Hi!
My son will be 4 months old on the 26th of July. He's a very happy and healthy little guy and up until about a week ago, was on a pretty good sleep schedule...down at 8:00/8:30 up at 3:30 and then up for the day around 6:30. Three days ago, that changed out of the blue....he's been eating jsut before bed at 8:00, then up at 11:30, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 6:30. He's eating plenty during the day and I believe I have more than enough milk. One friend suggested I try a bottle formula just before bed, but that didn't seem to make a differnce. At night, he is eating...not just pacifying himself. At first, I thought it was a growth spurt or teething, but it's lasted 4-5 nights now and no sign of teeth yet. Ihave a 2 year old as well, so I'm rather familiar with signs of teething. Bowel movements and urine output are normal. I feel that I am attending to him before he cries so that he doesn't wake the rest of the house. At first I thought I was just starting a bad habit for him, but considering that he is actually feeding well, I have a hard time not responding to him. I've also tried to temporarily plug him up with a pacifier to see if he just needed to suck, but he ends up spitting it out in less than 10 minutes. (Normally, during naps for example, he'll spit it out and then stay asleep). He's still so young, but fast approaching an age where he should be able to go 8 hours....or at least 3! Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
I've heard many moms talk about 4 month sleep regressions, due to major developmental milestones and growth spurts during this time. Perhaps that what he's going through? It sounds like you're doing what's best - feeding him when he needs feeding. Hopefully his sleeping will even out soon.
People tend to get hugrier as the day grows later. I would try him on some rice cereal or oatmeal before he goes to bed. He is growing and the feeding he is getting just before bed is probably not enough to sustain him through the entire night. Sounds like he's growing and needs more nourishment!
That's about the age most babies begin to wake more, if they haven't already. It sounds like you are being very responsive and loving about this new development even thought it's tougher on you!
I think you are doing the best thing by responding before he cries, I believe there's no reason to teach them they need to cry to be attended to. They give so many other cues we can read and respond to. Waiting til they cry would be like waiting til a friend shouted instead of answering when they simply spoke.
Infant sleep research actually shows that most children don't develop the ability to sleep through the night without parental help til they are about two. That's a function of the central nervous system and it just happens to take that long to mature. Some lucky parents get babies who sleep thru early on, and some parents like me get babies who wake every two to three hours the whole first 18 months!
One thing that might make his new schedule a whole lot easier on you is if you can nurse side-lying and sleep while you feed him in the night. That way you only briefly wake when he wakes and you will lose much less sleep. I recently learned to do this with my third baby, and I wish I'd learned a long time ago!
Hi S.
my son was a two hour feeder as well..well into his first year.. you just have to go with it.. perhaps as you said above, he is going thru a growing spell and his body now requires the nourishment. I truly believe babies know when they are hungry and when they are not. if he is eating, then I think he is really hungry.. every baby is different , what worked for one may not for another. We knew many people who had kids who slept thru the night , yet not our son.. we knew many people whose kids took long naps during the day, not our son :)
With our son, We decided to just go with the flow.. it's wasn't that bad, yes we were a bit sleep depraved, but that all passes.
Do you think it may be related to your milk supply? or perhaps menstruation? Just wondering, I had that with the onset of my period whilst breast feeding, after a few days once the hormones had settled down, my milk supply improved again and my daughter who is also 4 mths old, reverted back to her usual nocturnal feeding regime. She did exactly the same thing, waking every 2 hrs to feed and was actually hungry. Hope this helps.
