4 Month Old Keeps Waking Up! HELP!

She probably got used to waking up when she was sick, and now that she is better, she is simply just used to waking frequently. Since she was sleeping well before she was sick, she should be able to do so again easily (even through the teething). My suggestion is what our pediatrician recommened for my son at 4 months (although I wasn't tough enough to follow through with it until after six months). We used the Ferber method as suggested by our doctor. You can use this method with babies beginnign at 4 months.

Basically, it boils down to checking her when she crys at night, but not picking her up or soothing her back to sleep (you can pat her to let her know everything is okay) and then leave the room. You wait five minutes, and then check her agian, wait ten minutes, then check her again, and so on, increasing the amount of time between each check by five minutes until she goes back to sleep. The program stresses the importance of allowing your baby to return to sleep on her own, and once she gets used to that - poof, she is sleeping through the night again.

"Ususally" it takes about a week to work. With my son it took much longer, but he had NEVER slept more than two hours at a stetch by the age of six months. With your daughter having previously been a good sleeper, she would likely respond pretty quickly.

For eight months now, my son has slept for 12 straight hours every night (teething and all)!

There are other variations on this method, so you may want to research your options, and choose a method that you are comfortable with (I have also heard of "Sleep Easy" but am not familiar with it.)

Also, my son had problems with congestion at night (he was sick a lot). I felt that was what was causing him so much sleep difficulty. Our pediaterician said it was just a matter of learning to sleep through it. Well, he did! He has been sick and had congestion during the last eight months, but never once did it disturb his sleep now that he has "learned" how to sleep.

One last suggestion I have is keeping her bed time consistent, Like instead of "between" 8-9, choose a time, (I like 8:00) and stick to that time as strictly as you can.

You will probably get a lot of different advice on this subject and ultimately will have to do what you are comfortable with. And, every baby is different, so you may have to try a couple things before finding what works for you. Glad I could share what worked for me.

I just found a link to some "Ferber" info on Baby Center:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-ferber-method-demystified...

My pediatrician gave me a handout on it, and I bought the book. It seemd like a good approach, so I guess I never realized that there was any "controversy". I say talk to your doc at her 4 month check-up and research it before you make any decisions.

Try giving her a couple of ounces of water when she wakes up rather than feeding her milk/formula. Sometimes babies are just thristy. Also, you may want to let her cry for up to 15 minutes to see if she'll fall back to sleep on her own. Sometimes babies sleep patterns become disturbed when they have been ill and they just fall into a new routine. Also, what I have found w/ my two youngest is a momma's heartbeat simulator. I bought a fuzzy lamb from Cloud B that simulates heartbeats heard in the womb, ocean sounds, nature, etc. My children loved it and it totally soothed them back to sleep should they happen to wake up from a dream, or what have you. Good luck!!! Also, just an FYI - baby orajel doesn't really work because when your babe salivates the liquid just runs right down her throat or out her mouth - tylenol is great and cold washcloths are cool, too. Try a baby teether place in the fridge, that may help, too.

With some kids, they just go through different phases of sleep habits. Our neighbor across the street has periods of neightmares, and then nothing. My daughter has always been a constant strugle trying to get to sleep at night. We would put her to bed in her crib at night and she would wake us up anywhere from once a night to every few hours. It really just depended. I think sometimes it was from growth spurts, but also cause she just wasn't comfortable in her room (we spend little time in her room as a family). She started asking to "sleep on the sofa( which is in the room where we do spend most of the day)" once she was able to talk and ever since she has slept through the night. Again every child is different. Maybe it is just a temporary thing like a growth spurt or teething, or maybe she has hit a developmental stage where she is just more aware of her surroundings.

Also we tried the "let her cry it out" thing and it never worked for us. Now since I am a stay at home mom, I can allow her to make up for bad nights of sleep with extra nap if I have too so crying it out never made sense. Especially since for my daughter the longer she cried the harder it was to make her go back to sleep (Literally she would be the kid that cried for several hours before giving in). So most of the time we went in and just stayed in the room and read a book, or my husband would sometimes take her out to the sofa and they would fall back to sleep together.

Don't give up hope though, you will find what works for you, and it will change several times over the next few years, but in the end your daughter will learn how to sleep through the night consistantly. Just keep in mind that when you don't feel well from a cold or other things you don't sleep well... and sometimes that lasts for a while after you do get better too... and just like when you were pregnant and baby had a growth spurt, you probably woke up hungry at night and wanted to eat, well, your daughter will still do that if she is having a growth spurt, and those growth spurts will keep happening on a regular basis for months to come. When she does sleep through the night again, even if it is just for a night, you will have learned to cherish it all the more.

I agree with Mandy. You are inevitably going to have to find what you are comfortable with, but as a mom of 4 I have learned that letting them cry it out is NOT a bad thing.

You do your part, make sure she is dry & nothing is hurting her, she is safe and happy. Then she will get to do her part & learn to sleep without Mommy every 2 hours.

Just what ever you decide to do, stick with one plan, children are creatures of habit & constant change is very hard on them.

After her bath and food, try to wrap her up with a nice and soft blanket with a drop of your perfume or deodorant. Then put her to bed. SHe´s gonna feel as if she´s with you!
And try not to use too much gel or things for her teething, it´s not good at all.
Good luck!
J