I wonder if someone has been in a similar situation, I am at my wit's end... My daughter is 5 months and literally waking me up every hours or so. She is breastfed and I feel like I gave her bad habits and now I feel stuck, I feel super anxious to go to bed because of it and I really don't know what to do. She has been doing that for a couple of weeks. Before that she at least had a couple of hours in the evening before waking upe every 2 hours. She also suffers from winds but it is getting better now. Any tips?
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hi, the 4 month sleep regression can occur between 3-5 months so sounds like it could be that. I think from memory there’s also a developmental leap which happens around 5 months so could be a double whammy of both together.
You can either ride it out and comfort her or sleep train depending what you’re comfortable with.
Don’t think that you’ve created any bad habits by feeding to sleep - it’s so normal at that age and I did the same with my son until 7-8 months and he slept through from 6 months.
If you’re on Instagram, there’s just chill mama who has lots of free resources and some online courses which may help you.
Thank you for your reply. That's encouraging, I really hope the 6 months mark will be better. I didn't find the chill mama Instagram account, could you let me know which one it is?
Did you do a sleep training ? I am not sure what they would recommend which involves no much crying !
Thank you for the Instagram account, it's interesting. I might have to try sleep training. What strikes me is that no longer than a month ago, she used to sometimes fall asleep on her own and now it's chaotic and it feels like forever.
it’s very normal for the change in their sleep around the 4 month sleep regression, it’s an actual change in their brain and sleep cycles so makes sense that a month ago she was sleeping well and now isn’t. This time will pass - good luck 😊
My kids are nearly 4yrs and 18 months now, both were breastfed and we also did some formula feeds too, when I needed a break. Sleep was definitely not linear and there were nights when it felt like there was was zero sleep.
I found if I fed baby to sleep in the evening, I would hand over to dad downstairs and go to bed. If I could get a couple hours headstart on sleep , I could handle the overnight feedings much better and not be a zombie during the day. My husband also used to give a bottle of formula or pumped milk (if I could be bothered) so that I could get a bit longer sleep if baby woke up.
Also if you've got anyone willing to look after baby for a few hours in the day, use them and get some rest. Get them to take baby for a walk and snooze
If your partner is at work, hand baby over for baths etc. as soon as they come in and take some time for yourself.
I know it feels like it lasts forever, but they change all the time and sleep progresses so much, both my girls are up on bed now and the hourly wake ups and snuggles feel like a lifetime ago xxx
Thank you so much for your reply, unfortunately I don't have family or anyone next to me. It's very hard. And I agree with the couple of hours in the evening, it used to really help me but now she does not do that anymore,it's crazy. Maybe I should try with my partner now she is older and seems to take the bottle more easily. She has been like this for more than a month actually and it seems it has been forever.Xx
If she takes a bottle I would definitely be handing her over to partner and going to bed mega early and giving instruction not to bring baby to me for a minimum of 3 hours. Give baby a bottle, go for a walk, give baby a bath, not do not disturb me. Put in some ear plugs and go to bed, I found my husband found his own way with both of our children and it meant I could then have a bit of my own time and get some sleep.
He would also often get up with them early while he got ready for work while I had a lie in, or he'd take the dog for a walk with them before work. Sometimes they might just need a little push to actually understand what it is you need from them so you can get some rest. He's currently downstairs with both of mine and I'm getting ready to go out with a friend to yoga. I'm not a fan of sleep training children, I found it much easier to sleep train their Dad 😉
it’s happened to my son. I was going insane. We had a sleep trainer and it took her ONE night to make him sleep through the night. She said it’s the best to go cold turkey. Of course, the baby should be healthy and weight at least 6 kg. Basically, she move his to his room and took off milk. She taught his to sooth himself and fall asleep on his own.
I had the same sleep trainer for my 4,5 months old daughter.
My kids have better quality of sleep, eat better during the day and I can spend better quality time with the as I am not like a zombie.
What I learned is that I would not be able to sleep train my own kids.
A healthy child does not need to eat at night. It’s better to sleep for them (and for mama).
Also, milk keep them awake as they need to digest it and there is sugar.
Thank you so much for your reply. That's pretty impressive! One night !! The GP says she is healthy apart from struggling a bit with winds sometimes so I guess I could give it a try. I was quite reluctant because I was wondering what on earth could they do to help that I can't! But I quickly forget that she would react differently with a different person. How did she teach them to fall asleep on himself?! Where are you based?
I also did not believe that someone can do better than mama. She helped my son to find his dummy and sooth himself. For my daughter, she was 4 months at the training, she took the dummy away as at this age babies can not put it back once they loose it. She put some muslin tight in knot for her and help her to use it to sooth. I guess every kid is different in soothing but it worked for both of my kids. What is impressive, that it takes 5-10 min to put my kids in bed. Somehow they learn to sleep until morning. The only issue I still have that my kids wake up super early and it’s impossible to change (biological clock). I live in London
Also, there is some crying involved during training but it’s not as bad I thought. We have cameras and we were watching the trainer. The biggest part is to train us, parents
That sounds hard. We moved our daughter into her own room at 5 months (apparently best do that before 8 months otherwise they become more attached). After this she was waking every hour in the evening then at 3 again and 5. We decided to sleep train and it’s the best thing we ever did. She now goes to sleep after a little cry, she totally dropped her night feeds and she sleeps until 6ish. Sleep training doesn’t fit everyone but since she was a very cry baby we thought it was probably best for her. Her day naps aren’t great but they’re a lot more structured than they used to be.
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