I'm not sure if this is your concern, but it's unlikely it's the co-sleeping that is causing the change in sleep. This article really helped me understand what happens around 4 months. Wakeful 4 Month Olds
Cosleeping now - but I'm not getting more sleep!
DS is 4.5mos and is up a lot lately. We've recently started letting him sleep in our bed all the time instead of parttime b/c we have moved and it was a huge transition...so it was hard to have him sleep in his pack and play or a crib or anything. At first it was great beause I got a ton of sleep - all I had to do was unlatch my nursing tank for him to nurse in the night. But now he is often up almost every hour or so! TOO MUCH! And he will also kick me and move all around. I resort to laying on my back with him draped horizontally across me nursing/sucking away so he can finally fall asleep since he sometimes hasn't been falling asleep nursing on his side like usual.
And last night....oh, last night! After waking up every 1-2hrs he was then up for over an hour and a half. I have NEVER been up with him that long in the middle of the night. He would not fall asleep. He was so wide awake at 4am. He would not nurse to sleep in any position. Nothing. But he did want to "nurse". I realized he just wanted to suck b/c even my finger worked. I finally grabbed his pacifier which he has only taken to 2 days out of his life and lo and behold....he decided to suck on it...for a bit (about 15mins). Otherwise I thought he was going to suck me raw. Eventually I got up out of bed with him to go rock him and eventually nursed him to sleep while rocking him. That finally worked. But it took so long! That has never ever happened.
Where are the nights when he would nurse and then easily, quietly go back to sleep?? And stay asleep??
Any ideas on what is going on or what to do??
![]()
:
And last night....oh, last night! After waking up every 1-2hrs he was then up for over an hour and a half. I have NEVER been up with him that long in the middle of the night. He would not fall asleep. He was so wide awake at 4am. He would not nurse to sleep in any position. Nothing. But he did want to "nurse". I realized he just wanted to suck b/c even my finger worked. I finally grabbed his pacifier which he has only taken to 2 days out of his life and lo and behold....he decided to suck on it...for a bit (about 15mins). Otherwise I thought he was going to suck me raw. Eventually I got up out of bed with him to go rock him and eventually nursed him to sleep while rocking him. That finally worked. But it took so long! That has never ever happened.
Where are the nights when he would nurse and then easily, quietly go back to sleep?? And stay asleep??
Any ideas on what is going on or what to do??
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
Thanks for the article. As I Am browsing this forum and others I am seeing that there are a lot of babies around this age goign through a similar thing. I will say though, that at least last night, it wasn't all about food. It was about sucking. It could be my breast, finger, or pacifier, he just wanted to suck (but would still not go to sleep). The other nights this has happened though then he has been eating I think. He is more distractable during the day now, but he still is eating a lot during the day. Waking up every hour and a half though just seems to be SO much!
And will this last until 6 or 7 months like the article seemed to imply??
![]()
: I don't know what to do with myself if this lasts that long.
Do you really think that the cosleeping isn't affecting this?
And will this last until 6 or 7 months like the article seemed to imply??
Do you really think that the cosleeping isn't affecting this?
We went through the same wakeful phase here too. We actually let her sleep on her own, and surprisingly, she slept a little better. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an advocate of forcing babies to sleep in cribs, BUT, if it is becoming obvious that your night time parenting is not working, then it needs to be tweaked.
Ava got to the point where she just wasn't sleeping well with us, and it was evidenced in how she behaved during the day, which was extremely over tired. I was not about to force her into sleeping with us just so I could wear a co-sleeping badge, I wanted to follow HER lead, which resulted in better sleep all around.
And now that she's rolling around and trying to crawl I just don't feel comfortable leaving her in our bed until I go to sleep, so I put her down in her crib, and when she wakes for her first feed she comes back to bed with us. Our bed is ALWAYS open to her!
For right now this is what works. I find that as soon as we found something that worked, she switched it up on us. LOL. We just roll with the punches.
Oh yeah, and try not think about the next few months, it's so over whelming. Just take it one day at a time.
![]()
Ava got to the point where she just wasn't sleeping well with us, and it was evidenced in how she behaved during the day, which was extremely over tired. I was not about to force her into sleeping with us just so I could wear a co-sleeping badge, I wanted to follow HER lead, which resulted in better sleep all around.
And now that she's rolling around and trying to crawl I just don't feel comfortable leaving her in our bed until I go to sleep, so I put her down in her crib, and when she wakes for her first feed she comes back to bed with us. Our bed is ALWAYS open to her!
For right now this is what works. I find that as soon as we found something that worked, she switched it up on us. LOL. We just roll with the punches.
Oh yeah, and try not think about the next few months, it's so over whelming. Just take it one day at a time.
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
