Mum of a Baby boy 4 months old.

[Mariana87]

My baby is weaking up every 1/2 hours during night for feeding.

I'm breastfeeding and I did try to not let him fall asleep in breast but didn't work.

He is good otherwise .,,not a crying baby

[ChrisWest1983]

Hello dear! Your nights must be very exhausting and you should be very tired. I am pregnant and don't have any children yet (except my boy in my bump) so I can't give you advice from my own experience, however, I have been a nanny for years and also by now most my friends have babies, so I must say: waking up every 1/2 hour to feed at 4 months does not sound right. It sounds that either your baby does not get enough food and that's why he's hungry all the time, or either he can't sleep on his own and uses your breast not as source of food but rather as a soother. I know that each child is different and has different needs. I recently visited and stayed at my brothers who has a baby girl. My niece who is 4 months and have last feed at 10pm and sleeps solidly till 8am. (Maybe they are just 🍀 Lucky) Have you tried to pump out your breast to see how much milk you have? Or maybe to use the soother at night? Or maybe baby is going through growth spur or starts teething (mostly accompanied with red bottom and cheeks)

Most babies I looked after were Gina Ford trained babies and all slept and ate very well. I even bought few of her books and joined Facebook group to prepare myself for all kind of situations.

Good luck in figuring this out so you can get some decent sleep!x

[Hope_and_Joy16 in reply to ChrisWest1983]

Expressing breastmilk does not give an indication of supply, as baby is much more efficient at extracting milk from the breast than any pump. A good indication of supply is urine output. Most babies go through a big development jump at 4 months, sometimes known as sleep regression. It will pass but it is difficult!

Also you can't really sleep train babies at this age either, when babies cry at this age they need to know that their carer is close and hasn't left them.

[ChrisWest1983 in reply to Hope_and_Joy16]

Some mums who work extract milk and then give it from the bottle: so it's doable and measurable. My friends baby would not settle down as baby described above so when she extraceted then she saw only few ml of milk on the bottom of the bottle. She was so tired and exhausted and her husband gave baby a formula and after that baby slept for solid 7h.

I was not suggesting training baby to sleep through crying.

[Hidden]

Hi Mariana87,

My son is the same age. He is waking every couple of hours at the mo as he is teething and it's a development leap as well apparently. They are supposed to have a 40minute sleep cycle. He does use the breast to make himself feel better. We use a dummy sometimes at night too. I'm on BabyCentre website birth month groups for November & December. A lot of babies are going through this at this age.

It gets better. This is my second son.

X

[Dad101]

Hi Dad of two here and a bit of a sleep enthusiast. My first recommendation is a book called Baby Whisperer by Tracey Hogg. Worked wonders with my 2nd. In addition I'd like to reassure you that at 4 months your not alone. My son was the same and that was when we started routines, I say we I mean me as my wife was at work. You should be looking at a morning nap round 8.30, another around 1pm and a final one between 4 - 5 with a bedtime if about 7. You should feed on waking followed by activity followed by sleep. Feeding to sleep isn't great and try to find ways of soothing in the cot. Remember the more they sleep the better they get at it, and it's not easy but you need the rest. In addition express as much milk as possible for fridge or freezer. Two reasons the more you use the more the body makes, secondly it means your partner can do some night feeds as you won't produce if you don't rest.

amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/009190...

Best of luck and mail me with questions am happy to help.

[ChrisWest1983 in reply to Dad101]

Loving your approach, Dad! (It sounds like Gina's babies do) I am one of people who thinks similarly - a good routine (7-7) is the key as I have seen in my job in work with children. Thanks for the book suggestion - I'll definitely get it!

All best,x

[Dad101 in reply to ChrisWest1983]

I prefer Tracey's approach as she gives you soothing methods and had a less brusque than Ms Ford. But yes routine, routine, routine is the way to go!

[ChrisWest1983 in reply to Dad101]

My all babies have been trained already when I stepped in so I did not see the progress of how routine was made (some of them were Norland nanny trained some were not but all had same routine). All I had was to keep monitor over night in my room to hear/see what baby is doing, then baby would wake up around 7am and chat - I would prepare bottle, then we would eat, play, get dressed, play, nap, eat, play, sleep, eat, play, sleep... etc. Then bath, bottle and bed, "good night kiss and see you in the morning" before I leave the dark room with a content baby.

So I probably should read both routines and use the best suited for us and get creative ideas from both.

I think I followed Tracy on Facebook at some point - she made these little videos and was advertising those toys who help to soothe baby and her services and I found it a bit too much. Sorry - just checked out and it was Tizzy Hall - same initials so got mixed up...

Thanks again,dad!

[Douglas150]

this is not normal - it sounds like milk supply may be low. This happens for a variety of reasons so I would see ur health visitor or call in at a breast feeding support group. Expressing as well as feeding will increase ur milk supply. Also, a course if medication called domperidone often helps - u would need to see ur gp for this. Hope that helps.