gave birth to both my brother and I at home, all-natural and BF us both too, homemade everything for us, almost homeschooled us... All this to say, my mom is great even if I don't agree with her on the cereal thing and the no-co-sleeping theory.

groovynaturemama · 10-11-2009, 11:05 AM

my 4 1/2 mo old is doing the same thing right now and it's seems normal to me

my dd did the same thing, and never slept more that 2-3 hours in a row for her first 16 months.

mamansolo · 10-13-2009, 08:21 AM

It seems like it's already over! Her sleep patterns were out of whack for close to a month now and the every other hour wake-ups were just a recent thing... I guess the whole month was just to lead to this and then... back to normal, well, sorta. We're down to waking up every 3 hours... some parts of the night 4 hours... Yesss!!

mamaofthree · 10-13-2009, 08:39 AM

i was going to say that maybe she is getting ready to grow? it seemed my kids nursed and nursed and then suddenly things calmed down and wham they grew and grew. lol sort of plumped up and then stretched out.

h

Blueone · 10-13-2009, 09:33 AM

Yeah, I heard that 4 months is when they hit a growth spurt.

jeliphish · 10-13-2009, 09:37 AM

4 months was a VERY BAD stage for us.....

LadyCatherine185 · 10-13-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamansolo

It seems like it's already over! Her sleep patterns were out of whack for close to a month now and the every other hour wake-ups were just a recent thing... I guess the whole month was just to lead to this and then... back to normal, well, sorta. We're down to waking up every 3 hours... some parts of the night 4 hours... Yesss!!

that sounds like absolute heaven.

mamansolo · 10-13-2009, 07:05 PM

poor you LadyCatherine! I was reading your other thread... Goodness. I have already told my DD that if she does that, I am leaving her out beside the garbabe cans ON GARBAGE DAY

But seriously, I'll post back tomorrow... in hopes that we'll have another good night... then yoga... then tons and tons of work!!

Good luck to you!!