Help! I Am the Mom of a 4 Month Old and I Need Sleep

This sounds like a normal pattern for a breastfed baby. Many solely breastfed babies require night feedings well into 8 or nine months. That being said try looking at the "Sleep Easy" solution or look on line at sleepyplanet.com

Wow, I thought you were talking about my son :)
The only thing I can say to try to help is that I put my son in the swing when he wakes up at 6 and doesn't want to go back to bed. It's entertainment for him if he stays awake, but he normally goes back so sleep, as do I.

Been there, still doing it... ;-) Anyhoo, Just got the "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" book today. REALLY good book (what I've read of it tonight) and am going to try some of the stuff in it tonight. (my little guy is 5 mo and we'll see how things work out) Good luck, I know how frustrating this time is. Hope you get some zzzz's soon!

Hi A.,
I'm sorry it's not going too well. I am actually going to discourage adding solids at this point. New AAP recommendations say to wait until after 6 months to start introducing them. Then when you do there are all sorts of things that you can feed him that are more nutritious than rice cereal (avocado and sweet potato are great first foods). Mainly why I want to discourage the solids is that it could make it worse... new tummies digesting new foods can disrupt sleep.

Honestly, he's probably waking for a legit reason. he is either hungry, or needs comfort. Could he be teething? that was really disruptive of my son's sleep...

I have a 15 month old who still doesn't STTN and I remember feeling desperate around 4 months too. That is actually the time that I started co-sleeping and it made a world of difference.

By the way (sorry this is so long)... Have you been doing any kind of bedtime routine? It might help with the wide awake nighttime feedings to teach him that night is for sleep vs naps where he wakes up and is active during the day. Any routine will do... just make it consistent. Hope that helps!

Couple more things: I am a part of an online mom's group with babies all born in the same month... many of us noticed an increased difficulty, especially with sleep, just before, during, and just after the 4 month age. My opinion about it was this... They have a new level of awareness at this age. They are at the cusp of learning to do things themselves. Soon they will be able to sit up and grasp things on their own... until now all that they learned to do was hold their own head up. This is the beginning of a big developmental stage and it's natural that there would be a "personality" change to go along with it.

one suggestion, at this age I started wearing my baby in a sling/wrap for his naps during the day... this greatly increased the amount of time he slept alone at night. some babies need a lot of closeness... mine was one.

other than that, i don't have a lot of tips, but i can reassure you that this is only a phase and someday very soon it will be a distant memory.

It looks like you got a ton of advice and it helped. I just wanted to encourage you. At their 4 mo. check-up our ped. told us our girls should be sleeping through the night. He told us that they get enough calories during the day and don't need to eat at night.

He said to let them "cry it out" for 10 min. if they wake up. After that, soothe them in their crib and give them another 10 min. I was really against the whole crying out thing but found that it always took less than 10 min. (even if it was 9 1/2).

My husband, the more logical one, turns off the monitor, sets the timer and busies himself with something. I was staring at the monitor and clock and listening to them cry. Anyway, it's really hard, but our Dr convinced us it was important to let them learn to soothe themselves back to sleep.

Good luck!

A., it sounds like he is teething. My daughter began teething at 3.5 mos (no teeth till 9 mos!) and we had some rough nights. Also he may be going through a growth spurt. In any case it is likely only temporary.
Is it possible to change bedtime to a later hour - maybe 8pm? That could help with the night-waking.
GOOD FOR YOU for breastfeeding exclusively - you are giving your child the best gift possible. Also you are so right on about giving him cereal - babies cannot digest grains till they are 7 or 8 months old.
You're doing a great job!

he is at the age when a lot of babies start to have indigestion..have you tried elevating one side of his crib? put a pillow under the mattress and see if that helps..i didn't want to start my son on solids but by 5 months i had to give him some oatmeal...i opted for oatmeal b/c rice constipates..and then that fixed everything..he also was waking a lot but he was spitting up a lot..maybe it's something that you're eating lately? have u changed your diet? i drank a lot of camomile tea while bfing..maybe you need to up your carbs? The sleep thing is always changing..you babe could be teething..this could all change in a week..i remember when my son used to wake around 5am..i made a routine where i would change his diaper and give him a bottle of breast milk while i was changing him...i had a pillow on the changing table to elevate his head..
then i would put him back in his crib and go back to sleep..this lasted a couple of months but i got sleep...maybe you should try the routine...do u have blackout curtains up? keep it dark in there that helps..good luck..you will sleep again..my son is 2.5 sleeps thru the night and now he's starting to wake later..like around 8 or 9 ..the other day he slept til 10 i couldn't believe it! it's been a hard road but pull out all the tricks to get your little one to sleep so u can sleep..i used to think co sleeping really helped for awhile b/c it taught my son how to sleep...but i didn't co sleep past 6 months.

My son, too, was exclusively breastfed until he was four months old. He, too, was (is) a big boy. We were having the same problems when he was your son's age... getting up every 2-3 hours throughout the night breastfeeding. I was working full time + at the time (I'm a CPA and it was tax season) and, too, was exhasted. When he was around four months, my husband started getting up with him once in the night to feed him a bottle. We often used formula for that bottle, because our pediatrician suggested it might help him sleep longer for that next stretch (it's harder to digest/keeps him fuller longer). As much as I hated the idea of "supplementing" my breastmilk, I figured he was getting "me" all the rest of the time and he may actually get some vitamins from the formula (DHA even) that I might not be providing. Plus, I really needed the sleep. Anyway, this did seem to help a little. When he was about 5 months and we were still having problems with multiple wakings, she suggested adding rice cereal to his last bottle of the night, but since the right-before-bed nursing was one of the few I was getting with him one-on-one, I didn't want to give that up. So we added the rice to that bottle my husband was giving him in the night. This helped amazingly, and got him down to just one time up (more often than not) until it was time for me to get up for work anyway. Once we started solids at dinner-time a month later, we started alternating who got up each night, since he was consistently just waking that once. It wasn't until he was nine-months old that we cut out that middle of the night feeding, again upon our ped's recommendation. Now - unless he's getting teeth, our current "battle" - he sleeps from 8 until 5, I nurse him, and he goes back to sleep for another hour or two. He's almost one now... good Lord, where does the time go? Continue to enjoy every minute and best of luck (sorry if this got too long-winded) :-)

Have dad go in to him if it hasn't been three hours. They should be able to go for three hours at night and then it gets longer. Try to keep him up longer and wake him before you go to bed to feed so you can adjust his schedule to yours. As long as he's peeing and pooping, he's getting enough. Especially at 19 pounds! What an eater :) Also, try wrapping him at night, he could be startling himself awake when he moves his arms and gets comfort by nursing back to sleep. Good luck!

ask doctor if you can start giving him a tiny bit of rice ceral, this sticks to his tummy makes them sleep longer, he might be going into teething stages, one thing about breast feeding moms you sure lack the sleep, even though studies say breast milk the only way to go, I did not suffer ladies I bottle fed and hubby got up with every feeding for both kids while I slept, noting right with the kids, all healthy... what moms will do for the kids.. dark circles baggie eyes, and tried all the time,

Hi, I dont know if your pedi told you but you know that you can start him on rice cereal at that point. You mix your breast milk with the cereal or you can just mix it in the bottle with his milk. The rice cereal helps him feel fuller for a little bit. and by you going back to work I agree I dont think that its to early to get him on a sleeping schedule. I am a mother of Two beautiful little girls one is 3 and 1/2 and the other is 1. I had both my girls sleeping all night by the time they were one month.

I would just wake them up during the day by a certain time and play with them. Then by the time their dad came in from work he would get them up from nap and talk and play with them until it was time for them to go to bed.

Its really not hard to get them on a sleep schedule. You just have to get him on your schedule!

Good luck with everything;) Let us know how it goes;)

soory my not to you went before I was ready. anyway my babies slept thrughh the night from 6 weeks on and were just as health and happy if not more than any breast feed baby. J. L.

Do not let him nap for longer than 2 hours at one time during the day. Tell your childcare provider to not let the baby sleep in the swing all day.
~N.

I am so sorry you have to go back to work and cannot stay with your child and get the rest you need. I work from home and my heart breaks when mom has to go back.

You might try to feed him rice cereal at the 11pm wakeup. Do you sleep with him? Is there a dad there to help? Family? You are doing all you can do with out giving him cereal. He is way too young to let him cry it out or whatever. When I nursed my twins I took them to bed with me and could get back to sleep a lot faster. Good luck, wish I could help.

Hi A.- I have a 4 month old girl who I still swaddle. She breaks out of the swaddle by morning but it really helps her sleep. You might try that. I use the velco Swaddle Me from babiesrus. She also nurses for an hour before going to sleep- is there any way you can get him to extend nursing before bed?

this bed time schedual change could be why also he could be hitting a growth spurt. i saw that your only breast feeding (good job keep it up) but maybe try a little bit of rice cereal (if your pedi okays it). what i did to help my daughter sleep longer at that age was cluster fed her at night. she would get a small amount of rice cereal then about 3 oz in her bottle (she was formula fed) and then about an hour to an hour and a half later she would get a full 4oz bottle for bed. she would wake up for a bottle about 3a then not again till about 7a. that really worked for me. i dont know cluster feeding will work while breast feeding but im sure you will figure something out. also she took 2 naps one in the morning and one in the afternoon. i do not let her sleep past 5p. maybe also try doing a wind down time. we do quiet time with my daughter get her jammies on do her breathing treatment and she drinks her cup and then we rock her for a little bit (it takes about 1/2 hour) good luck.

A.,

Here is my suggestion to you. I did this with both of my boys and it worked. I started waking them up at the time I wanted then up to start all my stuff during the day. For example: I would wake then up at 6 AM and I would feed them then I would let them play and at about 8-8:30 AM I would lay them down and even if they were fussy I would make them take a nap. The they would wake on their own,usually about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Then about Noon I feed them and they play and about 1:30 PM they take anther nap and They have a snack about 3 and then they have dinner at 6:30 PM. It took me about 3 weeks to get all this put into place. I hope this helps!! Good Luck!!

S.

Hello A.,

Your story sounds very similar to my own. My son is now 14 months but up until around 10 months I was getting very little sleep. I finally called Kathy Sinclair at http://www.babysleepsolutionsla.com/

Kathy is a sleep consultant and a lactation consultant so she can help with the feeding questions also. My little boy is an eater as well. I have to put the brakes on him because he won't. ; ) After I called Kathy, my son was sleeping thru the night in 2-3 days. I was elated!! So giver her a call. She is truly wonderful to talk. You won't be sorry cause you'll be to busy sleeping!! Ha!

Also, I have a friend who called Kathy and her son was 6 weeks old and she has had fantastic results. To me 4-5 months seems a bit extreme.

Good Luck,
R. K.

Hi, the thing that jumped out at me is the timeline of you going back to work seemed to correspond with his new nighttime neediness. If this is the case, I think you may want to consider that he is feeling insecure and is dealing with it by keeping you awake. I think you need to get sleep in order to be a good happy mom. I think your pedi would agree that your happiness and health is more important than following a recommended but unrealistic guideline for a working mom. Your baby is loved and will be fine if you adjust his sleeping/eating schedule to accomodate your work/sleep schedule. I would also wonder if whomever is watching him during the day while you are working is encouraging him to nap more then. It can become a vicious cycle, so my advice is to be tough with the schedule for a week or two, and then you'll all be happier. Best of luck, S..

UGH!! I feel so bad for you!! I think the sleep deprivation is the worst!! I hope my response helps you.

My son is almost 5 months old and I have used the book babywise for both of my kids to get them to sleep through the night. I HIGHLY recommend that. The other one that my friends seem to like is the baby whisperer. My son is almost 19lbs at nearly 5 months also, so I've been dealing with a big boy with lots of growth spurts. We were able to get him to sleep through the night by using the babywise method below, although I know some babies just take longer to get there than others, so patience is definitely key:

I would make sure he's getting a full feeding every 3 hours during the day (6-8oz or 15-20 min each side since you're nursing). The method is feed, play/wake, sleep for every feeding except the last one in which you feed him and put him to bed. When mine was waking multiple times at night, I would sleep-feed him around 10 or 11pm...wake him just enough to eat and then put him back to bed. If he woke in the middle of the night (2a/3am), I would put his pacifier in his mouth and he would go back to sleep until 4 or 5am. Once I felt that he could drop the 10p/11p feeding, I would give him one more feeding right before bedtime (which is 8pm) EVEN IF he had one an hour before....this cluster feeding is really helpful to get them past that 2/3am mark.

We started rice cereal right at 4 months because of his size/length and needing milk more often than 3 hours...that has seemed to help a great deal.

I hope you are successful and can get some more rest!!!

Your baby could be teething. At 19 lbs. at 4 months old it doesn't seem likely he's very hungry, unless he's going through a growth spurt, in which case he should settle down again soon. The gnawing-on-the-fists thing is a sign of teething. This can start MONTHS before you ever see the first tooth. Ask the doctor if it's OK to give him infant Tylenol or otherwise treat him as if he's teething. If this is the case and you're able to soothe his aches and pains he may sleep better. Good luck.

Hi A., I have to disagree with your doctor somewhat, I think your baby is at the perfect age to start instilling some good habits, we won't call it "sleep training". There are defineitely gradual ways that you can encourage him to sleep through the night. He is not too young. I am a Sleep Consultant and Parenting Coach and I would love to help you. Please check out my website at www.theindependentchild.com
Good Luck,
K.

Hi A., Two things came to mind when I read your request...first, I remember there were times when both my babies seemed to nurse "all the time" even at night when they previously hadn't. I found out about "growth spurts" when your baby just needs a sudden boost of nutrition. I don't know if that is your case but I just looked at my nursing book and it says one of the timelines for growth spurts can occur around 3-4 months. It may last a few weeks then your baby goes back to normal eating. So if that is the case, just know it won't be forever! And that helped me just to know I was providing what they needed but there was light very soon at the end of the tunnel!! The other thing was one of my babies used to go to sleep early around 7 so I would actually gently wake him up and put him to breast just before I was ready for bed. He would hardly even wake up, just latch on and nurse away. Then I'd change him and off to sleep he was for most of the night then. (and me too!)I hope that helps you! Good luck! Oh and the thing my husband would do in the middle of the night was, I would feed then he would change the diaper (If baby is still pooping after feeding, I can't remeber when that phase ends....) :-)Janet

Hi A.,
My son was a huge eater and still is. We had to start him on rice cereal at 4 months because he was so hungry and drinking so much formula (he did that hand thing too where he was eating his hands). The cereal fills them up and helps the baby sleep longer. I know you are concerned about giving him cereal but see what your doctor says and if she agrees that he can start cereal maybe try it. He may do fine with it and sleep better. Sometimes we have to adjust our thinking to make things better for the baby.

Good luck with everything!

I don't know how to address all of the issues here, but I want to share a couple of tips that worked really well for me with both of my babies. 7 pm was a good bedtime for my babies, but since your little guy wants to wake up so early for the day, I would say don't put him to bed before that, if you can hold him off. That last little stretch of the day between the last nap and bedtime was always a fussy time for my first baby, so we had a nightly walk during that time, and that helped him last until bedtime.

I'm sure he has a feeding at bedtime, then before You go to bed (I'm guessing this is probably a couple/few hours after he goes to bed), wake him and feed him again. This is what I did with my babies, then I only had one interruption after that for feeding during the night (usually around 3 am). Then eventually they just started sleeping through the 3 am feeding and waking at 6 or 7 am.

Also, try to have his daytime feedings on a loose "schedule" if they are not already. Probably every 3-4 hours. If you feed him every 3 hours and he is content with that, try every 3 1/2 hours or 4 hours, but if he is acting hungry before feeding time, then you know he needs the more frequent feedings. I was told that regular feedings helped the baby's metabolism to stabilize and then their nightime sleep could be more consistent and less interrupted. It certainly worked that way with my two babies. They naturally began to sleep through the night, without any training necessary.

My babies were pretty big babies (though not quite as big as yours!) - about 15 lbs at 4 months. They naturally slept through the night on their own before I started them on solids at about 5 months. I don't know if that extra 4 lbs might make it a totally different story, but I understand that you don't want to give him solids yet - I didn't want to start that early either and I have heard that their little digestive systems just aren't ready yet.

Anyway, I hope this and all of the suggestions from other moms help!

The New Contented Baby Book by Gina Ford provides schedules that are designed to help a baby (& you) have a contented night sleep. She is a British nurse.

Do you have your child's father that can help? Because sleep has always been important to me, right when our daughter was born, my husband handled the 3:00-4:00 A.M. feeding with formula and I could go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Her routine was generally as follows: I nursed her when we went to bed around 7:00-7:30 A.M., she would wake up around 11:00 A.M. and nurse and then go back to sleep. Between 3:00-4:00 A.M., my husband would get her and I would go back to sleep. She slept on me for the first 3 months and then we started putting her in the basinette (that took about a week or two). Also, I supplemented with formula from the get go because I have implants.

Hi, A.,

1. Have you thought about putting your baby to bed a bit later than 6-7 p.m.? (10 p.m. to 6 p.m. or even 7 p.m. is a big change. Perhaps your son feels uncomfortable with that schedule.)

2. Weighing 19 pounds at 4 months, your son is most likely not starving. Maybe he is "eating his hands" for a reason other than hunger. Is he teething? Does he want to just suck without eating? A pacifier or teething ring might satisfy him.

Good luck,
Lynne E

Hi A.,
It sounds to me like your little man is teething. I would give him Tylenol and Hylands teething tablets. At 4 months he's old enough for Tylenol and the Hylands are all natural and work really well.
Hope this helps,
S. G.

Hi A.!

Wow! You're doing a great job!!! Amazing you can be back at work like that and breastfeed. Very cool!

If he's hungry, and that's why he seems to be waking up then "sleep training" is only going to mess up his natural instincts. If you are having your husband give him a bottle before bed at night, I suggest putting a teaspoon of flax seed oil in the bottle. This was suggested by our pediatrician as a healthy supplement for our daughter. What I realized is that it has a lot of calories in it, so she would sleep longer because she wasn't hungry. There are a lot of health benefits to it. I also would give her Baby Calm which is a magnesium supplement in her bottle. Helps relax baby. I would suggest the flax seed oil first. Check with your pediatrician first - ours is Dr. Fleiss. Very simple solution. Good luck!

You have lots of responses but I used the "sleep lady book" it worked wonders for my 2yr and 9month old. I nursed and didn't use cereal either. Good luck.

You mentioned a few times your son puts his hands in his mouth. My daughter does that all the time now and she is teething. Just so you know that may be happening soon! He is almost 4 months old so if you want to sleep train then I would say go for it since your doctor said wait till he is that age. Some people on here may discourage you from that but you have to do what is right for you.

At this age my son was ready for rice cereal, and that helped him sleep without waking from hunger. You can do it in the bottle with high flow nipples, and use your breastmilk.

I'm a co-sleeper (not for everyone) but, by this age my son was sleeping in his cozy on my bed for three to four hours at a time with the rice mix. As for sleep 'training' I'm not a fan of anything that sounds like boot camp, but do what works for you. I read a couple of good books, Elizabeth Pantelle is great, but ultimately you have to find your own rhythmn. At that age, we were on two naps during the day for 1 1/2 hours and that worked good for us.

Good luck.

It sounds like your baby may be beginning to teeth. My baby's sleep patterns always become a total wreck every time new teeth start to work their way through. It may explain the constant fists in his mouth.
Regardless of what the cause may be, it will probably improve. They just seem to go through sleep phases the first 18 months or so.
Good luck to you!

I switched burping to when we woke up, instead of after she ate, that helped a lot. My daughter would doze off while nursing, and I knew when she pulled off, she was done. It didn't seem to bother her at all, so that was much nicer. She also slept with us, so I could just roll over and 'plug her in'...=)
Good luck
R.

At 4 mos. old our daughter was having similar hunger behaviors (though not quite as bad in terms of sleeping as you). I was mystified. Then one day she was in her bouncy on the table while I was eating lunch & I was talking to her about the veggies I was eating. She tried to grab the carrot from my hand---she didn't really grab at toys yet! Then she started moving her tongue while I was eating, like she was chewing. I called our pedi & he said she probably needed solids. We started with solids the next day & the hunger behaviors & sleeping totally changed! You might ask your pedi if he's okay with you starting solids. We didn't have any history of allergies in our family or any reason we needed to wait until after 6 mos. Our daughter is nearly 2 now & she is a great eater with no allergies.

You didn't mention if your son is sleeping all day or not. I would suggest playing with your son until he falls asleep during the day. Feed him more & keep him up more during the day. My kids were sleeping through the night at 4 months, because I started this, not realizing this is what would happen. Make it slow and gradual, and he will not notice the difference. He might also have his days and nights turned around. This will also help him get them straight again.

J.

my daughter started waking up during the night when I burped her too,she was about four months old (she is six months old now) so I stopped burping her. Just nursed her back to sleep.

She was never in anydiscomfort as a result, she would burp when she woke up, didnt cry at all

nurse him when he wakes, if he is not hungry he wont eat, if he is he will

if hes rubbing his fists on his gums, which my baby also did at that age, try a teething remedy like a frozen washcloth and/or teething tablets(homeopathic, highlands worked for us)
I would wrap the washcloth around my finger and let her suck on it, she loved it. very soothing

thats great you aren't doing the rice cereal. people seem to do that to make their babies sleep longer but it is difficult to digest and not the ideal first food for little ones according to our pediatrician. contrary to popular belief, and its a processed packaged food so not something I want to put in my baby's body....

this stage will pass in a couple of weeks and you will both be sleeping great, hang in there..

I know many doctors tell you to wait until babies are 6 months old to start solids, but as a grandmother of 8, it sounds like he needs to start solid food. You should talk to your pediatrician about it, but he's a big boy and needs something that will stay with him longer than nursing does. Usually they recommend you start with rice cereal in the morning and at night followed in a few weeks with introducing strained vegetables. Some babies just can't wait 6 months to get something more substantial to eat, and you certainly can't wait to get more sleep.

"Sleep training" versus "sleep routine" are 2 different things. I would get him on a REGULAR sleep routine...ie: same sleep/nap times, EVERYDAY, SAME pre-sleep routine etc. But, keeping in mind that he's breastfeeding on demand. It's necessary although tiring. I know, I went through that with my 2 children.

If he is crying at the breast after you've nursed him... sometimes this is because they want more, but more isn't there. So I would consider this....

They also need to nap. Overtired babies/children actually do not sleep well at night.

ALso, teething can create havoc on a babies sleep ability.

Every baby has different appetites.... and sleep cycles. If they are hungry, feed him. MOST babies do not sleep through the night... he is only 4 months old.... in time, he will sleep longer. But for now, well no.

Some babies cluster feed... frequently and heavily. Some can go longer, but breastmilk digests quickly, thus they get hungry. And at each stage of growth spurts or cognitive developmental changes, THIS interferes in their sleep.

My son, was a heavy nurser, with a HUGE appetite. It was non-stop nursing with him. But I just dealt with it. Perhaps... try and pump some milk and have your Hubby wake during the night, and give him a bottle...thereby letting you get needed sleep. OR, some Moms, give formula ONLY at night... as an alternative. This is controversial however for those that want to exclusive breastfeed and not introduce "un-natural" alternatives to breast.

It could also be because you have gone back to work... and he misses you and needs to feed more often when you are home. This happens. What is he drinking when you are at work? Is he getting enough intake during the daytime with his care-provider???? Perhaps, by the time you get home from work, he is just starving... and not getting enough intake during the daytime.... this also happens... as some babies go on feeding "strikes" when their Mom isn't there. So that when you are home, all the baby wants to do is nurse all night, and they are making up for lost time and doing overtime with nursing because they need it.

I would see what is going on during the daytime with him... and seeing if he is (1) getting enough intake during the day (2) making sure he is getting naps... but not just left there in the crib all day. They need interaction too and play time.

Just some thoughts. I know, it is very tiring... but each baby is different.

All the best,
Susan

Hi, I ran into the exact same problem. I did modify my daughters sleep time and put her down at 8pm, later than recommended, but better for our family. That extra 2 hours made a huge difference as it allowed me to sleep at least 4 hours before waking for a feeding. I made the 1am feeding formula when she was 5 months old and pumped the milk. The formula was heavier and she slept longer. Also my husband got to give her breastmilk first thing in the morning, and then she nursed again 2 hours later! Good luck!

Tracy Hogg's second book "The Baby Whisperer Solves all your Problems" was an amazing help to me when my baby was young. She has a really nice approach that falls between attachment parenting and the crying it out approach. She talks about the inter-relatedness of feeding, activity and sleep. I could give you all sorts of advice but I'm sure what you are going through is far more complicated than I could understand from your short request. If you read this book (available at libraries as well) I think it will equip you with tools to tap into your motherly intuition and solve the problem. Good luck I hope you get some sleep soon.
xx
G.

Hi A.,
I noticed that you've already had a lot of responses so if my suggestion is a repeat, I apologize. I haven't read the entire book yet but a girlfriend of mine says that Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. is the book to read. It teaches you how to get your baby into a routine for sleep time. I know you're tired but my friend swears by the book. Good luck to you:)

Dear A.,

I am going through this with my 3 month old. She had been sleeping through the night beautifully for 3 weeks. Then I went back to work a week ago and it all changed. She is not napping much any more (30-40 minute stretches) and then is up just like yours at night.

From what I understand it will take her a couple of weeks to adjust to missing mom. I really hope so because I miss my sleep too. I know I shouldn't complain because I hear how lucky I am that she slept through the night so early, but I don't want to undo all that work. Plus I think that she has shown that she is ready to sleep through the night, so I really hate to see her being so restless.

I feel you. All I can say is hang in there, I am too. Hopefully you will get some responses from all these wonderful experienced moms out there.

Well, I have to disagree with him being too young to start a schedule, and sleep training. My Son went on a schedule, suggested by the book On Becoming baby Wise (I adjusted it to my life, and was a little looser than it reads), when he was
3 1/2 months old. He was a happier, healthier, more alert baby during wake-times. And I was a much happier, healthier, tolerent Mommy! Within a week he was sleeping 12-14 hours straight through the night.
It is hard and will be difficult for you the first few days, but I wouldn't have done it any other way.
My Son is inderpendent, has never had seperation issues, and has never, ever had a problem going right to sleep in is own bed. And I never had the "getting my marital bed back" issue because after the training started he never slept in our bed. (Unless he wasn't feeling well or needed some cuddles, but then he would let us know when he was ready to go to his bed!)
Just wanted to give you an example of successful sleep training at an early age!
Anyway I know where you are at, and you can only live like that for so long. Take care and good luck!
Wishing you long, sweet dreams very soon! :)

~K.

Maybe he's waking up because you've moved his bedtime up by three to four hours. You can't change a bedtime that dramatically without some changed behavior.
He's definitely big enough to sleep through the night! Here's how you get him to sleep through the night:
1. Start a bedtime routine if you haven't already. Feeding, bath, bed works the best so that he'll learn to fall asleep without breastfeeding.
2. Put him down awake, but sleepy. He needs to learn to fall asleep alone at the beginning of the night so that he'll be able to fall asleep on his own when he wakes up during the night.
3. If he wakes up in the middle of the night, wait a few minutes before going into his room. He's probably not hungry at all, most likely it's a habit to eat at his age. (My babies all slept for eight hours without eating at eight weeks.) If you do go in, don't turn on the lights, and don't say anything to him. Try just giving him a binky or patting him on the back, but DON'T pick him up.
4. Keep doing this, and in a couple of nights, to about a week, he'll be sleeping through the night!
Good luck! :)

When my girls were babies (now 9,11&14) and they would wake up I would bring them in my bed and feed them while lying down. Later they would wake up again I would just roll over and switch sides. This way I was able to go back to sleep. Breastfeeging is great that way no waking up to make a bottle. Our girls never got attached to being in bed with us. At a certain point they no longer need to eat at night(forget what age that is ask your doc) and they forget they used to come to your bed. Good luck

A.