4 Month Old Not Sleeping.

my daughter started sleeping through the night at 9 days and here are some of the things i did. a warm bath in the evening right before feeding and bed time. i feed her cereal during the day, but not right before bed. babies wake up many times in the night just like we do, does your son use a pacifier or suck his thumb? the sucking action is a natural soothing technique babies use. also, is he napping too much during the day? maybe he is all rested up by bed time? hope some of this helps, and good luck!

I never really had problems with my son sleeping thru the night the day he turned 2months he was sleeping thru the night so not really sure what to say but I can say giving him cereal just before going to bed could hurt rather than help, I had read that doing that it could give them upset tummies, would you ever eat something and go right to bed after eating it, probably not because you would get an upset tummy.

Sorry couldnt be more helpful but just had to add that in about the cereal.

Good Luck hope you get rest soon

G.

C.,
I thought I would respond because I had the exact same thing happen to me. Right before my son turned 4 months, he started waking up every few hours (prior to this he had been basically sleeping very well since about 6 weeks. After his 4 mo. check up we started giving him rice cereal with the same thought as you, maybe he will sleep longer. We also had a different problem of him turning over onto his belly but he had not mastered the art of turning back over belly to back...so we would have to go flip him several times. He soon learned how to flip over, but was still waking up. We too were getting frustrated. I had read and somewhat followed the baby whisperer. My friend told me about the baby whisperer answers all of your questions...and in there, she talks about a 4mo old should be on a 4 hour feeding routine (we were still doing 3 hours) so we switched to that...it seemed to help somewhat. But then one day, he went back to sleeping through the night???? So who knows...was it the routine, was it a growth spurt or bout with teething?? Looking back now, I think it was just several changes all at once. My husband and I had both been on a long Christmas/winter break and we were back to our work schedule, etc...and my son was going to my mom's for "daycare." I think all of these changes could have been the culprit, or it was just normal "changes" he was going through at that time.
Maybe with the "changes" you have had in your family (you being in the hospital, your hubby doing things differently than if you were there (not good or bad, just different), and your son getting older and reaching more milestones, could be the reason. Also, if he is more active and starting to do new things, I heard that can play a role in their changing sleep habits. I say stick with it, be consistent (of course make sure nothing is wrong with him medically)and hopefully this will be just another "phase" in the many they will go through. Now, having said all of this, I am first time mom and you are more experienced, but I thought I would just share what I went thorugh, sounded similiar to your situation. If you are up for reading, the baby whisperer is a good resource (the baby whisperer answers all your questions, seems to have more info. geared toward older (beyond newborn). Good luck!!!

My baby didn't sleep through the night until he was 18mo. They are labor intensive the first few months but it's worth it in the end.

I have a four month old who has been sleeping through the night since he was 9 weeks. he never did it on his own though. it took training. We followed the book "Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo. It is amazing if you just stick to their plan. It's hard work, but you need some sleep! You can buy it on Amazon.com for cheap.
God bless!

one thing that worked with my twins was a warm bath right as they were starting to get sleepy and then a night light and soft music. Sure enough soon they were sleeping longer it could be also that his waking up is simply a reflex for him dont rush to go pick him up see if he will settle back down if he is still fuissing after about 5 minutes then go to him. Babies like to push us mom's as far as we can go sometimes but dont worry soon enough his sleep patterns will even out more

C.,

Hey whan my oldest 15 now I also wanted her to sleep through the night so I also gave her the cereal in the bottle Idea from the DR., I also in the middle of the night to get he to sleep longer i would only give her a bott;e of water it took about a week and she is no worse for the taking, Now at 15 she is and avid water drinker and many times chooses the water over po, soda's or coke, depending where ya live that's why i named all three.

well keep us informed...
S.