Fighting sleep...4 month regression? Help!!

[Kiram]

My LO is turning 4 months next week, and she's been driving be crazy! For the past 3 days she's been absolutely FIGHTING sleep...I've tried everything, even nursing (which usually always puts her to sleep), but she'll just get a blank stare and resist closing her eyes. She'll cat-nap for about 30-45 minutes a couple times a day, but evidently it's not enough because she'll keep giving sleep signals afterwards.

Last night was the. worst. night...and I'm worried it's just going to get worse if I don't do anything about it. Yesterday she only took 2 cat-naps, and while her bedtime is usually 7:00, she was giving extreme sleep signals and getting really cranky around 5:00, so I put her to bed at 6:00. She didn't fall asleep until 6:30-6:45, but she did finally fall asleep. Normally, she'll sleep for 2 hours and then start to stir, only to be comforted by a really brief comfort-suckle. This was tolerable for me...so last night, things were going normally until about 1AM. I put her down after nursing her, but she didn't go back to sleep like she normally does. I nursed her longer, and she finally went down....until she woke up an hour later, and this time would NOT fall back asleep. I nursed her, rocked her, she was wide awake! So I tried co-sleeping instead....this lasted for maybe another hour, before she started getting fussy, so I tried the crib again. Nope. I was so exhausted and felt so weak...so I tried letting her settle herself. She just grumbled for an hour; she wouldn't cry, but she wouldn't fall asleep, either. So I brought her back into bed with me, and she finally slept for the rest of the night.

I can't do this every day...she's not consistent anymore, and it's driving us all mad. None of us are getting good rest. The lack of sleep is making ME cranky...and it's only been 3 days! She cries and fusses ALL DAY because she's tired, but no matter what I do she won't go to sleep. I don't know what to do anymore

 

[Wish2BMom]

sooo you're saying I shouldn't take any vacation days soon b/c I'll need them for my zombie days coming up?? (my boys are 3.5 months)

ugh, this sounds like the absolute worst and much like our first few weeks. But I was on maternity leave then and not really expected to function normally!! I hope it passes for you quickly - I would imagine that it would.

Have you tried white noise? lullabies playing? a bath? is she still swaddled? maybe formula instead of breastmilk at night so it's a little heavier? just throwing things out there that we've worked into our bedtime that have gotten us out of witching hours.

good luck! going to follow in case others have some good advice that I'll need soon!

You got this, Mama - this will be just another blip soon.

 

[jaxntango]

Yes! My guy is 4 months right now and has been experiencing the same thing. He will still go a long stretch 8:30-1:00 am, but after that he wakes every hour and will not go back to sleep after 6:00 am. I think you have it worse though. Mine is still taking his naps.

 

[Teri7489]

Best advice I can give is try to remember newborn days. The ever changing, tired days where you haven't got a clue then suddenly it all falls in to place and you get sleep again. Try not to do a million different things because quite frankly, they probably won't work. At this age they are going through lots of developmental things so their brain and body are doing lots of things and they just don't know what to do.

You might find in the next few weeks she will start rolling over or doing something physical she couldn't do before so give her plenty time to practice in the day (they baby experts recon that babies are the same as us, like if are thinking about a test or new something then we lie awake worrying about it until we do it and they are just the same)

Just try to keep your routine as before, if you can keep stress to a minium and keep in mind she's not doing it on purpose, her little clever brain is keeping her up not the other way around. She will start sleeping again.

 

[jessmke]

Don't spend too much time and energy trying to "fix" the sleep problem unless it's something obvious like she's too hot/cold, just get through it as best you can and know that it won't last forever. I remember with my first I was always trying to figure out why she was such a crap sleeper, I would try a million things that never worked, then miraculously things would improve on their own (just to fall apart again a few months later, ha!). Just go with it and do whatever works to ensure you all get as much sleep as possible.

With my second I was much more relaxed about it, and while the sleepless times were hell, I would just remind myself that nothing is permanent at this age and things will improve, which they always have. Good luck mama and try to get some sleep in any way you can!

 

[Natsku]

You can't really fix it, it's just a developmental thing as they shift into adult sleep cycles rather than newborn ones. It affects sleep if they are used to falling asleep in a certain way e.g. nursing to sleep or rocking as when they briefly awaken after a sleep cycle they think something is wrong because they're not still nursing or rocking or whatever so they wake up fully. It will get better, I would power through for the next few weeks and if it doesn't get better by then, then it might no longer be the regression and be time to do something about it.

I've got this to look forward to in about a month's time, and remember the hell well from last time, so I know it's shit but it does end.

 

[MrsC10]

Don't spend too much time and energy trying to "fix" the sleep problem unless it's something obvious like she's too hot/cold, just get through it as best you can and know that it won't last forever. I remember with my first I was always trying to figure out why she was such a crap sleeper, I would try a million things that never worked, then miraculously things would improve on their own (just to fall apart again a few months later, ha!). Just go with it and do whatever works to ensure you all get as much sleep as possible.

With my second I was much more relaxed about it, and while the sleepless times were hell, I would just remind myself that nothing is permanent at this age and things will improve, which they always have. Good luck mama and try to get some sleep in any way you can!

This. The 4 month sleep regression is awful! I'll be going through it again soon. Best advice is just to ride it out. Keep calm. You've got this xx