My daughter is four and a half months old and somehow we got into a really bad sleep pattern at night. She was on a really great schedule, going to bed around eight, getting up once to nurse and then sleeping until around seven in the morning. The last few weeks she has gotten up more and more at night. Last night she was up four times, every hour from 2:30 on. She only nurses (I can't get her to take a bottle which is another problem in it self) so my husband can't help much. She will nurse well the first few times them it seems like she just sucks a little and goes back to sleep. I know she isn't getting much milk the last two times she is up because I don't have any left! If anyone has any tips on how we can get out of this pattern or expierence with it just being a phase it would really help. I'm getting very tired during the day and feel like I have a newborn again!
We had the same thing happen to us around 4 months with son #1. Here's what kellymom.com has to say:
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html
It was a huge comfort to me to know that there was probably a good reason why he was getting up all night! LOL
Right now I have a two month old, and he's sleeping really well... I'm dreading that it will go away soon.
Good luck, hope you get some sleep soon!
I would guess it is just a growth spurt. My son has done the same thing and even though you don't think they could possibly be getting more milk, they probably are. I try to do more cluster feedings at night 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 until he falls asleep. I offer at each of those times and sometimes even every hour. It usually only lasts a week then he goes back to his old pattern.
Good luck.
Probably just a growth spurt or teething...they will nurse more frequently dirung or before a growth spurt to make your body respond by producing more milk. This too shall pass.
If you want to read a good book about sleeping, try "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth - it worked miracles with our girl, at 7 months she was still waking 3-4 times a night and I had had it....we did the cry it out method for 3 nights, and then she "had it" she didn't cry , and loved her bed, loved naps and bedtime, and slept 12 hours straight through from 9 months on (only woke once a night from 7 mo- 9 mo). To this day she is a great sleeper and loves her bed, and will even ask to go to bed if she is tired....we are trying ot follow his methods from the start with my second baby, Will, so we don't have to go through trouble all over again.
There are lots of environmental things that could be waking her, too - outside sounds, too light in the room, too late of a bedtime, too late nap, not enough daytime sleep - get the book, it is wonderful. If you want to test drive it before buying a copy, go to your local library, if they don't have it personally, they can probably Inter Library Loan it for you - at the library I work at, that is a free service.
Good Luck!
Jessie
It sounds like she is hungry. Try giving he some cereal in the evening.
My son was up every hour or 2 hours from birth until 7 months, i didn't fight it i just went with it and at exactly 7 months he started sleeping 12 hours straight through, unless he is sick he doesn't get up at night anymore (he is 13 months) if you are not opposed to a pacifer you could try that at night!
I agree - sounds like she is hungry. Both of my kids started this same thing around four months. Try rice cereal at supper time and then keep the same nursing schedule. I bet it stops within a few days.
you might be surprised, but even if YOU think you dont have any milk left, you are producing milk constantly all the time, so there is no such thing as not having much milk left. theres always milk.
this is normal 4.5 month old behavior. stop expecting her to sleep all the time - 'sleeping like a baby" really SHOULD mean wakefullness and sleeping in short bursts. its a myth that babies can or should be sleeping through the night at any point. in all reality, this is a protection habit - it keeps them from falling too deep asleep, and helps prevent SIDS or other suffocation etc etc. so, if you can, be happy your kid is waking up.
www.askdrsears.com will be a great help for you. its normal, and healthy for a baby to wake often, especially to eat. this is the ONLY time in your child's life (we hope) that she will triple her weight in a year, and double her height. thats a LOT of growing, even if you dont really see it that way, that IS what happens. think of how often you would have to eat to triple your weight in a year!! so please, do your relationship with your baby a favor, and listen to all her cues, no matter how many times she needs to eat, she NEEDS to eat. shes not manipulating you, shes not lying in bed thinking about how she can get her way, whatever. try cosleeping, bedsharing (which are 2 different things by the way - bedsharing is exactly that, cosleeping is having baby in the same room as you in her own bed unless she needs to eat, etc)
those 2 things alone will help you. especially bedsharing, honestly, its not NEAR as dangerous as the "experts" would have it seem, the cases where a child has died in a bedsharing situation are actually already at risk because of alcohol use, drug use, or other siblings in bed, etc. its actually more safe because it allows both you and baby to nurse during the night and not actually be awake. this might make your husband uncomfortable, and if hes not comfortable with it, there is NOTHING wrong in your marriage if he sleeps in another room or on the floor during this time, or if you did those things. you do what you have to do to respect your child's needs and still sleep.
where were you when you were trying to get her on the bottle? most babies will not accept a substitute for the real thing if mom is there. they know better :P hahaha. they can SMELL you.
so if you really want to try to get her on the bottle, leave the room, have someone else do it. dont have that person sit in the same places you would sit to nurse her that will also remind her of the real thing. also, you dont say if this is a formula or pumping breastmilk switch, if formula you will have a hard time either way because babies dont like to drink formula for obvious reasons, it plugs them up, it doesnt taste good (have YOU tried it?!?) and it causes more gas and cramping for them. pumping breastmilk will be easier because it will be a normal taste for baby, and will make it more comfortable in the interum of you being gone. its not a detremental 'wanting you there' feeling as much as it will be a 'this is from mom' sort of thing. its like, you can be there without being there.
anyway.... you can do both. if you breastfed when you were home, and did formula when you are gone, that is acceptable, it will balance out the constipating, gassiness of formula and you will get to return to that closeness of nursing when you are home.
aynway, whatever you do, NEVER make a decision lightly (what mom does) and do whats best for YOUR FAMILY. no matter what i say, what a doctor says, what your own parents or inlaws say... you do what YOU and your husband feel is best for your family. i parented by stubborn instinct, i wasnt going to let ANYONE tell me what to do about my parenting. i breastfed on demand until my son self weaned at 19 months, and that worked for us. we bedshared for a while - until my son was between 15-17 months and slept through the night consistently. he still sleeps in a bed in our room. thats what works for us. if that all sounds foreign to you, tis because a lot of advice out there REJECTS these ideals as good family practices, and instead calls them manipulation, spoiling, and hurtful habitual parenting. instead they are attachment parenting techniques, built on the idea that babies need their parents, day and night, and the more you respond to a baby's needs, the more trusting they become of you, and the better relationship they have with you throughout their whole life. this isnt impossible with formula feeding! as long as you are present for the feeding, you talk to baby, you respond to all baby's cries and needs, and never feel like you have to let your baby cry.. it doesnt matter as much what you are feeding. a lot of people think that you have to breastfeed to be an attachment parent when thats not true. plenty of parents who cant do it just fine on the bottle, the key is to NOT listen ot any advice that makes you hurt inside, that makes you feel bad or upset, that makes you uncomfortable. you have the specific instincts for your specific child, and you should listen to THEM not outside advice.
having said that, ive blabbed long enough, have a good day, and good luck with the sleeping.
Sounds like she is either teething, going through a growth spurt or working on something developmentally (ie, crawling, sitting up, etc.). I know you're frustrated but try to relax and let her work it out on her own. It will change in a couple weeks and you'll forget all about it until the next time, when you'll remember this post! :)
Is she teething? Our little one started sleeping through the night at around 4 months, then stopped and started behaving like your daughter at about 5 months - and hasn't really gotten back to sleeping consistently through the night since then because he's always teething (he's 15 months and his two-year old molars are now coming in).
If it's teething - and though 4.5 months is a bit early it's not unusual at all - then you may be in for quite a ride until it's over.
If it's not, then you'll need to help her learn to soothe herself and go back to sleep herself. There are many different techniques for this - cry it out, Ferber, fading Ferber, etc... that can help her learn to soothe herself.
And really, this is good whether she's teething or not but the discomfort associated with teething makes it hard for little ones - and you - to ignore it.
Good luck - I know how you feel (just had one of "those" nights last night myself) but it does pass eventually - regardless of what's causing it. It just may take time.
It is probably a growth spurt. both of mine would do this at random times. Getting up in the night when they used to sleep all night. give it a couple of days and your milk supply will increase and they will go back to the old routine hopefully.
Good luck.
I don't really have any tips. My daughter just turned 7mos. and does the same exact thing but with a bottle/formula she just likes it for comfort she hardly even takes that much but she has to have it to fall asleep and then a million times throughout the night just a sip or two for comfort. Somehow we have to teach our babies to self soothe and put themselves back to sleep with a blankie or something. I have my daughter cosleeping with me which helps, that's how we started cosleeping it's nothing to roll over and give her a bottle it's 10x harder to actually get out of bed etc. I pretty much know what I have to do but can't do it just yet. I need to put my baby in a crib and let her cry it out.
